Baking It (2021–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Episode #1.5 - full transcript
- Two, three, four...
- Hello, bakers.
'Tis the night before finals.
- And all through the cabin
are the semifinalists.
And in case you don't
get poetry, that's you.
- After today, only three teams
will continue on to the finals.
- And from there, only one team
will be named
the Master-Bakers.
- No, absolutely not.
- Hmm?
- We're not calling it that.
- I am.
Holidays are all
about the precious moments
you share
with family and friends.
But it's hard to find the time
if you're always baking
by the books.
- In our
Short and Sweet Challenge,
today we want to see some
of the kitchen hacks you use
to make more time
for fun and games.
- We're playing White Elephant.
Everyone's favorite holiday
stealing game.
- Oh, my God.
- After you pick your box,
we will call you
in random order to open it
and reveal
the mystery ingredient.
- Ooh.
But our White Elephant
has two twists.
- The first twist is that
you'll have to think
outside the box
and reinvent whatever
ingredient you find inside.
- So if you get cake mix,
you'll have to make something
other than cake.
- The White Elephant's
second twist
is that the last team we call
and only the last team
has a choice to make.
- They can keep their
unopened box or they can force
any other team
to swap with them
since their ingredients
have already been revealed.
- So let's get
the White Elephant started
with a stampede.
Bakers, get your ingredients.
- That's what I call
a stampede.
- Get us the green.
- Oh!
- Stripey.
- Honey!
- Okay.
- Okay. Here we go.
- Niyati and Abhi,
open your box.
- Okay.
We have the cinnamon rolls.
- Jessica and Stephanie.
- Oh!
- Pudding.
- Pudding mix.
Pudding mix.
I hate pudding.
You can't even believe
how much we love pudding mix.
- How much do you love
the pudding?
- Love it!
- So much!
- Steve and Tom.
- Pancake mix.
- So we are in the sweet spot
for this challenge.
We get to go last, which means
we have the ability to take
anybody else's ingredient
that we want, which is great.
- Jonah and Patrick,
before you open the gift.
Are you going to keep it
or steal from someone else?
- Ooh.
- Um...
- I'm just hoping they will
take our stupid pudding.
- We want to swap.
- Ooh.
- With whom?
- Sorry, we love you,
but Niyati and Abhi.
- Sorry!
- No worries.
- It's fine.
- Don't blame me.
Blame the White Elephant, baby.
- The While Elephant moves
in mysterious ways.
- Like this.
- Oh.
- We have biscuits.
- Biscuits...
- I have not made
biscuits before.
- It might take some more time
to think about
how to use it in a quick hack.
So it's--it's really
getting nervous here.
- Now, bakers,
you have 45 minutes
to make the most of your hacks.
- So...
let's get bakin'!
- I got the exact one
I didn't want.
- I know, dude.
- Um, you know
what we could make?
A king cake.
- Let's do chicken
and dumplings.
You go ahead and get
the chicken rolling
and make the gravy.
- You're using
the vanilla pudding mix
to make the cookies.
And then I'll use
this chocolate pudding mix
to make some ice cream.
- Okay.
I am worried
about time for this.
It's 45 minutes.
But of all the ingredients,
the cinnamon rolls
are the ones that are
almost already done.
I think that's the quickest
hack that we could do.
- I'll go get my sugars.
- It always seems like
the bakers have plenty of time,
so with the Short and Sweet,
we're actually making
their time shorter.
And sweeter.
- Do you think they're
finding it sweeter?
- No.
- Just a good name?
- Yeah.
- Go, go, go.
- I need pudding.
We're really nervous
about time.
It's a 45-minute challenge.
- And time has not
been our friend.
Use half of it.
- Okay.
- I am not really
a shortcut taker.
I'm more of a...
"Is there a way that I can make
something more complicated
and take longer
and use more ingredients?"
We have time to make
some hot fudge.
- Yeah. And I'm gonna
make these into little cups,
so it's gonna hold
the ice cream.
- I need to find a way
to open it up first.
And we just get 45 minutes
for this challenge,
and we have to whip
something up last minute
out of a quick hack.
But we have never used biscuits
in a quick hack before.
- You okay, Abhi?
- We're not able to open it.
- Okay.
- I can't open this one.
- Would you steal?
- If I was doing this game...
- Mm-hmm.
- I would steal.
But then when they ask me to
give them my first ingredient,
I'd be like, "I don't have it."
- That's smart.
- "What are you talking about?"
- That's smart.
- And then they'd be like,
"What?"
- Happy holidays!
- We love you!
- Oh, good.
- What's the marzipan for?
- I think I might make
a little baby.
- You're gonna make
a marzipan Baby Jesus?
- Hey, Jonah, Patrick,
what's going on?
- Maya and Andy. Mandy.
- Mandy?
- Sure.
- People call us Patronah.
Actually, they don't.
No one calls us that.
- He just did.
- Well, they do now.
- Oh, no!
- They do now, Patronah.
- So, Patronah...
- Yeah.
- Tell us what you're making.
- Ahh!
- See now, you've got
just some sprinkles.
- Sprinkles went flying.
You really do have
a signature edible glitter.
- We do.
- I mean, it's gotten
us this far.
- Yeah.
- And we are unencumbered
by victory.
We don't have any brooches
to brag about.
This is not the time
to strike out.
It's the semifinals.
We have zero brooches.
- We're running out of glitter.
- Yeah.
We cannot leave
this competition
without getting a smile
from Nana Harriet.
- I'd--I'd settle for a hug.
Not a hug goodbye. Not yet.
- Yeah.
So, Patrick,
tell them about this
because this is
from your family.
- Okay. So this is
nontraditional king cake,
a wonderful dish
served at Mardi Gras.
And Mardi Gras starts
at the--after the Epiphany.
- I know a couple grannies
that are gonna be into that.
- I could not be left alone
with this cake
because I know what I do
with king cakes at home
during Mardi Gras carnival.
- No.
- We don't.
- The thing about king cake
is the tradition
is you typically--
- Oh, shoot, his head fell off.
- Are you hurting my babies?
- His head fell off.
- This is why we don't--this
is why we don't have children.
- Those really look like
little babies.
- They're babies!
- They are.
And they don't look cute,
but you can say they are.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- You know, like most babies.
- Are you gonna put that
secret baby in your king cake?
- That should have
been our reveal.
- It's gonna be on the side.
- We are putting baby
in the corner.
- Come on.
That deserved a high-five.
- It was very bold
of Jonah and Patrick
to make a king cake
for the two N'awlins grannies.
You know what they say,
if you come at the queens
with a king cake,
you better not miss.
- I think it softens up
cookies nicely.
- I want to put some parsley
in those dumplings.
- Okay.
- Mad scientists over here.
- I'll get the jam.
You've got that jam?
- Yeah, yeah.
- Just them in.
- These are ready to go in.
- Are they done?
- Yeah.
- Jessica and Stephanie, hi.
- Hey!
- Hi.
- What you doing?
What are you making?
- Pudding three ways.
- Yeah? I did a lot
of those in college.
Pudding three ways?
- Yeah.
- And yeah, so we are doing
a chocolate pudding ice cream
in a vanilla pudding
chocolate chip cookie cup
and with spiced hot fudge.
- This is a super short
challenge, and you were like,
"Let's do it three ways."
- Because if pudding
is disgusting one time...
- Right.
- Why not do it three times?
- That's what I like to hear.
- You're really hyping it up.
- I don't like pudding.
It's like my least
favorite thing on the planet.
Have I mentioned
that I hate pudding?
'Cause I hate pudding.
I have issues with the texture.
I have issues with the flavor.
And I'm just hoping that we'll
communicate to the grannies
that we know what we're doing,
and that we were able
to take an ingredient
and transform it
into something delicious.
We love pudding!
- There we go.
- When you make your stock,
I'll go ahead and get rolling
on dropping those dumplings.
- We're gonna put
the chicken in last.
- Do you want it to be
that inconsistent?
- I just like it torn.
It looks old fashioned.
- It does.
- And that's how I want it
to look, like my
grandmothers made.
- Hi!
Tom and Steve!
- Happy to see you.
- Hi, hi, hi.
- Hey, happy to see you guys.
What's happening over here?
- A 45-minute chicken
and dumplings
out of pancake mix.
One of my very favorite meals.
This recipe was inspired
by Nana Montel.
Her chicken and dumplings
were like heaven
on this good Earth.
So I'm sauteing the chicken
in butter and chicken stock.
- And we made dumplings
out of the pancake mix.
Instead of putting it
into a pan, we're gonna drop it
into a pot of boiling water.
And we're just gonna
let these things blow up.
- We're not used to using
pancake mix out of a box.
- Anything boxed.
It's gonna be a little bit
of a challenge
to try to transform it.
- Yeah.
- So you got pancake mix.
You're making chicken
and dumplings.
- Yeah.
- Yes.
- You put the dumplings
into the chicken.
- Yeah.
- You boil the chick.
You put the dump--
- Well, the chick's
just for flavor.
- We dump the chicks.
- We used all we have
- Oh, you dump the chicks?
- Yeah.
- We dump the chicks.
- I wonder if anyone is gonna
actually cook
with white elephant meat.
- What do you think it's like?
Chewy or--or soft?
- Tough.
- Yeah.
- Like you could just
make marble columns with it.
- Steaks.
You make white elephant chops.
White elephant "chops"?
- You make "chops."
Make a filet, a T-bone.
- What is that accent?
- I'm not sure.
- Today, we are doing
a White Elephant bake.
So all the bakers got
a surprise ingredient
inside of a box--
- What's in the box?
Is it Gwyneth's head?
- It's Gwyneth's head!
- Oh, no, Gwyneth!
- It's not a in a box!
- Thank you.
- How many should I make more?
- Just--we'll see
which are the good ones
and we'll take the good ones.
- Okay.
- Two, three, four,
five, six, seven.
- So we're at 15.
So we have enough
to do two each.
- I have to cool this thing
down before I can ice it.
Otherwise it's just
gonna be a puddle.
- Hey, can you fan
a little bit higher?
- Yeah.
- Thank you.
- It's a little quiet
in here, no?
- Only four teams left.
- I'll check for doneness.
- So we decided to make
fried donut holes.
And I want them
really cooked from inside.
I don't want to
give them half fried.
- Mm-hmm.
- So I'm keeping them in
the fryer a little bit longer.
