All right, chefs.
Luna, Danny, Lauren J. You three are up. Congratulations.
[cheering]
Vending machine, let's go!
[product thuds]
Oreos!
[cheering]
Oreo. I can make that.
You got the perfect cookie that has to have the perfect texture,
and perfect filling.
Put me in, Coach. I'm ready to go.
[Luna] Who doesn't love Oreos?
But I am telling you, it's not easy to recreate Oreos.
That unique Oreo version of chocolate flavor,
it's all about the perfect selection of which cocoa powder you're gonna use.
Cocoa comes in every color of the rainbow.
Each of those different kinds of cocoa
have different textures, different aromas, and, of course, different visual appeal.
If you pick the right one, it's gonna be spot-on.
If you pick the wrong one, it might be inedible.
Plus, Oreos are dark.
This is not a snack where "bake until golden" is gonna save you.
If you're off, you're toast.
The cream in the center of the Oreo is a bit of an industry secret.
The taste is one thing.
It's not really vanilla. If it tastes like vanilla, it's off.
Plus, the most important part, the crunchy cookie texture
that needs to hold its own shape,
which comes from the cookie itself, but also the embossing.
If you underbake, leaving too much leftover water,
your Oreo will feel stale.
Too little moisture and the tiny little wafers will turn dry and crumbly.
Luna, Danny, Lauren.
You will have one hour for this challenge.
Your time starts now.
[horn honking]
[cheering]
[Hari] To make the perfect Oreo,
first, the chefs will need to make a cookie dough
that has dark chocolate color of the Oreo by using black cocoa powder,
but also achieve a crispy cookie texture.
It tastes like cocoa, really sweet.
I see air pockets, which is adding to the texture and to the mouthfeel.
-You hear that snap? -[crunch]
That's what I'm trying to do. Crunchy cookie.
[Hari] Next, the chefs need to make a cream filling that is stable enough
to remain intact when biting into the cookie.
[crunch]
[Hari] Lastly, the chefs need to assemble the cookies
to mimic the Oreo shape and size.
[contestants cheering]
Why is the Oreo so magical? What makes it magical?
It's the specific form of cocoa.
That black cocoa is, like, the most heavy metal form of chocolate
you will ever taste in your life.
-I promise. -Heavy metal.
-[guitar distortion effect] -[chuckle]
It's got the highest possible intensity of flavor
of any cocoa powder you can find,
but it's a dragon you gotta tame with other ingredients.
Dark cocoa powder. I need some.
[Ali] I wanna see what they pick.
They may be dead in the water already and not know it.
I'm working on the dry ingredients. I have them all right here.
Half a cup of bread flour.
To get that dark black color of the Oreo, I'm gonna use black cocoa powder.
And I'll use a bit of activated charcoal.
It'll bring out darkness of the cookie
to where you can't taste it, but where you can see it.
I'm a dad. I have two children. They like snacks.
I make snacks for my kids.
Snack Daddy.
I have worked in professional kitchens my entire life from the age of 15 to 43.
Looking pretty good.
Once I hit 43, I started my own private chef service
so I could spend time with my family.
I've made Oreos before at the house. My kids love Oreos.
I feel confident. We can knock this out of the park.
[upbeat music playing]
I'm gonna start on my cookie.
I'm gonna use the black cocoa for the color as well as Dutch cocoa.
I want it to be chocolaty and have the right color.
The combination of those is what's gonna help me achieve that.
Growing up, I had a keen interest for food.
Instead of watching cartoons Saturday mornings,
I was the one watching the Food Network.
So, here I am in kindergarten, watching Emeril Lagasse
and all these other great chefs.
I always loved cooking, but I didn't wanna work in a restaurant.
So I went to school for food science and chemistry.
My master's is in nutritional biochemistry.
I worked in corporate R&D research and development
for over a decade now.
I'm a full-time stay-at-home mom as well.
All those different experiences definitely give me a leg up in the game.
It's looking like Oreo dough.
I have wheat flour. I have cake flour.
I'll use the black cocoa powder to get that dark color of the Oreo,
so it mimics it as much as possible.
I'm gonna let it do its thing.
I'm from Portland, Oregon.
I'm the next queen of snacks.
I'm the executive chef and owner of Cello, a hybrid bakery-snack concept.
I just added black food coloring into this mixture.
As you can see, it's pretty dark.
But when I bake it, I don't wanna lose any of that color.
In case I overbake it, it will still retain that.
I'm gonna take a risk.
To win this competition, I just have to stay focused on my task.
Feel the excitement. Feel like a kid.
And make the perfect Oreo.
-[contestant] Honey, Luna is working it. -Wow.
Leg kicks. Leg kicks and stuff.
[Danny] My competitors are a food scientist and a dancing baker.
Am I scared?
No.
Oreos. This is the one that I wanted.
I'm ready to go.
I'm gonna take my butter. I'm gonna go melt it
to incorporate some air to it.
That's gonna help with how the cookie sets up.
When I tasted the Oreo, I tasted brown butter.
