["Auld Lang Syne" plays]
-Thanks for coming. -Thanks for having me.
I'm especially excited 'cause this is a New Year's challenge today.
Hosting a party is a lot of work.
I'll give you a hack that'll make you the ultimate host
and leave you time to hang out with your guests.
Okay.
So I got my muffin tin, my favorite puff pastry,
fig jam, goat cheese, and some nuts.
Salt, sweet, crunch. I'm into it. Show me more. Let's go.
[Ilan] I got my puff pastry cut out.
What we're gonna do is just gently finesse them inside.
And we're gonna alternate, because if they're more separated apart,
they cook more evenly.
Just gonna fill each one with a little bit of fig jam.
Then we're gonna go a bit of goat cheese.
Next we're gonna put the nuts. That's gonna give it a crunch.
-Easy-peasy. -Easy-peasy.
We're gonna throw it in the oven at 400 for about 17 minutes, and that's it.
[Antoni] Oh, I smell it!
-I love that. -[Ilan] Yeah.
-It's legit perfect! -It's as easy as that.
[upbeat music plays]
Hi, guys.
-[man]Hello. -[woman] Hello.
[Antoni] Welcome.
Lauren, Torrie,
Giselle, our returning champion, welcome to Easy-Bake Battle.
I'm so excited to introduce you to my dear friend,
esteemed chef Ilan Hall.
-Hi. -[woman] Hey.
Pleasure to meet you. I'm excited to eat your food.
Giselle is on a hot streak, but we're starting fresh.
Yes.
Any one of you could become the new Easy-Bake champion.
So, Lauren, tell me a little bit about yourself.
I quit my job at 50 to follow my passion for food and teaching people how to cook.
So it's just been kind of a fun little journey these last few years.
I wanna share with the world that you can not only recreate yourself,
but you can also cook amazing food if you've never cooked before.
It's so easy if you just know some of the little tricks.
-Tell me a bit about yourself. -My name is Torrie. I'm a photographer.
I fell into food photography, which got me into cooking. So I like to mix the two.
Interesting. So presentation must be very important.
It is, very. [chuckles]
Being a photographer, my schedule is all over the place.
One day I could have five shoots and then it could be 12 hours of editing sometimes.
I work really well under pressure. I am going to win because I'm a winner.
[laughs]
Giselle, you're competing today to bring your total winnings up to $75,000.
Yes.
-Do you feel you've proven something? -Absolutely.
I wanna win. I don't wanna leave with the 50.
I'm already here. I wanna go all the way.
My heart, my mind, and my soul is all in.
[Antoni] You gonna run with that confidence?
-Yes. -You go! You show 'em.
-And you all show her. -We're showing her.
Today's challenge is a little sparkly and a lot of upscale.
Let's get into it. It's time for the first round.
-Let's do it! -The Dish Dash.
It's New Year's Eve and you decided to tackle hosting.
Your first goal is passed appetizers. But to pull that off with a staff of one...
[Torrie chuckles]
...which is you, you're gonna need to hack your way through this holiday spread.
Your Dish Dash Challenge
is to create a trio of indulgent and harmonious appetizers
in up to 30 minutes.
[sighs] Okay.
[Antoni] Because your guests are on their feet socializing,
your apps must be finger food.
Got it.
We wanna see something stuffed, something skewered,
and something on toast.
And we want you to make ten of each item.
Two of you will keep the festivities going in the Easy-Bake round.
But right now, all three of you have a shot at $25,000.
That's exciting. [laughs]
Giselle, to remind you for the umpteenth time.
that's $75,000.
No pressure. Thanks, Antoni.
-[Antoni] No stress. -Yeah.
Thirty minutes, three appetizers, one epic New Year's Eve bash.
Are you all ready?
-Ready. -And your time starts in three, two, one.
Make it easy!
[upbeat music plays]
And they are off.
Sorry. Where are the nuts?
Cucumber.
Sorry, do you see the cream cheese?
-Giselle means business. -[Antoni] Yeah.
She's very focused.
Our home cooks have 30 minutes to come up with three passed hors d'oeuvres.