It is making me
a little bit nervous,
but I think
I'll go with my gut.
I'm gonna fry them again.
Niyati and Abhi!
- Hello.
- How are you, my friends?
- Good.
- So we're walking and talking
really fast
'cause this is--
this is a short challenge.
- It is.
- It's a very short challenge.
- 45 minutes
and you're right there.
- You got swapped.
- Yeah.
- They swapped you.
- You got swapped.
- They stole our, you know,
our mojo
and also our ingredient.
But hey, when life
gives you biscuits,
you make donut holes
out of them.
- Ooh!
- Oh, girl.
You're talking my language.
- PS, a T-shirt I would wear.
- Are you making holes in them?
- Yeah.
Because we're gonna be, like...
- Filling it with--
- Injecting them
with a preserve,
which we made out of apricots,
raspberry, toasted fennel...
- Oh.
- And some toasted coconut.
- Yeah.
- And then we'll be
glazing this off
with some sticky toffee.
Yeah.
- Let me tell you something.
They can never steal your mojo.
Just remember that.
Keep it inside.
- Still there.
- Yeah.
- You just need to dig deeper.
- It's just a burning ember
that needs to be--
- Yeah.
Usually we have a lot of time
to visit everyone's stations.
- Yeah.
- And go around.
Ask them questions.
And today, we had zero time.
- Yeah, there were
a few factors there.
One, it was a superfast bake.
- Mm-hmm.
- Two, I just pugged like a
gallon of coffee right before.
- Yeah, you were
z-z-zinging it.
- I'm not sure we even needed
to go that fast, looking back.
- Five minutes left.
Oh, no!
- Can you hack it?
- No, we can't!
- Should I do one more batch
of dumplings or just let it go?
- Let it go.
- Sorry, but we are in a rush.
- That's okay.
- We are running very short
on time here, Maya.
- I'm running very short
on nails; I'm very nervous.
- You think we're gonna
get it done?
- Yeah.
- This one got overpoured.
- How do I do it?
- Okay.
- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Just--just let me breathe.
- Oh, I'm so nervous.
I can't look.
I can't see you, Andy.
- The stress has blinded you.
- Oh!
- You can always
open your eyes.
- Get some green
and purple glitter.
- Yep.
- And put that on top.
- Okay.
- That looks beautiful.
- Okay.
Five...four...three...
- Last one on.
Two...one!
- Time's up!
Ovens off.
- Mitts down.
- That was the fastest
45 minutes...
Of my life.
- Oh, my.
- All right, Steve and Tom,
please come up.
- Hi, ladies, grannies.
- Hi.
- Andy.
- Pretty, pretty, pretty.
- Very pretty.
- Our White Elephant gift
was a box of pancake mix.
- Oh.
- So we made chicken
and dumplings.
- Thank you.
- Beautiful.
- Good ol' comfort food.
- In the dumplings
are thyme and parsley.
We did our best
to shred some chicken.
And then there's just
little black pepper
and parsley garnish on top.
- Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm!
My mom used to make chicken
and dumplings all of the time.
And I'm pretty sure, Mom,
you would say,
"Gosh, I wish I would have
made it like this."
I'm telling you,
it's really, really good.
- This is one
of my favorite comfort foods.
And you presented it
beautifully.
- You made this out
of pancake mix?
- Wow.
- I mean,
you really transformed
that ingredient.
- Thank you.
- I can appreciate
the substitution
with the pancake mix.
I'm the queen
of the hacks at home.
One time, I'm running out
of tomato gravy, you know,
pot meatballs and spaghetti,
the only thing I had on hand
were two bottles
of Bloody Mary mix.
And I put it in.
I want you to know, it made
the tomato gravy really nice.
The kids didn't mind.
They never knew about it.
So you did a good job
with that pancake mix.
Thank you.
- Niyati and Abhi.
- Oh, my.
- Wow.
- It's beautiful.
- So for our White Elephant,
we had cinnamon rolls, but--
- Our friends over there.
- Jonah and Patrick.
They stole it from us,
and we got their biscuits.
- Shame on you. Shame on you.
- So we made fried donut holes.
- Wow.
- So they have raspberry
and apricot filling.
- Wow.
- With toasted cumin, coconut
flakes, and fennel seeds.
- I'll tell you,
the presentation is exquisite.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- I would have never known
that this was a biscuit.
- That jelly was delicious.
And I would have absolutely
loved to taste more of that.
- So good. So good.
- Thank you.
- And I want you to know,
I know donut holes
from New Orleans.
- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah, we eat them a lot.
- This is the lightest
donut hole I have ever enjoyed.
- Thank you.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
- It's just so cute to eat.
It looks just like y'all.
- Oh, thank you.
- Jessica and Stephanie,
please come up.
- Hi, grannies.
- This looks pretty.
That looks pretty.
- It does.
- So our White Elephant gift
was pudding mix.
So we had chocolate
and vanilla pudding.
So with the vanilla pudding,
we made the little
chocolate chip cookie cup.
And then we also made
a chocolate ice cream
and a Mexican hot
chocolate hot fudge
out of
the chocolate pudding mix.
- Oh, boy.
- Clever. Clever.
- Wow.
- I think it's very festive.
I love hot fudge.
- Yes.
- Agreed.
- Mmm, mmm.
- I should have this
for breakfast every day.
- Yeah.
- Right?
- I'm ashamed to tell you I do.
- The transformation of
your ingredient is great.
- Oh, good.
- The cookie itself,
it's really good,
very flavorful.
The ice cream,
I would have liked
just a little bit more flavor,
maybe some vanilla bean
or something like that.
- Okay.
- Pudding ice cream.
It's such
a wonderful revelation.
I'd never thought of pudding--
ice cream out of pudding.
And it invited you in,
and it didn't disappoint you.
That's what I love.
- Whew.
- Jonah and Patrick.
- So our White Elephant
that we borrowed
from our good friends was
a can of cinnamon rolls.
So our hack is
to make a king cake.
- Wow.
- So king cake,
for those of you
who are not familiar,
is often served
during Mardi Gras season,
which begins on the Epiphany.
And we're not gonna have you
risk which cake piece
has the baby.
So we've made for you
four baby marzipans.
And my favorite part
about the tradition is,
whoever gets the baby
has to make the next king cake.
So we are hoping
that the four of you
will make king cakes
for us one day.
- That's right. So that's
why there's four babies
- Only if we can use the hack.
- Yes, of course.
- The flavor, the cinnamon and
all, is really coming through.
- The texture came out
very nice.
- No. I don't--I don't agree
with you on that one.
- What, you don't agree on?
- I think it's undercooked.
- Do you think so?
- Underbaked.
- Hmm.
- Yeah. I really do.
- I'm disappointed
that it wasn't
disassembled and braided.
- When we were growing up,
we would have
king cake parties.
And Mom would always--
not my mom only,
but everybody's mom,
"Don't get the baby!"
- That's the last word
you heard is,
"Don't get the baby!"
- "Don't get the baby!"
- Because that meant you had
to give the next party.
- It was a party.
- I've gotten the baby once.
- Really?
- You got the baby once?
- I did.
I haven't thrown the party yet.
- Are people still waiting
for an invitation?
- That's not good, right,
when you get the baby
and you don't throw the party?
- No, indeed,
how many years has it been?
- Probably like five.
- Bakers, we learned some
great kitchen hacks
in our
White Elephant challenge.
- And I learned that stealing
from friends
is fun and delicious
if you say it's a game.
Grannies, whose White Elephant
will you never forget?
- Today, we tasted
some wonderful hacks.
They were all really creative
and well done.
But one really stood out.
Our winner
of this challenge is...
Niyati and Abhi.
- Yes!
- Niyati and Abhi, the reason
we picked your bake today
was because not only did you
take a simple can of biscuits
and turn it into such
a delightful donut hole,
but the way you put
your flavors together,
they all combined so well
that it made it a huge surprise
when we tasted it.
- Come and get your brooch!
- Yeah, guys.
- Good job, guys.
- I found some darling
little elephant brooches.
- Aw!
- Thank you so much.
- There you go.
- Kudos to you both.
- Thank you.
- Whoo-hoo!
- Whoo! Yay!
- We won another one.
- Jonah and Patrick
stole our White Elephant.
- So there was a lot
of last-minute thinking
which went into the recipes.
- So I feel so blessed...
- Yeah.
So blessed, so grateful.
- That we have three brooches.
- You know, it's just an honor
to share the same room
with all these amazing bakers.
- Good job, guys.
- I learn from them
on a daily basis.
- Good job.
- We all know
that looks can be deceiving,
but honestly, some looks
are just tight as hell,
so don't be a hater.
- In today's
Pie in the Sky Challenge,
we want to see the best-looking
pie you can bake.
- It's called Eyes on the Pies
because we're not looking
for an ordinary pie.
- No, no, no.
We want bespoke designs,
tailored looks.
- Style, clothes, jorts.
- Like every pie I've ever had,
it better taste good.
But we'll give you extra points
for intricate designs
- and 3
- D features.
- You have two hours to make
the hottest pie
you've ever baked.
So, bakers...
let's get bakin'!
Bake us proud.
- Ooh, now that's good.
- Do you want
two onions or one?
- Two.
- Can I have an onion?
Thank you.
- We are making a Washington
apple and sweet cherry pie
with some spices like cinnamon
and ginger and nutmeg.
- Look at these
pretty little fellas.
Hi, everybody.
- Oh, I thought
you were talking about us.
- You too.
- Don't talk about me
like I'm not right here.
- We're making lobster pie.
- Lobster potpie.
- This pie is super important
to us.
You know, we want to get into
the finals to win this thing.
But, you know,
we're with incredible bakers.
And so the competition
is fierce.
- We are making a pork,
apple cider, and sage pie.
- Abhinav, I'm going
I'm doing three tomatoes.
- Okay.
- Oh, we're making--
- We're making a chicken
tikka masala pie...
- Pie.
- Which would be like a rich,
creamy, velvety texture.
- This is the
Pie in the Sky challenge.
And it's actually
a pie this time.
- What would you do if you
looked up in the sky
and there really was a pie?
- I think I'd cry.
- That's no lie.
- So as thin
as I can get them.
You don't want them
so thin they're gonna tear.
- I love a pie.
Don't ask me why,
but I love pie.
- Oh, my God.
- Why, oh, why?
You might say I too love pie.
