''The Great Canadian Holiday Baking Show'' is a Christmas special edition of ''

The Great Canadian Baking Show ''The Great Canadian Baking Show'' is a Canadian cooking competition television series which premiered on CBC Television on November 1, 2017. It is an adaptation of the UK series ''The Great British Bake Off'', which is aired in Canada under the ...

''. Episodes have featured bakers from previous seasons of ''The Great Canadian Baking Show'' competing in season baking challenges to be named "Star Holiday Baker". Four episodes of ''The Great Canadian Holiday Baking Show'' have aired, in 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively.

2019

The first episode of ''The Great Canadian Holiday Baking Show'' aired on November 13, 2019. It featured four bakers from the show's first two seasons returning to compete in seasonal baking challenges. This marked the final episode of hosts Carolyn Taylor and Aurora Browne in their presenting roles.

Bakers

Bakes

For the signature challenge, the bakers had two and a half hours to produce 12 edible ornament cookies. The technical challenge gave the bakers three hours to create a

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and accompany it with homemade butter and

apple butter Apple butter (Dutch: appelstroop) is a highly concentrated form of apple sauce produced by long, slow cooking of apples with apple juice or water to a point where the sugar in the apples caramelizes, turning the apple butter a deep brown. The c ...

. The bakers' showstopper challenge was to construct an elaborate, edible, and structurally-sound

Christmas village A Christmas village (or putz) is a decorative, miniature-scale village often set up during the Christmas season. These villages are rooted in the elaborate Christmas traditions of the Moravian Church, a Protestant denomination. In the traditi ...

in four hours.

2021

A second episode of ''The Great Canadian Holiday Baking Show'' aired on December 12, 2021. It featured four finalists from the show's first three seasons returning to compete in seasonal baking challenges.

Ann Pornel Ann Pornel is a Canadian sketch comedian, actress, and television host based in Toronto. Pornel was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Canada with her family as a child. She grew up in the High Park, Toronto, High Park area of Toronto. P ...

and Alan Shane Lewis, the hosts since season 4 of ''The Great Canadian Baking Show'', appeared as presenters.

Bakers

Bakes

For the signature challenge, the bakers had to make a festive baking tray with two different types of desserts in two and a half hours. The technical challenge gave the bakers one hour and 45 minutes to make a vínarterta, a seven layered cake of alternating layers of almond biscuit and prune jam, originally brought to Manitoba by Icelandic settlers. The bakers' showstopper challenge was to create a choux wreath with incredible flavours and elaborate decorations in four hours.

2022

A third episode of ''The Great Canadian Holiday Baking Show'' aired on November 27, 2022. The episode featured returning bakers from the second, fourth, and fifth seasons to compete in seasonal baking challenges.

and Alan Shane Lewis returned as presenters.

Bakers

Bakes

In the signature challenge, the bakers had two hours to make 18 savoury appetizers, 9 each of two different types for a holiday party platter. For the technical challenge, they were tasked with baking 20 ''gefüllte herzen'', traditional German heart-shaped soft gingerbread cookies, with a layer of thick raspberry jam within, coated in dark chocolate and drizzled with white chocolate, in 2 hours and 15 minutes. For the showstopper, the bakers were given four hours to create a grand and impressive holiday scene cake, telling any holiday story or tradition, with the bakers being allowed to use any technique and additional bakes.

2023

A fourth episode of ''The Great Canadian Holiday Baking Show'' aired on November 26, 2023. The episode featured four previous winners from the second, third, fourth, and fifth seasons, returning for a chance to become a Star Holiday Baker.

and Alan Shane Lewis returned as presenters.

Bakers

Bakes

For the signature challenge, the bakers had 2 hours and 15 minutes to bake a tart with the theme of "cookies and milk" for

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

, with "cookies" being used in any way in the bake and "milk" being any dairy product. In the technical challenge, they were tasked with making 12

sufganiyot ( or , ; : , Hebrew: , , or in Yiddish ) is a round jelly doughnut eaten around the world during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. The doughnut is deep-fried, injected with jam or custard, and then topped with powdered sugar. The doughnut rec ...

, deep-fried doughnuts traditionally made for

Hanukkuh Hanukkah (, ; ''Ḥănukkā'' ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd ce ...

, with half filled with strawberry jam and half filled with custard pastry cream, in 1 hour and 45 minutes. For the showstopper, the bakers were given 4 hours and 15 minutes to create a baking gift exchange, featuring elaborate desserts hidden inside handmade cookie boxes decorated for the season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Canadian Holiday Baking Show, The

Holiday A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...

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