One is gonna be on a skewer, one is stuffed,
and one is gonna be on a toast.
It's gotta be decadent, special. It's gotta be lux. It's New Year's Eve!
-New Year's Eve. -[Torrie] Starting.
Hey, Torrie, what you cooking up for us?
So we're gonna do a little baguette with ricotta cheese, blackberry, and mint.
For my second appetizer, I'm gonna do a stuffed jalapeño.
I'm gonna fill them with ricotta, Parmesan, and cheddar cheese.
Then for my third one, I'm gonna do a shrimp skewer.
Why are you going for ghee instead of traditional butter?
-Well, it was the first thing that I saw. -I appreciate the honesty.
First thing I saw, but I do like the flavor of ghee.
Just something on there, give it a little taste
and toast a little faster so it doesn't dry out.
He's toasting 'em.
[Ilan] Air fryer.
-Air fryer is a smart move. -Yeah.
So Giselle's got some wonton wrappers, some cream cheese, some canned crab.
We're going for a Rangoon situation.
I'm very excited. I haven't had any in a while.
Hopefully some sweet chili sauce to go with that.
I have to make three different appetizers, one stuffed, one skewered, one on a toast.
I noticed some crab meat and I'm going for that guy.
I'm making crab wontons. For my skewered, I want something fresh.
So I'm thinking cucumber with some sort of cheese.
I'm gonna put a smoked salmon, like a lox, on top or something like that.
And then for the third one, crostini. A little goat cheese, some sort of fruit.
I'm gonna try to really show that
under pressure, I can still deliver good quality food.
Okay.
Come on, G. Come on, G.
[funky music plays]
-Hey, Lauren. -Hey!
-Whatcha making? -I'm making some crostini.
What's gonna go on those crostini?
I think I'm going to do a little whipped ricotta with some lemon.
-Great. -I know I want to do something Italian.
My first trips to Italy really formed my love for food.
And Italian food typically has fewer ingredients
and they're all delicious.
I know I want to make a three-cheese crostini.
It's classic, it's super few ingredients. You can't go wrong.
Then I know I wanted to make
a classic dates and blue cheese and balsamic.
It's only, like, three ingredients, so can't beat that, right?
And then for the third one,
fried goat cheese, 'cause who doesn't want a fried bite on New Year's?
I'm going to set it on a basil lemon pesto.
Torrie is going for heat for New Year's. We have some jalapeños.
Awesome.
I hope I don't get a really hot one. I'm sensitive to heat.
[Torrie] I'm gonna put the ricotta cheese inside a pastry bag.
I'm gonna use ricotta for these and my bread.
It's about to get messy.
Growing up, I did not like to eat. [laughs] Because I was a picky eater.
I'd fall asleep at the table on purpose until I was excused,
because I didn't wanna eat.
And here I am today. I love, um, I call them happy foods.
It's food that makes you feel good.
I'm talking like I made a chicken sandwich using Flamin' Hot Cheetos.
It's one of those things that, as a kid, I probably would have eaten more
if I had more happy fun foods like that.
Why not make food happy?
Put those bad boys in there.
[upbeat music plays]
Lauren is using... Looks like some Medjool dates. I love dates so much.
It's just simple ingredients. I love the simplicity of delicious ingredients.
I'm stuffing this date with blue cheese.
That will be that really beautiful,
salty meets sweet meets chewy, crunchy thing.
It's got like all the bites. I think it'll be delicious.
I had a great career, I thought. I was an art director and I loved it.
And then I hit 50 and I was like,
"I don't know if this is all there is for me."
I didn't even know cooking was my passion.
I do feel like it's what I'm supposed to be doing.
It's just such an honor to be here. I can't actually believe it to be honest.
[Antoni] You have 20 minutes left in this round.
-[Torrie] Where's that? -I know. It's moving quickly.
Uh, come on.
My cortisol levels have spiked and I'm not making the food.
[upbeat music plays]
[sighs] Last one, buddy.
[sighs]
Think wisely. That is the strategy that I've used on this entire competition.
These crab wontons are tedious,
so I want to be really focused on getting that dish first.
I need ten minutes to fry my guy.