But no one can deny
how I love pie.
- It's like being held hostage
by your friend's kids.
"Now look at this dance."
- Patrick, screw those.
Let's try these instead.
- Wanna use Granny Smith
instead?
- Yes.
Where I grew up in the Midwest,
pie was at every meal.
It was at every special
gathering.
Why don't you
cut a bunch of these
and then start painting them
a little bit?
But this pie
that we have to do
for this challenge
had better be spectacular.
And we're gonna try to take
all of the lessons
that the grannies
have taught us.
Attention to detail,
perfect bake, unique flavors.
All that kind of stuff.
We need to get it right.
- Oh, look who it is,
Jonah and Patrick.
- Gosh, Mandy.
- Hey, guys.
- We just came to see
what you guys are up to.
- Oh. Well, we're making a
pork, apple cider, and sage pie
with a lot of filigree
in the shape of holly berries.
This is sort of an invention
based on something
that we do at the holidays.
So we didn't have
a lot of money growing up.
So my mom would host
tea parties
to sort of teach the kids
how to--
what it would be like
to eat in restaurants
and, like, how to have class
'cause...
- What a good idea.
- You know, money
doesn't buy class.
- Wait a minute, I disagree.
- Maya would argue yes.
- Yes.
- She's always like,
"I love money!
My name's Maya,
and I love money."
- Money!
- "I like to make it.
And I like to spend it."
- Spend it.
- That's a spot-on impression.
Thank you.
- Patrick knows me well.
- And we've got a little trick
in the middle,
a little pig pops up,
and get some steam out of
- his mouth for the 3
- D component.
- Get some what
out of his mouth?
- Some steam.
- Thank you very much.
- He wants to blow
off some steam.
- He really does.
- Yeah.
I misheard you the first time,
and I'm glad we cleared it up.
- We have a little pie funnel
that is in the shape of a pig.
And its purpose is, of course,
to let the steam
out of the pie.
But it actually has
a hole in the mouth.
So it's a cute little trick
where the steam comes
out of the mouth of the pig.
And hopefully, this will be
my one last party trick
that gets us to the finals.
- How does it feel being
in the semifinals?
- We could not be
more thrilled.
- I think you are
in good company.
- Best company. Best company.
- We are. And at the end
of the day, if we don't win,
one of our friends
is gonna win.
And that is, like,
the most amazing thing.
- There's actually a lot
of love in this room.
- Absolutely.
- I feel like we--
we created a little family.
- It's really sweet.
- Yeah.
- How's the crust coming,
Steph?
- Oh, shoot.
- What? Did it tear?
- The Space Needle broke.
- How are you, guys?
- Hi, guys!
- How are you?
- What are you guys
making today?
- We are making a Washington
apple and cherry pie
with a skyline of Seattle
'cause that's where we grew up.
So we just thought
that would be a great way
to bring Christmas here.
And we learned how to bake pies
from our grandma
who lives in Washington.
So it all just
kind of goes together.
- Tell us more
about growing up.
- Well, I'm kind of amazed
that I'm here because,
growing up,
when I was a teenager,
I had a pretty severe
eating disorder.
And so, like, I didn't eat any
of the stuff that you see here.
- Really?
- I was, like, afraid
to touch things
like butter and oil
'cause I was afraid
somehow, like, through osmosis,
it would get into my body.
I think when I look back
at my teenage self,
I would just want
to give her a hug and say,
"Things will get better.
You can get better."
If I hadn't gone through
the struggles
that I did as a teenager,
I wouldn't have the confidence
now to approach challenges
as something
that's overcome-able.
- I'm just proud of Jessica
for being here
and overcoming everything
that she has to--to make it.
- I see such a strength
in you as sisters,
and it seems like--
I mean, you're just--
- Sure, sure.
- It's really amazing
to see you work together.
- I know, that--I mean,
it's great meeting you guys.
Not gonna lie.
It's great baking.
- Sure.
- Also not gonna lie.
But this is probably
the best part.
- It's nice to see two sisters
on the show cooking together.
I wish I had a sister.
I wish we were sisters.
- Okay, I'll be your sister.
- Thanks, Andy.
- Do you want to braid my hair?
- Yeah.
Oh, God.
I love you so much.
- This is the Pie in the Sky.
I do love pie quite a bit.
Let me--let me bring the lights
down for a minute.
Let's get serious for a minute.
I like the buttery,
flaky crust.
I think just about anything
tastes good inside of a crust.
I don't need no icing.
I don't need no cake.
Give me that pie.
Oh, I have a great idea.
I worked so hard making
this beautiful, flaky crust,
and then I'm gonna
make it mushy.
Get your ice cream
and get it off my plate.
Me like that.
- No, I got that.
- Do you know yet how many
of these you want to use?
- Uh, probably, like, eight.
- You do the ice cream
this time.
- Okay.
- You just add a little bit
at a time.
- Okay.
- Put your goggles on
and your gloves.
We have a time crunch,
so we're making ice cream
and we're gonna use
liquid nitrogen.
When you pour too much at once,
it'll, like, freeze things
solid before it gets a chance
to, like, aerate it.
- For sure.
- It should be like soft serve
by the time it's done.
- Okay.
- I think this is ambitious
but I think we have
to bring it all out
for this Pie in the Sky
Challenge.
It's really good.
- Right now, we are just
working on the curry.
I hope all the grannies
like it.
- Okay, this is the big one.
- Yep. This is the semifinal.
- Yep.
- Yes.
- I love pie.
- Let me tell you.
The Pie in the Sky is my jam.
- Mm-hmm.
- I am really
a pie connoisseur.
- Mm.
- I bake pies all the time,
won awards
on sweet and savory.
So for the sweet, I'm looking
for that flaky crust.
That's gonna be real important.
To see if they actually put
that cold butter, you know,
in that pie fillings.
- I just need, like,
two tablespoons.
- But now talk about savory,
you know, I'm Team Savory.
- Very, very happy
with my lobsters today.
- And I like a filling
that has a good mouthfeel.
And one of the things
I love to see on a pie...
- Mm-hmm.
- Is a decorative crust.
- Do you think
this is good placement?
Yeah, it is.
- Seattle is known
for its rain.
So we're gonna do
a little border of raindrops
around the edge of the pie.
- I'm neither a pie connoisseur
or a piemaker,
but I know what I like.
- Exactly.
- And I'm looking for--
if it's apple,
I want to taste apple.
- Our big thing is trying
to flavor...
- We just want the flavor.
- In the lobster pie.
- We want the flavor of lobster
to come through really strong.
- Pie can really lend a lot
to a holiday meal.
- During festivals,
all you think is comfort food
and, like, something
which is rich, cozy.
I think this would hit
all the right notes for that.
- Pies at Christmas
and Thanksgiving
are traditional.
And they would be missed.
They would be missed.
- Hmm, let's take a peek.
- Okay.
- Do-doink.
- Good!
- How are the lobsters
coming along?
- They're coming.
I promise I'll salt
everything in that.
- Thank you.
- We decided we would try to do
a lobster potpie.
I am concerned about getting
the flavor of the lobster
into the filling.
So I cook the lobsters
in a pan,
I get the pan
cracking and sizzling.
I want the shell to be
somewhat red and burnt
a little bit
so that the flavors come out.
Then I'll deglaze it
with some brandy.
We are very restricted
by time here.
And that's a concern
right now for me.
- Tom and Steve,
what's up, you guys?
You in the middle of something?
- Hi. How are you?
- Oh, my goodness.
- Did you just put a lobster
in a pot?
- I just put the claws in.
- What are you making?
- We're making our traditional
lobster dinner for Christmas.
The lobster potpie.
The tradition came from me
being in the seafood business
in the D.C. area
before any of my kids
were born.
So I would bring lobsters home
every Christmas.
My sister was always
a part of our family.
It was totally
her favorite meal.
She was my wife's best friend.
She was--she was
my best friend.
And so 20 years ago,
October 30th, she died.
The biggest hole in my life
has been the loss of Jo.
I cherish my memories of her.
She was funny.
She was witty and smart.
- I think that our main goal
in doing this pie
is truly representing Joanne.
- So you still do lobster
every Christmas.
- We do. We do.
- Since this is about pies,
do you guys make pies often?
- I do.
That's been my Thanksgiving
thing my whole life.
- It smells fantastic.
- Looks good, yeah.
- Heyo.
- You frightened me just now,
but I see that there
was a method to your madness.
Look at that big hunk
of lobster.
- I'm about to--
- That's the claw.
- I'm about to put that
in my mouth.
- We are trying
to make it a half--
- Don't kill me, man!
I'm so sorry.
- Look at that meat.
Look at that fresh meat.
- I'll be good! I'll be good!
- Oh!
- I swear to God,
I'll be good, Tom.
Oh! Ow!
- Hiya!
- Jesus!
- Did Tom chill with a knife?
- I thought he was gonna
take a finger off, for sure.
- I thought he was gonna
take my finger off.
- Abhi and Niyati,
how you doing?
- We can't find black pepper.
- I have some.
- Oh, you have some?
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
- Niyati and Abhi.
- Hi, guys.
How are you?
- What are you making?
- So we are making
the chicken tikka masala pie.
- The inside has
tikka masala sauce,
which is a rich, creamy,
velvety tomato-based sauce
infused with ginger,
garlic, cumin,
the tandoori masala,
a little bit of yogurt in
the marination of the chicken.
Little bit of cream.
And a lot of dried
fenugreek leaves.
It's kind of
a quintessential Indian dish.
- Yes!
- So we don't cook a lot
of pies back home in India.
But when we think of pie,
we think of, you know,
family togetherness
and family gatherings.
We haven't been home
in the past three years now.
- But whenever we go back home
to India, on the dinner table,
we have chicken tikka masala,
which is everybody's favorite.
- Isn't pie magical that you
can put most things, not all...
Yes.
- But most things
in a piecrust?
- That's correct.
- Yeah.
- That's why pie is the best.
- Pie just gives us, like,
those--you know,
that rich and cozy feeling.
- Speaking of rich, you guys
have a lot of hardware going.
- How does it feel to be
in the semifinals, guys?
- It feels great.
- It feels...
We feel blessed.
- We're very grateful.
- Who has the
most brooches so far?
Us.
- That's got to feel
pretty good.
It's a huge deal.
- Where did you put
those red berries?
- Right here.
- Oh, they turned out nice.
- Yeah, they look great.
