This Holiday season, a Louisville Baker is competing for a $50,000 prize in the Food Network's Holiday Baking Championship. Terra Nelson served as executive pastry chef at Blue Dog Bakery for six years, and runs her own dessert company, Bourbon Line, (bourbonline.com) which specializes in sweets made from bourbon, like the below mint julep macarons. Nelson also works as a culinary instructor for Jefferson Community and Technical College.
In the Holiday Baking Championship, Nelson will be pitted against seven other bakers in a series of challenging holiday-themed bake-offs in front of judges Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller, and Lorraine Pascale. The grand prize winner will take home $50,000.
The premier episode of the Food Network's Holiday Baking Championship will air this Sunday, November 9, at 9/8 Central, though it appears you can watch the Holiday Cookie Madness episode online right now on the Food Network's website here.
In the episode, Nelson prepares three different kind of cookies: chocolate chip cherry with raspberry preserves, a toffee cinnamon biscuit cookie, a pistachio and orange madeleine cookie. The judges didn't seem super impressed with her offerings, but they looked beautiful:
In an edge-of-the-seat moment, Nelson was up for elimination against another baker.
Spoiler alert: she stayed on the show, at least for another week. You can follow her on Twitter here, and don't forget to watch the Holiday Baking Championship to cheer Nelson on!
Images courtesy of Bourbon Line and Food Network.