Pretty ambitious of Giselle to be making wontons. You don't want filling to ooze.
It's gotta be properly sealed.
-Especially if you're frying it. -Absolutely.
[oil sizzles]
[Torrie] Pastry bags! We have 30 minutes to make 30 appetizers.
That means we have about one minute per appetizer.
Gotta factor in cooking time, building, the steps,
getting all our ingredients, and things like that.
When you break it down, you really maybe only have 30 seconds
to actually work with your appetizers, so I'm getting a little nervous.
I was gonna make skewers with it, but I did not realize it had a shell on.
[Antoni gasps]
Well, we came... There you go, some peeled, shelled shrimp.
-[Ilan] He leaves... -[Antoni] As we arrive.
That gives us a little time to creep then.
Beautiful little browning on the baguettes.
-I like to see that. -[Ilan] Smart.
-It's too much work for now... -Sorry.
I'm out of his way. Do not apologize! This is your station. We're intruding.
W-What's going on?
[Torrie] So we're just gonna toss these onto...
All right, try it out.
Oh, excuse me.
[suspenseful music plays]
Since they're already cooked, you wanna minimize...
Try to get them thawed in the microwave, like he just did.
-Talking about you like you're not here. -[suspenseful music continues]
Keep doing your thing.
-Thank you. -Thank you so much.
Whenever I come see Giselle, I try not to distract her
and do too much talking, because she's so focused.
-I like the way she's moving. -Yes.
-[Ilan] Giselle, what you got going on? -I'm gonna not remake this guy.
This is my hack. Just buy it.
-What is that? Herb cheese? -It's a bit of herb cheese.
I'm just gonna...
[tense music plays]
-Okay, keep doing your thing. -[Ilan] Let you get back to it.
I feel understandably unwelcome.
Sorry.
I'm so disconnected from everybody else when I'm in the zone.
I'm like, "You can stay, just don't talk to me." [laughs]
-Making some pesto? -I'm making some pesto.
Do you have a plan? You know what you're making?
-Doing the best I can. -Take deep breaths.
-You got it. -I'm kidding.
-You got plenty of time. -It's gonna... It's gonna be delicious.
-It will be delicious! -I know.
We'll let her do her thing.
This is probably the hardest challenge we've asked so far.
[Torrie] Olive oil.
Losing some shrimp here.
That's okay. We're gonna see what happens. I am using the panini press for my shrimp.
I have to keep an eye on it because it's cooked shrimp.
I don't wanna overcook it so it turns out rubbery.
Once the shrimp is done, I'll feel a lot better.
-I smell the shrimp. -I smell them.
I'm gonna put these on the skewers with the shrimp.
There's a time and place for a green bell pepper.
I don't hate them as much as many people do.
When I make my chili, I use green bell peppers.
Not that you asked, but a bottle of Guinness,
dark chocolate, and a little apple cider vinegar at the end.
-Really? -I love that acidity. Mm-hm.
I like it.
[Torrie] The shrimp is looking okay.
Okay, I'm thinking fried goat cheese with some Parmesan cheese.
Something decadent. We live for that.
A cheese grating hack when you don't have a lot of time
is put the Parmesan right in a food processor.
It'll chop it for you.
I start mixing it with a bit of cream to loosen it up.
We're gonna deep-fry it,
because deep-fried cheese always is a good thing to do.
-What's she making? -I don't know.
I think it's another type of cheese.
I feel like cheese is such a...
Vegans aside, it's such an easy, decadent route that everybody loves.
Mm, super wet.
Thickening up this cheese a little bit.
It's a little bit runny, and the worst thing could be it not holding up.
This could be the kiss of death, but, uh, we are going to see what we can do.
Five minutes left.
[tense music plays]
So...
Giselle has opted for cucumber,
a bit of an herb cheese situation, and some smoked salmon.
[Ilan] You've got your stuff on one side.
If you pick it up on a skewer, it could fall over.
[Antoni] Yeah.
Where do you place the skewer? Does it go across them or...?
-Could be like a lollipop. -[Antoni] That's true.
-Love a lolly. -Yeah.
[Giselle] Really thin slices of pear.