- All right.
You've got your vision.
I'm just gonna let you
roll with it.
- I think piecrust is
an incredibly important part
of any pie.
That's too short.
- The design we decided on is
gonna be like a spoke design.
So it's gonna be geometric.
Yeah, I think that is
the way to do it.
Do you agree
that you switch them?
- Yeah, it's great.
- We're gonna set up
just a center hole,
where we're gonna be able
to have a cooked lobster claw.
So it's very obvious
to the judges that this
is in fact a lobster pie.
Good to go.
- I'm smelling this aroma.
And some smells like seafood.
Like fish maybe. I'm not sure.
- There it is.
- Bake, sweet baby.
- You gotta keep an eye
on that oven.
- Gigi is the pie connoisseur
of grannies.
We would love to hear
Gigi Diggity on this one.
- We're keeping a close eye
on how Gigi Sherri
reacts to the pies
because she has an entire room
of blue ribbons
all won for her pies.
So she's kind
of the expert here.
It's always interesting,
though.
Like, when someone
has a lot of blue ribbons.
- Mm-hmm.
- You can always just, like,
go on Amazon and buy
a bunch of blue ribbons.
Funniest guy!
- Or like, "I'm a total idiot."
Did I--did I strike a nerve?
- Just don't know why I would
buy one that says that,
'cause I'm smart.
- 'Cause they're fancy.
- How much time we got left?
17.
- This has only been
in 31 minutes.
First and foremost,
we're tight on time.
Lobster is a mild flavor,
so I think it's hard
to get that concentrated dose
of lobster without time.
- You like the color?
- Yeah.
- I mean, I think we have
to keep it in longer.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- I'm not sure how long
till the pie comes out.
We're just kind of watching it
to see that
it's cooking through.
- We're working
on the sauce here.
- Working on the sauce.
So we're just waiting
for the pie to come out. And...
- Patience, patience.
- We need patience.
- Life advice.
- Okay.
- "Get over it."
- Always good.
- There's nothing you can do
about a lot of stuff.
Just move on.
- I love that.
- And one other thing too.
Be yourself.
- Unless you're having
a bad day
and you don't like yourself.
Maybe those days
you can be somebody else.
- During the holidays,
there are people
that don't have that love
in their life.
And so if you can just say
some--you never know.
- It's a smile.
- Just a smile.
Just a little hello.
They may be just looking
just for that.
- Sure.
- 10-minute warning, bakers.
"Crust" the process.
- Ew!
- I don't know
how it's looking.
We are the underdogs
in this competition.
- Yes.
- All of the other teams
have multiple brooches.
- Oh, God.
We've had real highs,
and then we've been
very close to the bottom.
So we need to show them
with this pie
that we are good enough
to stand with the best.
It's not browning
in the middle.
Open it, please.
- Five minutes, which is only
slightly more than 3.141592--
- You're gonna get a pie
in the face
if you say another number.
- Six. Hey!
- Ooh. Wowzer.
That's much better though.
- I don't think
it's gonna stick.
Nope.
- You want to put
a little butter on it first,
a brush of butter,
so it's shiny?
- Okay. Ice cream.
Five...four...three...
two...one!
- Time is up!
- Whoo!
- Yay!
- Yeah, guys! We did it.
- Happy pie challenge.
- Oh, wow.
- Yes. Gorgeous.
It's really pretty.
- Jessica and Stephanie,
please come join us.
Okay. Tell us about your bake.
- We made a apple cherry pie.
We grew up berry picking
with our grandma.
And she taught us
how to make pie.
So we thought we'd bring
a little bit of home to you.
- And then we also made
a Ceylon cinnamon ice cream.
And then,
if you look at the crust,
you can see the Seattle skyline
with the Space Needle
and the ocean.
- I can see
the three-dimension,
but I would have liked it
a little bit more pronounced.
- Okay.
- The bake is uneven.
Some of it looks
very, very, very well done.
- Yes.
- And some of it is lighter.
- It smells delicious.
- It does.
- Oh, look how pretty.
- Mother of Jesus.
- This is delicious.
- Oh, good. I'm so glad.
- This is everything.
This is sweet. And it's tart.
- Mm-hmm.
- You know, not too sweet.
You know, because sometimes--
- Oh, my God.
- Right.
- Your ice cream is delicious.
And the caramel sauce
just brings it all together.
- Oh, good.
- I mean, this is lickin'.
- I--I can't stop eating it.
- I like the texture
of the apples too.
I mean, in addition
to all the other stuff.
And even though the crust
isn't consistent,
you know, all the same color.
I like it anyway.
It's really good.
- You doing okay
over there, Maya?
- Maya, are you having
a moment? Are you okay?
- I'm really happy.
- Niyati and Abhi.
- It looks beautiful.
I love the leaves.
- For our pie challenge,
we decided to make
the quintessential
chicken tikka masala pie.
- It's beautiful.
I see the three-dimension.
The creativity is excellent.
So when I bite into this,
it should be
a flavor bomb, right?
- Yes.
- Wow.
- The flavor is scrumptious.
- Oh, my God. It's delicious.
Thank you.
- Sauce complements
your pie filling.
Your crust is very flaky.
- Your spices
are incredible to me.
- Balance is amazing.
You don't just get one flavor,
but you get everything
at the same time
exploding in your mouth.
- I'ma tell you right now.
This is, like, the best
tikka masala
that I've ever had.
You can make this
for me any holiday.
Thank you.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you so much.
- It means a lot, thank you.
- Thank you so much.
- Jonah and Patrick.
- So ours is with
the little piggy there.
And so I've done
a pork and apple.
The inside is pork shoulder,
apple cider, sage,
onion, and celery.
And it's also served
as sort of a potpie.
- Is the little piggy edible?
- The piggy is not edible.
- Sherri, we can make a call
and get you
a fondant pig like that.
- It is adorable.
- Thank you.
- It's very festive
for the holidays.
The green and the red.
And I love that little sweet
tartness
of the Granny Smith apple.
- Yes.
- The pork is very,
very tender.
- Your vegetables
are beautiful.
- Yes.
- Thank you.
- For me, pork and apples
is one of my favorite
combinations.
When I do pork and apples,
I always add
apple cider vinegar.
- Mmm. I thought about that.
- Because the apple cider
vinegar takes the apple flavor
up a couple of notches
and it gives you
a real true apple flavor.
This is very good,
but I'm not getting apple.
- Got it.
- I would love to have
tasted more apple.
- A little bit more sage 'cause
sage is one of those herbs
that reminds you
of the holidays.
- Thank you for your notes.
- I think these grannies
are getting tough.
- You can see them
hardening their resolve.
- Mmm.
- Getting ready
to drop the hammer.
- Ooh. I'm afraid.
- Tom and Steve,
tell us about your bake.
- What we have for you today
is a lobster pie.
- It is beautiful.
- And in the middle--
- That's a lobster claw.
- A little lobster claw.
- And it's resting on
a buttered panko crumb.
- Thank you.
- For the top,
something a little peppery
because we know
you all love that.
- So good. So good.
- Thank you.
- You can tell,
the flavor is delicious.
- And your sauce, whee!
- The flavors are lovely,
I'll say that. Lovely.
- Mmm. Believe it or not,
I can't believe
I'm saying this,
but it's a smidgen
too salty for me.
But that doesn't mean
I'm not loving it.
- The lobster, I wish it had
more lobster in it.
But that piecrust,
it's golden brown.
- Yes.
- And this is such a large pie.
So that is some skill.
That is something else.
- It was awesome.
- Thank you all.
- Thank you.
- Appreciate it.
- A labor of love.
- Bakers, today, we got to see
how you work
with unexpected ingredients in
our Short and Sweet Challenge.
- And then you all made
some seriously hot pies.
And I'm not
just talking temperature.
- She's talking sex appeal,
which is a natural segue
back to our judges.
Gigi Sherri,
did any of these pies
get you hot and cobblered?
- Oh, yeah.
Bakers, there is nothing
more special to me
than going to a fair
and handing out a blue ribbon
for that big, old,
delicious pie.
There is one team
that baked their way
to the top in this cabin.
And that team is...
Niyati and Abhi.
- Oh, thanks.
- Good job, you guys.
- Good job, you guys.
- Niyati and Abhi,
you have consistently took us
on a beautiful tour of India.
Your creativity,
the appearance,
and the tastiness,
and that bake
is just a few of the reasons
why your pie rose to the top.
So congratulations.
- Thank you.
- Come and get your brooch.
You're going to the finals.
- Yes.
- Okay.
- Thank you so much.
- You're welcome.
- And congratulations.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Whoo-hoo!
- Whoo-hoo! Back to back.
- I know!
It's like unbelievable.
- And in the finals.
Thanks for being there with me
on my side on this journey.
- I wouldn't have thought
anybody else
beside me other than you.
- Yeah.
- So.
- Welcome to the finals.
- Yeah!
- Thank you.
- Good job, you guys.
- Good job, you guys.
- Congratulations.
- Good job.
- This moment gets sadder
and sadder each time
we have to do it.
- You all made it
to the semifinals,
which means you already
have so much to be proud of.
- It has been our pleasure
getting to know you all
and seeing
the amazing things you can do.
- But one team has to go home.
And like always,
we're gonna hand things
over to the adults in the room.
- This was an almost
impossible decision to make.
We've watched y'all grow
through all of these,
but it comes time
that somebody's got to go home.
And that team is...
Jonah and Patrick.
- Aw!
- Look at me sniffling.
- I know. I know.
- Don't start.
I'll start crying.
- Okay. All right, all right,
all right.
Y'all are gonna make
a big difference in lives.
I really mean that.
I mean, you all
are marvelous men.
Your presentation was
lovely and sweet, like y'all.
But we thought it was lacking
in a little bit of flavor.
We couldn't really taste
the flavor of the apples
like we would have liked.
So for those reasons,
we had to choose you all.
But you can't leave this cabin
without a hug
from Grandma Anne, so come on,
let me give it to you.
Oh, I'm already tearing up now.
Jonah, everybody
has tears here.
So what is that saying
about y'all?
- Control yourself.
- Thank you. Good job.
- Thank you so much.
- It's bittersweet
to get the cut
right before the finals.
And I am still so proud
of what we accomplished.
- I am too.
- Keep on bringing
that sunshine.
- And we're so excited
for our friends.
