The pressure was on recently for three Massachusetts residents who whipped up cookies for Food Network’s “Halloween Cookie Challenge.”
The challenge is hosted by celebrity pastry chef Duff Goldman and social media sensation Rosanna Pansino, and “brings together the best cookie makers in the country to compete in two challenges and create the creepiest, spookiest and tastiest Halloween cookies ever made,” a spokesperson from Food Network told MassLive.
Season 2 of the show begins Monday, Sept. 25. at 10 p.m. Each episode will present a new batch of bakers, and one winner will be crowned each week. The winner takes home a trick-or-treat bag filled with $10,000, according to the show.
The episode featuring Aisling O’Sullivan, of Auburn, airs Sept. 25 at 10 p.m. Filming took place in California in April over several days.
O’Sullivan was one of four bakers to create a cookie showing how “creepers relax the next day” after Halloween. Three bakers advance to the next round, where they try to create 3D ancient coffins using dried figs, dried apples, figs and dried cherries.
O’Sullivan said the first challenge was “really cute,” explaining how between the four bakers, characters were doing yoga, meditation and other relaxing activities.
O’Sullivan has been making cookies for nine years and currently runs Aisling’s Cookies part-time while also working as a nurse part-time at St. Vincent Hospital.
“That’s what makes me happiest,” said O’Sullivan. “It’s a lot of work making cookies and it’s a lot of work being a nurse.”
Massachusetts residents Loren Stanard, also of Auburn, and Nolan Schooley, of Billerica, both competed on the same episode of the “Halloween Cookie Challenge,” scheduled to air Oct. 2 at 10 p.m.
For the first challenge, Both Stanard and Schooley had to decorate half-face makeup cookies, with one side of the cookie being a self-portrait while the other half shows off “their scary makeup.”
The second challenge included having to make life-size oozing zombie parts out of cookies using ingredients like blackberry jam, orange marmalade, raspberry jam and cranberry sauce.
Stanard, who is a tattoo artist at Caged Raven in Worcester, said this halfway cookie challenge “was very natural” for her and explained how “tattooing is like the same thing as piping on a cookie but it’s just like stabbing into someone’s skin.”
Stanard used to be a full-time baker, but decided to transition into being a tattoo artist during the COVID pandemic because she needed a break from baking.
Being a part of the filming for this competition, has “lit a fire” under her, motivating Stanard to continue working on her cookbook, which she began when she was 13 years old.
The competition caused a few gray hairs and anxiety for Stanard, but she also found her best friend, Schooley.
“Nolan was on my episode and it was like an instant connection,” said Stanard.
“We met on the show,” said Schooley. “I just remember walking into the room and I saw her and was immediately like, ‘we’re going to be best friends...’ We’re soul besties, we’re pretty much the same person and the universe literally brought us together and I’m so thankful for it.”
This was the third time Schooley has been on the Food Network. He’s done the Holiday Baking Championship in 2018 and the Christmas Cookie Challenge in 2021.
“I have always wanted to do a Halloween show. Like Christmas is fine. Christmas is cute. She’s a moment. But Halloween, I am wholeheartedly obsessed with, so when I got the call to finally do a Halloween show, I was like step aside, Mama is here.”
Apart from baking, Schooley is the front of the house manager at Ovenbird Cafe in Belmont, and is a full-time law student at Harvard University.
Schooley said competitors get 90 minutes to craft their cookies, which he said “is a little bananas ... No, it’s extremely bananas.”
“Basically, you just have to buckle up and hold onto the goddamn seat of your pants and pray for the best,” said Schooley.
Details about the Food Network Halloween Cookie Challenge and an episode guide can be found on its website.
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