[Giselle groans]
[Giselle sighs]
Under two minutes left.
[tense music plays]
[Torrie] These are not turning out like I wanted them to, but that's okay.
Everybody's moving with intention.
They're trying to just get it done. 30 minutes is nothing.
Nothing, for doing one dish.
-Let alone three different things. -Yep.
-Size doesn't matter in this scenario. -Correct.
[tense music continues]
[Torrie] Garnishes are everything!
[tense music continues]
[bell dings]
-[Lauren] Wow. -Giselle is finished first.
Feeling good!
-[bell dings] -And Torrie is done second.
Lauren, we are rooting for you.
You got this.
Don't overdo the glaze. Good.
-[tense music continues] -[bell dings]
You're done!
That was amazing.
-I didn't think I could cook that fast. -I'm telling you, that was hard.
-Are you hungry? -Very!
-You ready for this? -Ready!
-Let's go! -Let's go.
All right, Lauren, you're up first. Tell us what you made for us today.
[Lauren] Well, I made you a little Tuscan spread for New Year's Eve.
The first is goat cheese and Parmesan deep-fried with a basil lemon pesto.
The second one is dates with blue cheese, and honey, and a little bit of thyme.
And the third one is a crostini with three cheeses and a balsamic glaze.
[tense music plays]
I'm gonna start
with these little fried goat cheese balls.
This is a perfect bite.
It's decadent. It's crunchy.
It's a great, vibrant pesto, adding a bit of lemon in there to keep that brightness.
In terms of the dates, I think the combination
of the sweetness from either the date and the honey with thyme, knockout for me.
[Antoni] I love the browning on the blue cheese, really nice.
Moving on, the crostini, I'm obsessed with this.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate
that you cut those baguettes really nice and thin.
-Thank you. -[Antoni] The proportions are right.
My only critique, I would've liked to see something colorful.
I'm not quite sure what it is.
I would also agree.
A little brightness at the end that can just kind of wake things up.
Wake your palate up. But delicious. Everything was great.
-Well done. -Thank you so much.
Welcome to my party.
Tell us about your party.
[Giselle] When I go to parties, I like a little sweet, tangy, and cool.
I'm gonna start off with the crostini.
It's got a spread of goat cheese, pears, toasted walnuts, a bit of honey on top.
Moving on to crab wontons. It's got cream cheese, a little bit of soy sauce,
and, of course, a bit of chili and some crab, of course. Crab meat.
Last but not least, you've got a cucumber,
I spread a little bit of garlic and chives and smoked salmon on top
with a little hit of dill.
[tense music plays]
Okay, so delicious across the board. I think the balance of flavors is great.
-Crispy, creamy, fresh, sweet. -Thank you, Chef.
But first, your toast.
It's funny, I never think of toast in a sweet way, but I was surprised.
I love it when people present that. Um, I think the balance of flavors is great.
You know, it's sweet, crunchy. The bread is toasted really nicely.
On the bottom, it's toasted nicely, which is great,
because then you're getting that texture from both sides.
It's the little details that get me really excited.
Toasted on both sides. The fact that you cut them on a bias.
They're a little thick, but cutting them on the bias justifies it for me,
so I don't have an issue.
Um, pears are so lovely and sweet.
I would've amped the cheese up just a little bit more, but really lovely.
The crab wontons, I mean, it's like perfect.
That chili sauce is a no-brainer, but you're a genius for using it.
You used ready-made chili sauce. That's exactly what you wanna do.
It gave you time to make sure these were fully sealed.
So classic.
The cucumber with a bit of the herb cheese situation and the smoked salmon.
The dill was really necessary.
-You know I love a little herb finish. -Yes.
My only complaint with these, the skewer part is a little tricky.
If the smoked salmon was wrapped around the herb cheese,
and maybe you had a ribbon of cucumber, it would've been thinner
and little easier to eat if we didn't have dead space on the skewer.
But other than that, yeah, well done.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
-Torrie! -Hello.
-Hi. -Hi.
Talk to us. What have you made here?
[Torrie] So this first one is a toastini with ricotta cheese, blackberry and basil.