I mean, I cannot wait to see
what they put forward
to the grannies
in the finals.
- Hello, bakers.
'Tis the night before finals.
- And all through the cabin
are the semifinalists.
And in case you don't
get poetry, that's you.
- After today, only three teams
will continue on to the finals.
- And from there, only one team
will be named
the Master-Bakers.
- No, absolutely not.
- Hmm?
- We're not calling it that.
- I am.
Holidays are all
about the precious moments
you share
with family and friends.
But it's hard to find the time
if you're always baking
by the books.
- In our
Short and Sweet Challenge,
today we want to see some
of the kitchen hacks you use
to make more time
for fun and games.
- We're playing White Elephant.
Everyone's favorite holiday
stealing game.
- Oh, my God.
- After you pick your box,
we will call you
in random order to open it
and reveal
the mystery ingredient.
- Ooh.
But our White Elephant
has two twists.
- The first twist is that
you'll have to think
outside the box
and reinvent whatever
ingredient you find inside.
- So if you get cake mix,
you'll have to make something
other than cake.
- The White Elephant's
second twist
is that the last team we call
and only the last team
has a choice to make.
- They can keep their
unopened box or they can force
any other team
to swap with them
since their ingredients
have already been revealed.
- So let's get
the White Elephant started
with a stampede.
Bakers, get your ingredients.
- That's what I call
a stampede.
- Get us the green.
- Oh!
- Stripey.
- Honey!
- Okay.
- Okay. Here we go.
- Niyati and Abhi,
open your box.
- Okay.
We have the cinnamon rolls.
- Jessica and Stephanie.
- Oh!
- Pudding.
- Pudding mix.
Pudding mix.
I hate pudding.
You can't even believe
how much we love pudding mix.
- How much do you love
the pudding?
- Love it!
- So much!
- Steve and Tom.
- Pancake mix.
- So we are in the sweet spot
for this challenge.
We get to go last, which means
we have the ability to take
anybody else's ingredient
that we want, which is great.
- Jonah and Patrick,
before you open the gift.
Are you going to keep it
or steal from someone else?
- Ooh.
- Um...
- I'm just hoping they will
take our stupid pudding.
- We want to swap.
- Ooh.
- With whom?
- Sorry, we love you,
but Niyati and Abhi.
- Sorry!
- No worries.
- It's fine.
- Don't blame me.
Blame the White Elephant, baby.
- The While Elephant moves
in mysterious ways.
- Like this.
- Oh.
- We have biscuits.
- Biscuits...
- I have not made
biscuits before.
- It might take some more time
to think about
how to use it in a quick hack.
So it's--it's really
getting nervous here.
- Now, bakers,
you have 45 minutes
to make the most of your hacks.
- So...
let's get bakin'!
- I got the exact one
I didn't want.
- I know, dude.
- Um, you know
what we could make?
A king cake.
- Let's do chicken
and dumplings.
You go ahead and get
the chicken rolling
and make the gravy.
- You're using
the vanilla pudding mix
to make the cookies.
And then I'll use
this chocolate pudding mix
to make some ice cream.
- Okay.
I am worried
about time for this.
It's 45 minutes.
But of all the ingredients,
the cinnamon rolls
are the ones that are
almost already done.
I think that's the quickest
hack that we could do.
- I'll go get my sugars.
- It always seems like
the bakers have plenty of time,
so with the Short and Sweet,
we're actually making
their time shorter.
And sweeter.
- Do you think they're
finding it sweeter?
- No.
- Just a good name?
- Yeah.
- Go, go, go.
- I need pudding.
We're really nervous
about time.
It's a 45-minute challenge.
- And time has not
been our friend.
Use half of it.
- Okay.
- I am not really
a shortcut taker.
I'm more of a...
"Is there a way that I can make
something more complicated
and take longer
and use more ingredients?"
We have time to make
some hot fudge.
- Yeah. And I'm gonna
make these into little cups,
so it's gonna hold
the ice cream.
- I need to find a way
to open it up first.
And we just get 45 minutes
for this challenge,
and we have to whip
something up last minute
out of a quick hack.
But we have never used biscuits
in a quick hack before.
- You okay, Abhi?
- We're not able to open it.
- Okay.
- I can't open this one.
- Would you steal?
- If I was doing this game...
- Mm-hmm.
- I would steal.
But then when they ask me to
give them my first ingredient,
I'd be like, "I don't have it."
- That's smart.
- "What are you talking about?"
- That's smart.
- And then they'd be like,
"What?"
- Happy holidays!
- We love you!
- Oh, good.
- What's the marzipan for?
- I think I might make
a little baby.
- You're gonna make
a marzipan Baby Jesus?
- Hey, Jonah, Patrick,
what's going on?
- Maya and Andy. Mandy.
- Mandy?
- Sure.
- People call us Patronah.
Actually, they don't.
No one calls us that.
- He just did.
- Well, they do now.
- Oh, no!
- They do now, Patronah.
- So, Patronah...
- Yeah.
- Tell us what you're making.
- Ahh!
- See now, you've got
just some sprinkles.
- Sprinkles went flying.
You really do have
a signature edible glitter.
- We do.
- I mean, it's gotten
us this far.
- Yeah.
- And we are unencumbered
by victory.
We don't have any brooches
to brag about.
This is not the time
to strike out.
It's the semifinals.
We have zero brooches.
- We're running out of glitter.
- Yeah.
We cannot leave
this competition
without getting a smile
from Nana Harriet.
- I'd--I'd settle for a hug.
Not a hug goodbye. Not yet.
- Yeah.
So, Patrick,
tell them about this
because this is
from your family.
- Okay. So this is
nontraditional king cake,
a wonderful dish
served at Mardi Gras.
And Mardi Gras starts
at the--after the Epiphany.
- I know a couple grannies
that are gonna be into that.
- I could not be left alone
with this cake
because I know what I do
with king cakes at home
during Mardi Gras carnival.
- No.
- We don't.
- The thing about king cake
is the tradition
is you typically--
- Oh, shoot, his head fell off.
- Are you hurting my babies?
- His head fell off.
- This is why we don't--this
is why we don't have children.
- Those really look like
little babies.
- They're babies!
- They are.
And they don't look cute,
but you can say they are.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- You know, like most babies.
- Are you gonna put that
secret baby in your king cake?
- That should have
been our reveal.
- It's gonna be on the side.
- We are putting baby
in the corner.
- Come on.
That deserved a high-five.
- It was very bold
of Jonah and Patrick
to make a king cake
for the two N'awlins grannies.
You know what they say,
if you come at the queens
with a king cake,
you better not miss.
- I think it softens up
cookies nicely.
- I want to put some parsley
in those dumplings.
- Okay.
- Mad scientists over here.
- I'll get the jam.
You've got that jam?
- Yeah, yeah.
- Just them in.
- These are ready to go in.
- Are they done?
- Yeah.
- Jessica and Stephanie, hi.
- Hey!
- Hi.
- What you doing?
What are you making?
- Pudding three ways.
- Yeah? I did a lot
of those in college.
Pudding three ways?
- Yeah.
- And yeah, so we are doing
a chocolate pudding ice cream
in a vanilla pudding
chocolate chip cookie cup
and with spiced hot fudge.
- This is a super short
challenge, and you were like,
"Let's do it three ways."
- Because if pudding
is disgusting one time...
- Right.
- Why not do it three times?
- That's what I like to hear.
- You're really hyping it up.
- I don't like pudding.
It's like my least
favorite thing on the planet.
Have I mentioned
that I hate pudding?
'Cause I hate pudding.
I have issues with the texture.
I have issues with the flavor.
And I'm just hoping that we'll
communicate to the grannies
that we know what we're doing,
and that we were able
to take an ingredient
and transform it
into something delicious.
We love pudding!
- There we go.
- When you make your stock,
I'll go ahead and get rolling
on dropping those dumplings.
- We're gonna put
the chicken in last.
- Do you want it to be
that inconsistent?
- I just like it torn.
It looks old fashioned.
- It does.
- And that's how I want it
to look, like my
grandmothers made.
- Hi!
Tom and Steve!
- Happy to see you.
- Hi, hi, hi.
- Hey, happy to see you guys.
What's happening over here?
- A 45-minute chicken
and dumplings
out of pancake mix.
One of my very favorite meals.
This recipe was inspired
by Nana Montel.
Her chicken and dumplings
were like heaven
on this good Earth.
So I'm sauteing the chicken
in butter and chicken stock.
- And we made dumplings
out of the pancake mix.
Instead of putting it
into a pan, we're gonna drop it
into a pot of boiling water.
And we're just gonna
let these things blow up.
- We're not used to using
pancake mix out of a box.
- Anything boxed.
It's gonna be a little bit
of a challenge
to try to transform it.
- Yeah.
- So you got pancake mix.
You're making chicken
and dumplings.
- Yeah.
- Yes.
- You put the dumplings
into the chicken.
- Yeah.
- You boil the chick.
You put the dump--
- Well, the chick's
just for flavor.
- We dump the chicks.
- We used all we have
- Oh, you dump the chicks?
- Yeah.
- We dump the chicks.
- I wonder if anyone is gonna
actually cook
with white elephant meat.
- What do you think it's like?
Chewy or--or soft?
- Tough.
- Yeah.
- Like you could just
make marble columns with it.
- Steaks.
You make white elephant chops.
White elephant "chops"?
- You make "chops."
Make a filet, a T-bone.
- What is that accent?
- I'm not sure.
- Today, we are doing
a White Elephant bake.
So all the bakers got
a surprise ingredient
inside of a box--
- What's in the box?
Is it Gwyneth's head?
- It's Gwyneth's head!
- Oh, no, Gwyneth!
- It's not a in a box!
- Thank you.
- How many should I make more?
- Just--we'll see
which are the good ones
and we'll take the good ones.
- Okay.
- Two, three, four,
five, six, seven.
- So we're at 15.
So we have enough
to do two each.
- I have to cool this thing
down before I can ice it.
Otherwise it's just
gonna be a puddle.
- Hey, can you fan
a little bit higher?
- Yeah.
- Thank you.
- It's a little quiet
in here, no?
- Only four teams left.
- I'll check for doneness.
- So we decided to make
fried donut holes.
And I want them
really cooked from inside.
I don't want to
give them half fried.
- Mm-hmm.
- So I'm keeping them in
the fryer a little bit longer.
It is making me
a little bit nervous,
but I think
I'll go with my gut.