So, I'm gonna brown some butter.
Bring out the flavors of that chocolate and it will help crisp that cookie up.
[Ali] What is he boiling here? What is he boiling?
[Helen] Starting to smell buttery in here.
It concerns you?
-Ain't no butter in Oreos. -[chuckles]
-Ooh. -There's no butter in Oreos.
-They're vegan. -They're vegan, yep.
[Lauren] As an R&D scientist, I'm gonna go with best guess.
We'll go with that.
I'm a little concerned.
It starts to get nice and brown, toasting those butter solids,
releasing those flavors.
[Ali] Oreos are typically made with palm oil, canola oil,
things that are neutral.
The issue with butter is it will relax and spread a bit.
An Oreo does not budge an inch when they're in the oven.
There's so little moisture. They're so stable.
[Helen] Luna, she's the only one that's on track.
Only one that didn't put butter in the dough.
Wow.
I'm pretty happy right now.
I like the color.
It's not perfect on the edges. I'm gonna cut out shapes.
This is fun. [chuckles]
It's therapy.
Forty-five minutes left, chefs.
I am most worried about time.
It's the same thing they say on every competition.
I sit at home on my couch thinking,
"They just did not manage their time well. Come on, guys."
But cranking it out is pretty challenging.
Hopefully this works!
When I dissected the Oreo, it came out to an eighth of an inch.
That's what I'm going for.
If it's too thick, it's gonna be crumbly. It's not gonna get that crisp we want.
I try to recreate the signature Oreo look, which is the Oreo stamp.
The stamp is critical.
'Cause all Oreos have that.
Yeah, it's not great. It's just too soft.
I really need time for that butter to firm back up for me.
Oh, man.
So, to kinda skip a step,
I'll get it in the blast chiller for a second.
Hopefully it can firm up, so that I can then stamp it.
It should say "Daddy-O" in the middle.
This one doesn't. We're still working on that.
Come on, baby.
So, I'm struggling a bit with this.
It's sticking to my dough.
[Kevin] I'm most concerned about Danny's. It looks wet.
[Francis] Look at it. It's hot. You can tell he's got a hot dough.
-[Kevin] It's too wet. -[Francis] Really wet.
[Danny] Usually when I make these at home, I use a mold.
It's a bit different. I don't have time to make another batter.
So, then I'm like, screw the stamp. I'm going to the oven.
[Luna chuckles]
Not so aggressive, Luna. Be gentle with the cookie.
All right.
I see that my competitors are a bit further ahead in the process.
Thirty minutes left!
Oh, my gosh.
Yo, Lauren, you got to get your head on and start pumping out some cookies.
-[Hari] Hey, Lauren. -Hi, guys.
You are on the move, girl.
[Lauren] I am.
This is how I am at home too. Things just don't work out.
[Hari] The frantic energy, that's just what it is.
Well, no. At home, I can sip a... Some wine or a mimosa.
If we got you wine or a mimosa, you think it would've made a difference?
You guys probably would not be eating it in time.
[laughing]
[Lauren] I've never made... Oh, no!
-What's going on now? -It's too firm.
-[Megan] Yeah. -Are they break...? Ooh.
Ay, ay, ay.
Do you have a backup plan?
We're going to put these in the oven. Now.
I just gotta bake these off and start on my filling.
[Luna] How are you doing?
[Lauren] It's just... This is not what it's like on TV.
[Luna, laughing] Totally.
I feel like this is very much in Luna's wheelhouse.
I'm gonna start doing the filling.
Whipping this palm oil into this powdered sugar.
A little bit of this icing mix.
It needs to be very, very smooth.
Ooh, that's pretty good.
Would you be more nervous about making the actual cookie or the cream?
Which one's harder?
The cream is way simpler than the cookie itself.
But it's everyone's favorite part. That's interesting.
-Speak for yourself. -Mine, the cookie.
I thought it was everyone's...
-No, it's not. -[Hari] No...
The fact that there's two things going on is the real draw.
Typically, you can make an Oreo filling
with just palm oil and powdered sugar.
We'll see if somebody does it.
Powdered sugar. Cookies are in the oven.
I'm making sure my filling is set.
So I've got coconut oil and cocoa butter.
I'll mix it with 200 grams of powdered sugar.
Then I'll cut in cake icing to smooth it out a bit.
[dynamic music playing]
[Lauren] A hundred grams of cocoa butter. This high-ratio shortening.
They have different melt points.
I'm hoping the combination of those two will yield
that texture I need for the center.
Gonna add a bit of artificial vanilla to give it that nice artificial flavor.
It tastes sugary. [chuckles]
[Danny] What I got in here is my filling.
I'm rolling it out.
Then I'll cut out with my ring mold one and a quarter inch.
I think it looks pretty good. We're gonna go for it.
Let me double-check it tastes good still.
It's good.
You have 20 minutes left.
[contestants cheering]
[Luna] I'm just staring at the oven.
I'm gonna check.
Because of the black cocoa powder,
you can't tell if they're under or overbaked.