The second one we have here is gonna be a shrimp, green pepper skewer with lemon.
Then for our third appetizer, we have a jalapeño
with Parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese, ricotta cheese as well.
[tense music plays]
-Ooh, got a bit of heat there! -[Torrie laughs]
Not too much.
Just enough. Just enough.
There's a lot of flavors.
[Ilan] Your crostini, it's really fresh, really bright.
A note I would add. There's two things I would add.
And I love fresh fruit with a light ricotta or farmer's cheese.
Black pepper.
-Olive oil. -Gotcha.
Those little details can awaken your whole palate
and change it from something very good to something that's special.
[Antoni] When I think jalapeño popper, I wanna see that bright orange.
I would've maybe added a little more cheddar. It does melt really nicely.
I would've liked to see a little hit of lemon on there maybe.
Finally, the shrimp skewer.
They're surprisingly not, um, crunchy and chewy
the way I thought they were gonna be when I saw you making those.
I like that you kissed those on the panini press.
When I saw you cooking them, I was like, "This is gonna be rubber bands."
But it wasn't, somehow. Amazing. So really, really fresh.
I would've liked to see a little hit of lemon on there maybe.
Other than that, that's kind of all I got.
-Thank you. -Love it.
Lauren, Giselle, Torrie. Well done, you three.
We both enjoyed everyone's dishes,
but unfortunately, we can only choose one winner.
The winning dishes were dishes that were party-ready, harmonious.
They hit all the marks that we needed.
They were all cohesive.
And the winner of the Dish Dash is...
[tense music plays]
...Giselle.
[joyful music plays]
Congratulations, Giselle.
-Thank you. -Good job!
You're holding on to your winning streak and moving on to the next round.
-Congratulations. -Thank you so much. Thank you.
Only one of you can move on to the next round with Giselle.
The cook going home is...
[tense music plays]
...Torrie. I'm sorry.
It's all right. I had fun.
I feel like I could have done better
if I had just a few more minutes to just prepare.
But I wasn't gonna be upset if I lost, because my competition were kick-ass.
So I'm leaving here with a new open mind for food and, like, trying new things,
and I'm happy with that.
Lauren, Ilan and I, one thing we agreed on
was that while Giselle's trio was best overall,
hands down the best appetizer that we tasted
was that goat cheese ball with that pesto.
It was spot-on.
Thank you.
That's what gave you the edge over Torrie. You are really talented.
I appreciate it. I'm so excited. I can't even tell you. [laughs]
All right, let's have some fun.
One challenge remains before one of you is officially crowned Easy-Bake champion.
It's time for an epic food face-off.
The Easy-Bake.
It goes without saying
that a New Year's Eve party is the peak of luxury.
So in this glamorous Easy-Bake round,
we're asking you to prepare an entrée and dessert
using three classic New Year's ingredients.
Lobster, champagne, and chocolate.
Okay.
We're asking you to make two dishes in 75 minutes.
You do get to use your ovens in this round,
but you can only access them for 60 minutes.
Are you ready?
Ready.
Your time starts in three, two, one.
Make it easy!
[upbeat music plays]
[Lauren] You said Arborio rice was over here?
-[Giselle] Right there in front of you. -[Lauren] Jeez!
So they have three key ingredients. Lobster, chocolate, and champagne.
Curious to see what they're gonna make. They have to make an entrée and a dessert.
But how they allocate those items... I assume lobsters gonna be the entrée.
The other two, they could actually go either way.
It's going back. Meaning business.
I'm so happy I made it through the first challenge without collapsing.
[chuckles]
This is a little bit more in my wheelhouse, I think, you know?
This is a dinner that I have already served to my friends.
I am going to make a lobster risotto.
But the hack is, normally you have to stir risotto for forever,
um, but I'm baking it in the oven instead.
And then, for my dessert,
I'll make a little layered cake with crème anglaise on the bottom.
The two things that are gonna cook the longest is the risotto
and then the brownies for my dessert.
So I must get those things in the oven first.
[strains] Muscle.
[Giselle] When I think New Year's Eve,
I want to end my year the most amazing way possible.