I'm gonna fry them again.
Niyati and Abhi!
- Hello.
- How are you, my friends?
- Good.
- So we're walking and talking
really fast
'cause this is--
this is a short challenge.
- It is.
- It's a very short challenge.
- 45 minutes
and you're right there.
- You got swapped.
- Yeah.
- They swapped you.
- You got swapped.
- They stole our, you know,
our mojo
and also our ingredient.
But hey, when life
gives you biscuits,
you make donut holes
out of them.
- Ooh!
- Oh, girl.
You're talking my language.
- PS, a T-shirt I would wear.
- Are you making holes in them?
- Yeah.
Because we're gonna be, like...
- Filling it with--
- Injecting them
with a preserve,
which we made out of apricots,
raspberry, toasted fennel...
- Oh.
- And some toasted coconut.
- Yeah.
- And then we'll be
glazing this off
with some sticky toffee.
Yeah.
- Let me tell you something.
They can never steal your mojo.
Just remember that.
Keep it inside.
- Still there.
- Yeah.
- You just need to dig deeper.
- It's just a burning ember
that needs to be--
- Yeah.
Usually we have a lot of time
to visit everyone's stations.
- Yeah.
- And go around.
Ask them questions.
And today, we had zero time.
- Yeah, there were
a few factors there.
One, it was a superfast bake.
- Mm-hmm.
- Two, I just pugged like a
gallon of coffee right before.
- Yeah, you were
z-z-zinging it.
- I'm not sure we even needed
to go that fast, looking back.
- Five minutes left.
Oh, no!
- Can you hack it?
- No, we can't!
- Should I do one more batch
of dumplings or just let it go?
- Let it go.
- Sorry, but we are in a rush.
- That's okay.
- We are running very short
on time here, Maya.
- I'm running very short
on nails; I'm very nervous.
- You think we're gonna
get it done?
- Yeah.
- This one got overpoured.
- How do I do it?
- Okay.
- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Just--just let me breathe.
- Oh, I'm so nervous.
I can't look.
I can't see you, Andy.
- The stress has blinded you.
- Oh!
- You can always
open your eyes.
- Get some green
and purple glitter.
- Yep.
- And put that on top.
- Okay.
- That looks beautiful.
- Okay.
Five...four...three...
- Last one on.
Two...one!
- Time's up!
Ovens off.
- Mitts down.
- That was the fastest
45 minutes...
Of my life.
- Oh, my.
- All right, Steve and Tom,
please come up.
- Hi, ladies, grannies.
- Hi.
- Andy.
- Pretty, pretty, pretty.
- Very pretty.
- Our White Elephant gift
was a box of pancake mix.
- Oh.
- So we made chicken
and dumplings.
- Thank you.
- Beautiful.
- Good ol' comfort food.
- In the dumplings
are thyme and parsley.
We did our best
to shred some chicken.
And then there's just
little black pepper
and parsley garnish on top.
- Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm!
My mom used to make chicken
and dumplings all of the time.
And I'm pretty sure, Mom,
you would say,
"Gosh, I wish I would have
made it like this."
I'm telling you,
it's really, really good.
- This is one
of my favorite comfort foods.
And you presented it
beautifully.
- You made this out
of pancake mix?
- Wow.
- I mean,
you really transformed
that ingredient.
- Thank you.
- I can appreciate
the substitution
with the pancake mix.
I'm the queen
of the hacks at home.
One time, I'm running out
of tomato gravy, you know,
pot meatballs and spaghetti,
the only thing I had on hand
were two bottles
of Bloody Mary mix.
And I put it in.
I want you to know, it made
the tomato gravy really nice.
The kids didn't mind.
They never knew about it.
So you did a good job
with that pancake mix.
Thank you.
- Niyati and Abhi.
- Oh, my.
- Wow.
- It's beautiful.
- So for our White Elephant,
we had cinnamon rolls, but--
- Our friends over there.
- Jonah and Patrick.
They stole it from us,
and we got their biscuits.
- Shame on you. Shame on you.
- So we made fried donut holes.
- Wow.
- So they have raspberry
and apricot filling.
- Wow.
- With toasted cumin, coconut
flakes, and fennel seeds.
- I'll tell you,
the presentation is exquisite.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- I would have never known
that this was a biscuit.
- That jelly was delicious.
And I would have absolutely
loved to taste more of that.
- So good. So good.
- Thank you.
- And I want you to know,
I know donut holes
from New Orleans.
- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah, we eat them a lot.
- This is the lightest
donut hole I have ever enjoyed.
- Thank you.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
- It's just so cute to eat.
It looks just like y'all.
- Oh, thank you.
- Jessica and Stephanie,
please come up.
- Hi, grannies.
- This looks pretty.
That looks pretty.
- It does.
- So our White Elephant gift
was pudding mix.
So we had chocolate
and vanilla pudding.
So with the vanilla pudding,
we made the little
chocolate chip cookie cup.
And then we also made
a chocolate ice cream
and a Mexican hot
chocolate hot fudge
out of
the chocolate pudding mix.
- Oh, boy.
- Clever. Clever.
- Wow.
- I think it's very festive.
I love hot fudge.
- Yes.
- Agreed.
- Mmm, mmm.
- I should have this
for breakfast every day.
- Yeah.
- Right?
- I'm ashamed to tell you I do.
- The transformation of
your ingredient is great.
- Oh, good.
- The cookie itself,
it's really good,
very flavorful.
The ice cream,
I would have liked
just a little bit more flavor,
maybe some vanilla bean
or something like that.
- Okay.
- Pudding ice cream.
It's such
a wonderful revelation.
I'd never thought of pudding--
ice cream out of pudding.
And it invited you in,
and it didn't disappoint you.
That's what I love.
- Whew.
- Jonah and Patrick.
- So our White Elephant
that we borrowed
from our good friends was
a can of cinnamon rolls.
So our hack is
to make a king cake.
- Wow.
- So king cake,
for those of you
who are not familiar,
is often served
during Mardi Gras season,
which begins on the Epiphany.
And we're not gonna have you
risk which cake piece
has the baby.
So we've made for you
four baby marzipans.
And my favorite part
about the tradition is,
whoever gets the baby
has to make the next king cake.
So we are hoping
that the four of you
will make king cakes
for us one day.
- That's right. So that's
why there's four babies
- Only if we can use the hack.
- Yes, of course.
- The flavor, the cinnamon and
all, is really coming through.
- The texture came out
very nice.
- No. I don't--I don't agree
with you on that one.
- What, you don't agree on?
- I think it's undercooked.
- Do you think so?
- Underbaked.
- Hmm.
- Yeah. I really do.
- I'm disappointed
that it wasn't
disassembled and braided.
- When we were growing up,
we would have
king cake parties.
And Mom would always--
not my mom only,
but everybody's mom,
"Don't get the baby!"
- That's the last word
you heard is,
"Don't get the baby!"
- "Don't get the baby!"
- Because that meant you had
to give the next party.
- It was a party.
- I've gotten the baby once.
- Really?
- You got the baby once?
- I did.
I haven't thrown the party yet.
- Are people still waiting
for an invitation?
- That's not good, right,
when you get the baby
and you don't throw the party?
- No, indeed,
how many years has it been?
- Probably like five.
- Bakers, we learned some
great kitchen hacks
in our
White Elephant challenge.
- And I learned that stealing
from friends
is fun and delicious
if you say it's a game.
Grannies, whose White Elephant
will you never forget?
- Today, we tasted
some wonderful hacks.
They were all really creative
and well done.
But one really stood out.
Our winner
of this challenge is...
Niyati and Abhi.
- Yes!
- Niyati and Abhi, the reason
we picked your bake today
was because not only did you
take a simple can of biscuits
and turn it into such
a delightful donut hole,
but the way you put
your flavors together,
they all combined so well
that it made it a huge surprise
when we tasted it.
- Come and get your brooch!
- Yeah, guys.
- Good job, guys.
- I found some darling
little elephant brooches.
- Aw!
- Thank you so much.
- There you go.
- Kudos to you both.
- Thank you.
- Whoo-hoo!
- Whoo! Yay!
- We won another one.
- Jonah and Patrick
stole our White Elephant.
- So there was a lot
of last-minute thinking
which went into the recipes.
- So I feel so blessed...
- Yeah.
So blessed, so grateful.
- That we have three brooches.
- You know, it's just an honor
to share the same room
with all these amazing bakers.
- Good job, guys.
- I learn from them
on a daily basis.
- Good job.
- We all know
that looks can be deceiving,
but honestly, some looks
are just tight as hell,
so don't be a hater.
- In today's
Pie in the Sky Challenge,
we want to see the best-looking
pie you can bake.
- It's called Eyes on the Pies
because we're not looking
for an ordinary pie.
- No, no, no.
We want bespoke designs,
tailored looks.
- Style, clothes, jorts.
- Like every pie I've ever had,
it better taste good.
But we'll give you extra points
for intricate designs
- and 3
- D features.
- You have two hours to make
the hottest pie
you've ever baked.
So, bakers...
let's get bakin'!
Bake us proud.
- Ooh, now that's good.
- Do you want
two onions or one?
- Two.
- Can I have an onion?
Thank you.
- We are making a Washington
apple and sweet cherry pie
with some spices like cinnamon
and ginger and nutmeg.
- Look at these
pretty little fellas.
Hi, everybody.
- Oh, I thought
you were talking about us.
- You too.
- Don't talk about me
like I'm not right here.
- We're making lobster pie.
- Lobster potpie.
- This pie is super important
to us.
You know, we want to get into
the finals to win this thing.
But, you know,
we're with incredible bakers.
And so the competition
is fierce.
- We are making a pork,
apple cider, and sage pie.
- Abhinav, I'm going
I'm doing three tomatoes.
- Okay.
- Oh, we're making--
- We're making a chicken
tikka masala pie...
- Pie.
- Which would be like a rich,
creamy, velvety texture.
- This is the
Pie in the Sky challenge.
And it's actually
a pie this time.
- What would you do if you
looked up in the sky
and there really was a pie?
- I think I'd cry.
- That's no lie.
- So as thin
as I can get them.
You don't want them
so thin they're gonna tear.
- I love a pie.
Don't ask me why,
but I love pie.
- Oh, my God.
- Why, oh, why?
You might say I too love pie.
But no one can deny
how I love pie.
