Chopped Christmas Baking Challenge
On December 18, 2023, we hosted another Chopped Challenge! This time, the three houses were challenged to make a delicious Christmas treat using mandarin oranges, icing sugar, pecans, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and coconut!
Group Home 1 whipped up a Nutcracker Cake with an orange, pecan, butterscotch glaze, and chocolate ganache. They came out the winners with the judges praising the flavour and presentation of this beauty!
Group Home 2, after looking at the ingredients received, decided to go with Orange Pecan Frosted Squares, utilizing all the ingredients were in the box. Chantele helped with every step of the challenge, from making frosting, to whisking eggs, then she stirred the batter and at the end she garnished the squares with oven roasted pecans and coconut. Though they did not get the highest score from the judges, they were presented the “Layers of Creative Bakery” award.
Group Home 3 created an orange coconut loaf with pecans and chocolate chips which was topped with a butterscotch drizzle. Their loaf arrived still warm to the judges and was felt to be quite comforting. They were presented the “A Dish that Warms the Heart” award. They must have been so busy baking that they didn’t have a chance to take pictures.
It was another successful Chopped Challenge! Everyone had fun and Group Home 1 was excited to be declared the winners once again! It was interesting to see how each house cracked their pecans as we now know that none of them have an actual nutcracker.