And for me, that's surf and turf with scalloped potatoes.
I have to use lobster, chocolate, champagne.
I love all three. Check, check, and then the chocolate, double check.
[upbeat music plays]
So I'm thinking I'll bake some brownies,
crumble it up, and then just do fun layers with it.
Steak is not something that takes that long, and neither is lobster.
So I know I have to get started on my potatoes.
[Antoni] Your ovens are on. 60 minutes until they turn off.
[Giselle] Let's go!
My biggest hack of the day,
I am cooking risotto in the oven.
I'm baking it, so I don't have to mess with it and stir it all day long.
I grab water, mix a little bit of bouillon in there,
and get it in the oven and just let it go.
Looks like Lauren's gonna do some oven risotto, which scares the hell out of me.
I've never had a risotto made it in an oven.
I'm not a baker, so I'm just gonna get what I don't know out of the way.
The one hack that I have
is, instead of going with the instructions for ingredients on the box,
which is vegetable oil and blah water...
Buttermilk, buttermilk, buttermilk.
I'm like, buttermilk. I use buttermilk for my pancakes.
I use buttermilk to fry my chicken. It just makes everything butterlicious.
I think we're gonna have a brownie-off.
Giselle, is that true? Are you making brownies?
[Giselle] I'm gonna do whatever. [laughs]
It's gonna taste good.
She's in Giselle world.
This is like G's Chocolate Dream.
[upbeat music plays]
Hey, Lauren, whatcha doing?
I'm just taking the lobster out of the shell before I bake it.
It's gonna make it bake a little bit faster.
What are you shoving into those lobster tails?
Butter, garlic, and lemon juice.
-[Ilan] You can't really lose with that. -You can't go wrong with that.
It's so smart that Lauren is using an external thermometer
so she doesn't have to keep opening those oven doors,
so all that heat escapes.
Yeah. That's a very clever way to cook.
-You have 30 minutes. -[Giselle] Let's go.
[Ilan] Giselle's got a New York strip out, nice and thick.
They're not allowed to sear in the pan?
No. If you put it in a cast-iron skillet, it's gonna take a little longer,
but it conducts heat really well, and it holds that heat too.
[Ilan] Yeah. She's using a vacuum-sealed bag.
-Ah. -Uh-oh.
Using a Cryovac machine speeds up marination.
it opens up all the cells of whatever you put in there
and it can get flavor in there really, really quickly.
Here's a hack. This is my hack of all hacks.
Crème Anglaise is a fancy, fancy sauce for dessert.
If you just melt good vanilla ice cream, it is crème anglaise. Brilliant.
So it looks like Lauren is gonna be melting her ice cream
to turn into a crème anglaise,
which is a brilliant time-saving hack, so she can focus on the other component,
which is her brownies.
Making a crème anglaise from scratch, you have to pay attention.
-Yeah. You have to be there. -Yeah.
I have to make a frosting for my dessert, and I take a can of frosting.
I'm gonna add a little butter and some champagne to that to loosen it up
and give it a little bit more effervescence.
[upbeat music plays]
We're going for it.
[Ilan] I wanna know what's in the bottom.
Giselle, what's in the bottom of that wine glass?
[Giselle] Chocolate mousse.
-Chocolate mousse. -[Giselle] I'm sorry...
A chocolate... I'm not a baker. So something with cream and chocolate.
I'm not a baker either. It's okay.
[Ilan] Oh, she's ripping the pieces. I love that so much.
That's so smart.
Okay. With a trifle or a parfait situation, that is such a great hack.
If you don't get something to look as beautiful as you want it to,
crumble it up,
put it in a clear glass, layer it up with all kinds of different textures.
I wanna see creaminess. I wanna see crunch.
I wanna see some kind of a fresh fruit.
Okay. Oreos, in heaven.
My dessert, I don't have a name for it,
because I was literally layering the flavors in my head,
but I just know it's something I wanna dive into.
This fudge doesn't move, but that's okay.
[Lauren] Well, that's a hot oven. But they're done perfectly.
For my dessert, I'm going to, um, cut it into rounds
and layer in some frosting in between
for a nice little juxtaposition of texture.