- It's like being held hostage
by your friend's kids.
"Now look at this dance."
- Patrick, screw those.
Let's try these instead.
- Wanna use Granny Smith
instead?
- Yes.
Where I grew up in the Midwest,
pie was at every meal.
It was at every special
gathering.
Why don't you
cut a bunch of these
and then start painting them
a little bit?
But this pie
that we have to do
for this challenge
had better be spectacular.
And we're gonna try to take
all of the lessons
that the grannies
have taught us.
Attention to detail,
perfect bake, unique flavors.
All that kind of stuff.
We need to get it right.
- Oh, look who it is,
Jonah and Patrick.
- Gosh, Mandy.
- Hey, guys.
- We just came to see
what you guys are up to.
- Oh. Well, we're making a
pork, apple cider, and sage pie
with a lot of filigree
in the shape of holly berries.
This is sort of an invention
based on something
that we do at the holidays.
So we didn't have
a lot of money growing up.
So my mom would host
tea parties
to sort of teach the kids
how to--
what it would be like
to eat in restaurants
and, like, how to have class
'cause...
- What a good idea.
- You know, money
doesn't buy class.
- Wait a minute, I disagree.
- Maya would argue yes.
- Yes.
- She's always like,
"I love money!
My name's Maya,
and I love money."
- Money!
- "I like to make it.
And I like to spend it."
- Spend it.
- That's a spot-on impression.
Thank you.
- Patrick knows me well.
- And we've got a little trick
in the middle,
a little pig pops up,
and get some steam out of
- his mouth for the 3
- D component.
- Get some what
out of his mouth?
- Some steam.
- Thank you very much.
- He wants to blow
off some steam.
- He really does.
- Yeah.
I misheard you the first time,
and I'm glad we cleared it up.
- We have a little pie funnel
that is in the shape of a pig.
And its purpose is, of course,
to let the steam
out of the pie.
But it actually has
a hole in the mouth.
So it's a cute little trick
where the steam comes
out of the mouth of the pig.
And hopefully, this will be
my one last party trick
that gets us to the finals.
- How does it feel being
in the semifinals?
- We could not be
more thrilled.
- I think you are
in good company.
- Best company. Best company.
- We are. And at the end
of the day, if we don't win,
one of our friends
is gonna win.
And that is, like,
the most amazing thing.
- There's actually a lot
of love in this room.
- Absolutely.
- I feel like we--
we created a little family.
- It's really sweet.
- Yeah.
- How's the crust coming,
Steph?
- Oh, shoot.
- What? Did it tear?
- The Space Needle broke.
- How are you, guys?
- Hi, guys!
- How are you?
- What are you guys
making today?
- We are making a Washington
apple and cherry pie
with a skyline of Seattle
'cause that's where we grew up.
So we just thought
that would be a great way
to bring Christmas here.
And we learned how to bake pies
from our grandma
who lives in Washington.
So it all just
kind of goes together.
- Tell us more
about growing up.
- Well, I'm kind of amazed
that I'm here because,
growing up,
when I was a teenager,
I had a pretty severe
eating disorder.
And so, like, I didn't eat any
of the stuff that you see here.
- Really?
- I was, like, afraid
to touch things
like butter and oil
'cause I was afraid
somehow, like, through osmosis,
it would get into my body.
I think when I look back
at my teenage self,
I would just want
to give her a hug and say,
"Things will get better.
You can get better."
If I hadn't gone through
the struggles
that I did as a teenager,
I wouldn't have the confidence
now to approach challenges
as something
that's overcome-able.
- I'm just proud of Jessica
for being here
and overcoming everything
that she has to--to make it.
- I see such a strength
in you as sisters,
and it seems like--
I mean, you're just--
- Sure, sure.
- It's really amazing
to see you work together.
- I know, that--I mean,
it's great meeting you guys.
Not gonna lie.
It's great baking.
- Sure.
- Also not gonna lie.
But this is probably
the best part.
- It's nice to see two sisters
on the show cooking together.
I wish I had a sister.
I wish we were sisters.
- Okay, I'll be your sister.
- Thanks, Andy.
- Do you want to braid my hair?
- Yeah.
Oh, God.
I love you so much.
- This is the Pie in the Sky.
I do love pie quite a bit.
Let me--let me bring the lights
down for a minute.
Let's get serious for a minute.
I like the buttery,
flaky crust.
I think just about anything
tastes good inside of a crust.
I don't need no icing.
I don't need no cake.
Give me that pie.
Oh, I have a great idea.
I worked so hard making
this beautiful, flaky crust,
and then I'm gonna
make it mushy.
Get your ice cream
and get it off my plate.
Me like that.
- No, I got that.
- Do you know yet how many
of these you want to use?
- Uh, probably, like, eight.
- You do the ice cream
this time.
- Okay.
- You just add a little bit
at a time.
- Okay.
- Put your goggles on
and your gloves.
We have a time crunch,
so we're making ice cream
and we're gonna use
liquid nitrogen.
When you pour too much at once,
it'll, like, freeze things
solid before it gets a chance
to, like, aerate it.
- For sure.
- It should be like soft serve
by the time it's done.
- Okay.
- I think this is ambitious
but I think we have
to bring it all out
for this Pie in the Sky
Challenge.
It's really good.
- Right now, we are just
working on the curry.
I hope all the grannies
like it.
- Okay, this is the big one.
- Yep. This is the semifinal.
- Yep.
- Yes.
- I love pie.
- Let me tell you.
The Pie in the Sky is my jam.
- Mm-hmm.
- I am really
a pie connoisseur.
- Mm.
- I bake pies all the time,
won awards
on sweet and savory.
So for the sweet, I'm looking
for that flaky crust.
That's gonna be real important.
To see if they actually put
that cold butter, you know,
in that pie fillings.
- I just need, like,
two tablespoons.
- But now talk about savory,
you know, I'm Team Savory.
- Very, very happy
with my lobsters today.
- And I like a filling
that has a good mouthfeel.
And one of the things
I love to see on a pie...
- Mm-hmm.
- Is a decorative crust.
- Do you think
this is good placement?
Yeah, it is.
- Seattle is known
for its rain.
So we're gonna do
a little border of raindrops
around the edge of the pie.
- I'm neither a pie connoisseur
or a piemaker,
but I know what I like.
- Exactly.
- And I'm looking for--
if it's apple,
I want to taste apple.
- Our big thing is trying
to flavor...
- We just want the flavor.
- In the lobster pie.
- We want the flavor of lobster
to come through really strong.
- Pie can really lend a lot
to a holiday meal.
- During festivals,
all you think is comfort food
and, like, something
which is rich, cozy.
I think this would hit
all the right notes for that.
- Pies at Christmas
and Thanksgiving
are traditional.
And they would be missed.
They would be missed.
- Hmm, let's take a peek.
- Okay.
- Do-doink.
- Good!
- How are the lobsters
coming along?
- They're coming.
I promise I'll salt
everything in that.
- Thank you.
- We decided we would try to do
a lobster potpie.
I am concerned about getting
the flavor of the lobster
into the filling.
So I cook the lobsters
in a pan,
I get the pan
cracking and sizzling.
I want the shell to be
somewhat red and burnt
a little bit
so that the flavors come out.
Then I'll deglaze it
with some brandy.
We are very restricted
by time here.
And that's a concern
right now for me.
- Tom and Steve,
what's up, you guys?
You in the middle of something?
- Hi. How are you?
- Oh, my goodness.
- Did you just put a lobster
in a pot?
- I just put the claws in.
- What are you making?
- We're making our traditional
lobster dinner for Christmas.
The lobster potpie.
The tradition came from me
being in the seafood business
in the D.C. area
before any of my kids
were born.
So I would bring lobsters home
every Christmas.
My sister was always
a part of our family.
It was totally
her favorite meal.
She was my wife's best friend.
She was--she was
my best friend.
And so 20 years ago,
October 30th, she died.
The biggest hole in my life
has been the loss of Jo.
I cherish my memories of her.
She was funny.
She was witty and smart.
- I think that our main goal
in doing this pie
is truly representing Joanne.
- So you still do lobster
every Christmas.
- We do. We do.
- Since this is about pies,
do you guys make pies often?
- I do.
That's been my Thanksgiving
thing my whole life.
- It smells fantastic.
- Looks good, yeah.
- Heyo.
- You frightened me just now,
but I see that there
was a method to your madness.
Look at that big hunk
of lobster.
- I'm about to--
- That's the claw.
- I'm about to put that
in my mouth.
- We are trying
to make it a half--
- Don't kill me, man!
I'm so sorry.
- Look at that meat.
Look at that fresh meat.
- I'll be good! I'll be good!
- Oh!
- I swear to God,
I'll be good, Tom.
Oh! Ow!
- Hiya!
- Jesus!
- Did Tom chill with a knife?
- I thought he was gonna
take a finger off, for sure.
- I thought he was gonna
take my finger off.
- Abhi and Niyati,
how you doing?
- We can't find black pepper.
- I have some.
- Oh, you have some?
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
- Niyati and Abhi.
- Hi, guys.
How are you?
- What are you making?
- So we are making
the chicken tikka masala pie.
- The inside has
tikka masala sauce,
which is a rich, creamy,
velvety tomato-based sauce
infused with ginger,
garlic, cumin,
the tandoori masala,
a little bit of yogurt in
the marination of the chicken.
Little bit of cream.
And a lot of dried
fenugreek leaves.
It's kind of
a quintessential Indian dish.
- Yes!
- So we don't cook a lot
of pies back home in India.
But when we think of pie,
we think of, you know,
family togetherness
and family gatherings.
We haven't been home
in the past three years now.
- But whenever we go back home
to India, on the dinner table,
we have chicken tikka masala,
which is everybody's favorite.
- Isn't pie magical that you
can put most things, not all...
Yes.
- But most things
in a piecrust?
- That's correct.
- Yeah.
- That's why pie is the best.
- Pie just gives us, like,
those--you know,
that rich and cozy feeling.
- Speaking of rich, you guys
have a lot of hardware going.
- How does it feel to be
in the semifinals, guys?
- It feels great.
- It feels...
We feel blessed.
- We're very grateful.
- Who has the
most brooches so far?
Us.
- That's got to feel
pretty good.
It's a huge deal.
- Where did you put
those red berries?
- Right here.
- Oh, they turned out nice.
- Yeah, they look great.
- All right.
You've got your vision.