The creamy of the frosting
and then the chewy and crunchy of the brownie.
That's the goal. That's working out.
[cork pops]
-[Giselle squeals] -[Antoni] Happy New Year!
-Giselle! -Mazel tov!
After I do the brownies,
I know I have very little time to get that steak to have flavor.
I throw that guy with salted butter into my cast-iron,
good splash of that champagne, and I just close the door.
I wanna make a reduction of the champagne, butter, and garlic with shallots.
[upbeat music plays]
[Lauren] Whoa! That was almost a disaster.
-Are you happy with your lobster, Lauren? -[Lauren] Yeah, perfect.
Perfect.
Okay. My potatoes are gooey and bubbling and literally, like, screaming,
"Take me out. Take me out."
"I'm brown and creamy." I'm like, okay, it's time to come out.
Ten minutes left of oven time and just under 15 minutes left total cook time.
[tense music plays]
[Giselle] My lobster, I would have given it a minute or two more,
but I'm a little worried that I have so much going on that I'm gonna forget.
So I'd rather pull it out and let it continue, like, doing its thing,
then praying it's still doing its thing.
Are you happy with your lobster?
[Giselle] Yeah. I know it still cooks while it's sitting there.
[Antoni] Yes!
Oh, yeah! Baste that steak!
[tense music continues]
It looks nice and dark. It looks beautiful.
Nectar of the Gods.
Doesn't need much more than that now, does it?
[Giselle] The asparagus.
Oh, no, I don't. I have it...
Oh my God, I forgot the asparagus.
[tense music continues]
[Giselle] I'm like, "Okay, G. This asparagus isn't gonna take long."
Luckily for me, I had thrown that extra cast-iron in there.
With two minutes left, Giselle has thrown raw asparagus into a cast-iron skillet.
Under a minute, everything's a bit scary.
This risotto, I look at it, it's cooked perfectly.
All right, so Lauren
is now whisking in her cream-Parm-champagne sauce into her rice.
It's pretty amazing, but Lauren has used champagne in every one of her dishes.
Sauce for the lobster, for the risotto, and for the dessert.
-I'm excited to see if we can taste it. -I know! Me too! [laughs]
[tense music plays]
Done. Wow.
And your ovens are off. Just over two minutes.
I'm a medium-rare kind of girl.
[tense music continues]
[Giselle] Cocoa.
[Antoni] It is neck and neck.
[tense music continues]
[Giselle] What do I have?
Ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four, three, two, one!
[Antoni] Time is up!
Take it easy.
That was so intense.
-I am so excited for these. -[Ilan laughs]
[Antoni laughs]
-Happy New Year! -[both] Happy New Year!
Giselle, let's start with you.
Thank you.
[Giselle] What you have here is a nice New York strip, lobster,
potatoes, and asparagus.
I did a garlic and butter, champagne reduction sauce with shallots
for my lobster.
[tense music plays]
Um, so many really awesome things that are going on here.
For me, this is actually really nostalgic.
Growing up, it was like, what's fancier or more special than a surf and turf?
The steak for me, it is perfectly seasoned.
Super tender.
With the lobster, I taste that butter in the best way possible.
I'm definitely getting a bit of the sweetness and fruity notes
from the champagne as well.
I think the asparagus were in the oven for two and a half, three minutes?
Two and a half.
[Antoni] Another minute would've gotten it there.
That said, you're damn good at what you do.
Thank you.
The gratin was technically flawless.
I'm a relative expert on it.
It's something I had to cook every day for quite a long time. It's perfect.
-Thank you. -[Ilan] Perfect.
They're brown. They're crispy.
I could eat a whole vat of this with my own tears and I'd be really happy.
My favorite bite together was when I had a bit of lobster,
a little beef and a little potato, and that together...
-It was classic, but really well executed. -Thank you, Chef.
Can you tell us about your dessert, please?
[Giselle] This is what I envision in heaven for me.
Layers of gooey cake, a brownie,
semi-sweet chocolate chips in the middle, whipped cream,
and the Oreo cookies in between.
I put it in a clear glass so that it would look like a parfait.