I'm just gonna let you
roll with it.
- I think piecrust is
an incredibly important part
of any pie.
That's too short.
- The design we decided on is
gonna be like a spoke design.
So it's gonna be geometric.
Yeah, I think that is
the way to do it.
Do you agree
that you switch them?
- Yeah, it's great.
- We're gonna set up
just a center hole,
where we're gonna be able
to have a cooked lobster claw.
So it's very obvious
to the judges that this
is in fact a lobster pie.
Good to go.
- I'm smelling this aroma.
And some smells like seafood.
Like fish maybe. I'm not sure.
- There it is.
- Bake, sweet baby.
- You gotta keep an eye
on that oven.
- Gigi is the pie connoisseur
of grannies.
We would love to hear
Gigi Diggity on this one.
- We're keeping a close eye
on how Gigi Sherri
reacts to the pies
because she has an entire room
of blue ribbons
all won for her pies.
So she's kind
of the expert here.
It's always interesting,
though.
Like, when someone
has a lot of blue ribbons.
- Mm-hmm.
- You can always just, like,
go on Amazon and buy
a bunch of blue ribbons.
Funniest guy!
- Or like, "I'm a total idiot."
Did I--did I strike a nerve?
- Just don't know why I would
buy one that says that,
'cause I'm smart.
- 'Cause they're fancy.
- How much time we got left?
17.
- This has only been
in 31 minutes.
First and foremost,
we're tight on time.
Lobster is a mild flavor,
so I think it's hard
to get that concentrated dose
of lobster without time.
- You like the color?
- Yeah.
- I mean, I think we have
to keep it in longer.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- I'm not sure how long
till the pie comes out.
We're just kind of watching it
to see that
it's cooking through.
- We're working
on the sauce here.
- Working on the sauce.
So we're just waiting
for the pie to come out. And...
- Patience, patience.
- We need patience.
- Life advice.
- Okay.
- "Get over it."
- Always good.
- There's nothing you can do
about a lot of stuff.
Just move on.
- I love that.
- And one other thing too.
Be yourself.
- Unless you're having
a bad day
and you don't like yourself.
Maybe those days
you can be somebody else.
- During the holidays,
there are people
that don't have that love
in their life.
And so if you can just say
some--you never know.
- It's a smile.
- Just a smile.
Just a little hello.
They may be just looking
just for that.
- Sure.
- 10-minute warning, bakers.
"Crust" the process.
- Ew!
- I don't know
how it's looking.
We are the underdogs
in this competition.
- Yes.
- All of the other teams
have multiple brooches.
- Oh, God.
We've had real highs,
and then we've been
very close to the bottom.
So we need to show them
with this pie
that we are good enough
to stand with the best.
It's not browning
in the middle.
Open it, please.
- Five minutes, which is only
slightly more than 3.141592--
- You're gonna get a pie
in the face
if you say another number.
- Six. Hey!
- Ooh. Wowzer.
That's much better though.
- I don't think
it's gonna stick.
Nope.
- You want to put
a little butter on it first,
a brush of butter,
so it's shiny?
- Okay. Ice cream.
Five...four...three...
two...one!
- Time is up!
- Whoo!
- Yay!
- Yeah, guys! We did it.
- Happy pie challenge.
- Oh, wow.
- Yes. Gorgeous.
It's really pretty.
- Jessica and Stephanie,
please come join us.
Okay. Tell us about your bake.
- We made a apple cherry pie.
We grew up berry picking
with our grandma.
And she taught us
how to make pie.
So we thought we'd bring
a little bit of home to you.
- And then we also made
a Ceylon cinnamon ice cream.
And then,
if you look at the crust,
you can see the Seattle skyline
with the Space Needle
and the ocean.
- I can see
the three-dimension,
but I would have liked it
a little bit more pronounced.
- Okay.
- The bake is uneven.
Some of it looks
very, very, very well done.
- Yes.
- And some of it is lighter.
- It smells delicious.
- It does.
- Oh, look how pretty.
- Mother of Jesus.
- This is delicious.
- Oh, good. I'm so glad.
- This is everything.
This is sweet. And it's tart.
- Mm-hmm.
- You know, not too sweet.
You know, because sometimes--
- Oh, my God.
- Right.
- Your ice cream is delicious.
And the caramel sauce
just brings it all together.
- Oh, good.
- I mean, this is lickin'.
- I--I can't stop eating it.
- I like the texture
of the apples too.
I mean, in addition
to all the other stuff.
And even though the crust
isn't consistent,
you know, all the same color.
I like it anyway.
It's really good.
- You doing okay
over there, Maya?
- Maya, are you having
a moment? Are you okay?
- I'm really happy.
- Niyati and Abhi.
- It looks beautiful.
I love the leaves.
- For our pie challenge,
we decided to make
the quintessential
chicken tikka masala pie.
- It's beautiful.
I see the three-dimension.
The creativity is excellent.
So when I bite into this,
it should be
a flavor bomb, right?
- Yes.
- Wow.
- The flavor is scrumptious.
- Oh, my God. It's delicious.
Thank you.
- Sauce complements
your pie filling.
Your crust is very flaky.
- Your spices
are incredible to me.
- Balance is amazing.
You don't just get one flavor,
but you get everything
at the same time
exploding in your mouth.
- I'ma tell you right now.
This is, like, the best
tikka masala
that I've ever had.
You can make this
for me any holiday.
Thank you.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you so much.
- It means a lot, thank you.
- Thank you so much.
- Jonah and Patrick.
- So ours is with
the little piggy there.
And so I've done
a pork and apple.
The inside is pork shoulder,
apple cider, sage,
onion, and celery.
And it's also served
as sort of a potpie.
- Is the little piggy edible?
- The piggy is not edible.
- Sherri, we can make a call
and get you
a fondant pig like that.
- It is adorable.
- Thank you.
- It's very festive
for the holidays.
The green and the red.
And I love that little sweet
tartness
of the Granny Smith apple.
- Yes.
- The pork is very,
very tender.
- Your vegetables
are beautiful.
- Yes.
- Thank you.
- For me, pork and apples
is one of my favorite
combinations.
When I do pork and apples,
I always add
apple cider vinegar.
- Mmm. I thought about that.
- Because the apple cider
vinegar takes the apple flavor
up a couple of notches
and it gives you
a real true apple flavor.
This is very good,
but I'm not getting apple.
- Got it.
- I would love to have
tasted more apple.
- A little bit more sage 'cause
sage is one of those herbs
that reminds you
of the holidays.
- Thank you for your notes.
- I think these grannies
are getting tough.
- You can see them
hardening their resolve.
- Mmm.
- Getting ready
to drop the hammer.
- Ooh. I'm afraid.
- Tom and Steve,
tell us about your bake.
- What we have for you today
is a lobster pie.
- It is beautiful.
- And in the middle--
- That's a lobster claw.
- A little lobster claw.
- And it's resting on
a buttered panko crumb.
- Thank you.
- For the top,
something a little peppery
because we know
you all love that.
- So good. So good.
- Thank you.
- You can tell,
the flavor is delicious.
- And your sauce, whee!
- The flavors are lovely,
I'll say that. Lovely.
- Mmm. Believe it or not,
I can't believe
I'm saying this,
but it's a smidgen
too salty for me.
But that doesn't mean
I'm not loving it.
- The lobster, I wish it had
more lobster in it.
But that piecrust,
it's golden brown.
- Yes.
- And this is such a large pie.
So that is some skill.
That is something else.
- It was awesome.
- Thank you all.
- Thank you.
- Appreciate it.
- A labor of love.
- Bakers, today, we got to see
how you work
with unexpected ingredients in
our Short and Sweet Challenge.
- And then you all made
some seriously hot pies.
And I'm not
just talking temperature.
- She's talking sex appeal,
which is a natural segue
back to our judges.
Gigi Sherri,
did any of these pies
get you hot and cobblered?
- Oh, yeah.
Bakers, there is nothing
more special to me
than going to a fair
and handing out a blue ribbon
for that big, old,
delicious pie.
There is one team
that baked their way
to the top in this cabin.
And that team is...
Niyati and Abhi.
- Oh, thanks.
- Good job, you guys.
- Good job, you guys.
- Niyati and Abhi,
you have consistently took us
on a beautiful tour of India.
Your creativity,
the appearance,
and the tastiness,
and that bake
is just a few of the reasons
why your pie rose to the top.
So congratulations.
- Thank you.
- Come and get your brooch.
You're going to the finals.
- Yes.
- Okay.
- Thank you so much.
- You're welcome.
- And congratulations.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Whoo-hoo!
- Whoo-hoo! Back to back.
- I know!
It's like unbelievable.
- And in the finals.
Thanks for being there with me
on my side on this journey.
- I wouldn't have thought
anybody else
beside me other than you.
- Yeah.
- So.
- Welcome to the finals.
- Yeah!
- Thank you.
- Good job, you guys.
- Good job, you guys.
- Congratulations.
- Good job.
- This moment gets sadder
and sadder each time
we have to do it.
- You all made it
to the semifinals,
which means you already
have so much to be proud of.
- It has been our pleasure
getting to know you all
and seeing
the amazing things you can do.
- But one team has to go home.
And like always,
we're gonna hand things
over to the adults in the room.
- This was an almost
impossible decision to make.
We've watched y'all grow
through all of these,
but it comes time
that somebody's got to go home.
And that team is...
Jonah and Patrick.
- Aw!
- Look at me sniffling.
- I know. I know.
- Don't start.
I'll start crying.
- Okay. All right, all right,
all right.
Y'all are gonna make
a big difference in lives.
I really mean that.
I mean, you all
are marvelous men.
Your presentation was
lovely and sweet, like y'all.
But we thought it was lacking
in a little bit of flavor.
We couldn't really taste
the flavor of the apples
like we would have liked.
So for those reasons,
we had to choose you all.
But you can't leave this cabin
without a hug
from Grandma Anne, so come on,
let me give it to you.
Oh, I'm already tearing up now.
Jonah, everybody
has tears here.
So what is that saying
about y'all?
- Control yourself.
- Thank you. Good job.
- Thank you so much.
- It's bittersweet
to get the cut
right before the finals.
And I am still so proud
of what we accomplished.
- I am too.
- Keep on bringing
that sunshine.
- And we're so excited
for our friends.
I mean, I cannot wait to see
what they put forward
to the grannies
in the finals.