[tense music plays]
Giselle, I genuinely love how offensively chocolaty and decadent this is.
I would love to see some kind of berry or something for freshness.
But there's your inner child in this thing.
For sure.
Because of so many of the textural components,
I think there's a surprising amount of lightness in this.
It's actually well-balanced.
I'm not the biggest chocolate person, but I'm a very big Oreo person,
and I love everything about this.
Good old Oreos.
-That was a really wonderful meal. -Thank you.
Lauren, it's your turn.
I made a champagne Parmesan risotto topped with lobster,
and some chopped asparagus for crunch and garnish,
and a little bit of a champagne cream sauce underneath.
[tense music plays]
Lauren, this is one of the best lobster preparations I've had in a long time.
-Thank you. -[Antoni] It's so delicate.
Like, you understand temperature very well.
I've had variations on lemon champagne risottos before.
Sometimes the lemon is overpowering.
Champagne being one of those key ingredients we asked you to cook with,
I love that that's the star. That's at the forefront right when I try it.
It makes it feel really nice and decadent. The cream sauce is super flavorful.
Mine kind of like dispersed, and I like it when it holds together a little more.
When it's more about the stock and less about the cream.
I really do taste the champagne.
In the cream sauce, it's really pronounced.
You had that tail.
You had other pieces of lobster that, I think,
if you were able to sort of infuse a bit of that shell into the stock
to sort of get a bit more follow-through of lobster flavor into the risotto...
-Ooh, that would have been good. -That would've been like a layup home run.
-[Lauren] Right. -I'm not a baseball fan.
-I think that's the right thing. -Don't look at me.
[laughs] A layup home run, I love it.
Wanna tell us about your dessert?
This dessert is a brownie I cooked very thin on a sheet pan
so that they could have some crunch and texture,
layered with canned frosting.
Elevated it by adding butter and a little bit of champagne.
And then I took a pint of vanilla ice cream and melted it,
and it's the perfect crème anglaise.
[tense music plays]
[Ilan] The texture of the brownie is really cool.
I didn't realize when you served it that it was gonna be layered like a cake.
I love how you got that sort of crunchier, kind of chewier texture.
I mean, I love the flavor. It's really great.
Your dessert is, at first glance, deceptively simple.
It's interesting, because we talk so much about hacks and making things easy.
It's one thing to plop something out of a container,
but adding one or two elements can transform it in a really great way.
And this is like a gold star, A-plus example of that.
Adding butter to the frosting,
I never thought I'd say adding butter would lighten something.
That packaged stuff is incredibly sweet but it did lighten it up.
Making a crème anglaise out of a tub of ice cream, genius.
I don't know why we don't all do it.
-Thank you. -Thank you so much, both of you.
No offense. I love you. But I wanna win. [laughs]
I wanna win. I can smell the $75,000. I can touch the $75,000. How do you feel?
I'm just waiting to see what happens. I feel confident, you know? I feel good.
[Antoni] Giselle and Lauren, you both have brought so much joy
and energy to this kitchen today.
I mean, what a way to ring in the New Year.
[tense music plays]
So we unfortunately can only choose one winner.
The winning dish is a dish that was luxurious.
It had classic elements elevated.
And our three ingredients were prominent and used in creative and easy ways.
Our Easy-Bake champion is...
[tense music plays]
...Giselle.
[exhales]
[uplifting music plays]
I just won 75,000 freaking dollars!
I can't believe it.
I just won $75,000 doing something I'm extremely passionate about.
Lauren, for you to find that passion and to be exercising it now,
I think is so incredibly inspiring.
Thank you for sharing that with us.
It's been an honor. Like a true honor.
Giselle, you are the Easy-Bake champion.
I knew I belonged in a kitchen,
and this just, like, seals it for me.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
I would tell my six-year-old self,
"Don't doubt yourself, kid."
"You have talent."
"And one day, before you know it, somebody's gonna recognize that in you."
"And it's gonna come with $75,000!"
[all] Five, four, tres...
Dos, uno!
[cheering]
-Happy New Year! -Happy New Year!
Congratulations!
[theme music plays]