Come on, come on.
It's a little nerve-racking. Feeling very impatient. [chuckles]
I wanna open the oven and grab them, but I might mess them up.
Two minutes. It's the final step.
Kind of. It's like, "Come to me. Come to Luna."
"I need you. I need to finish you."
Ooh, boy.
[Luna] Hi. Hello.
[Danny screams in frustration]
Look at Danny.
It melted. No! [chuckles]
My whole pan is just covered with melted Oreos.
[contestants] Oh, wow.
[Lauryn] Oh, no!
[Francis] No!
Okay, so what do I do? Take it to the blast chiller.
Aah! I died.
He tried to show us and it went all over the floor.
He nearly dropped all.
-Oh, no. -Look.
I have created a new product. We'll call them "Flooreos."
Agh.
I have 11 minutes. Not enough time to make another cookie.
I'll try and salvage what I can out of what I got.
Let's see if I can get something.
The risk I present by using brown butter is the cookie not setting.
It's not a stable fat.
Don't look at that. It's terrible.
At this point, make Oreo balls or something.
My cookies are not looking good,
but I'm going to try and get something for the judges.
Five minutes, chefs!
[contestants cheering]
[suspenseful music playing]
I'm happy with the texture. They didn't expand. They held their shape.
But I shouldn't have baked them for an extra minute.
I'm okay with it. I feel good.
My filling is a little mousse-like.
I don't think it's the right consistency, but it tastes good.
I'm gonna get my stuff filled.
How hard is it to get the cream to adhere just right to the cookie?
It has to hold its shape and it has to feel almost like a fresh cream.
Texture and structure.
Oh, Luna looks stressed.
I'll smooth this out with a spatula at the end.
Give it a uniform layer.
Luna with a piping bag. I wish we weren't seeing that.
[contestant 1] Why is she piping the...?
[contestant 2] She's probably gonna pipe and press it lightly.
[Hari] Lauren is...
She's also piping, which is not a good sign.
[Francis] This is not part of my Oreo-making process.
[Helen] You wanna see is how Danny did it, making a thin sheet of cream,
then cutting as opposed to depositing.
One minute left, chefs. You have one minute.
[Lauryn] That's a lot for one cookie.
-[Hari] Maybe it's double stuffed. -[chuckles]
Getting something.
[Luna] Whee!
My heart is beating so fast.
-[Megan] Ten seconds! -[Lauren] Oh, boy.
[Danny] Come on, baby. It's a deconstructed Oreo.
[Lauryn] Come on, Luna. Get those cookies on there.
[Hari] That's time, chefs.
-[cheering] -[laughter]
Yes, we did it. It's over.
Hi, Lauren J.
-Hey. -Can you tell us about your Oreo today?
Yes. Um... [chuckles]
You have an Oreo.
There's a high degree of variability, which you can see.
But I tried to get it as close as I could as far as flavor.
This is a bit darker than the Oreo itself.
It's hard to tell 'cause the embossing also makes the visual a bit different.
-Let's talk about the embossing. -Yeah.
-I did try.
I probably should've used shortening. It would've been firmer.
The butter was very sticky. It'd get stuck to the stamp.
-Oh. -So, I couldn't get that nice...
-Clean release. -Exactly.
[Ali] I love that it's crispy.
Definitely has the crunch you expect from an Oreo.
-It has sort of a fried texture. -Okay.
Good thing is it's making the layers, but it also went just a bit too far.
It's starting to hit candy between the sugar and the oil.
Got it.
-You used black and Dutch cocoa powder? -I did.
It looks like black cocoa powder was the right choice.
Yeah. Good.
-That flavor comes through really nice. -[Lauren] Perfect.
Let's talk about the cream. There's so much of it.
At the end, it was crunch time. Like, get it on the plate.
You got a little heavy with the hand piping.
Ideally, I would've liked to have been able to spread out the filling.
Let it sit, firm up, and then cut it out.
It's really frosting at this point.
-Thank you for sharing this with us. -All right.
Hi, Luna.
Tell us about your Oreo.
Well, I only went with one cocoa powder.
It's clear they're a little darker than the original Oreos.
[Ali] You used black cocoa powder?
Yes.
-Then you added black food coloring. -[Luna] Correct.
[Ali] It looks like just the black cocoa powder would've been enough.
Yes, that should've been enough. I was a little worried about the baking.
Honestly, I'd rather have darker than lighter.
[Helen] I think you got the thickness right.
Crunchy.
I think they went a touch long. A few minutes long.
It's not burnt, but getting dark.
But honestly, I think you nailed the moisture content.
And the flavor.
-The black chocolate flavor is correct. -It tastes like an Oreo.
Let's talk about the cream.
It has a cupcake flavor when you eat the parts together.
It's like an Oreo cupcake.
It's not a bad flavor, but again, when we're talking accuracy...
-Thanks, Luna. -Thank you.
So, Danny, tell us about your Oreo.
Well, it doesn't look like these Oreos.
However, the flavor is good.
I don't think it set correctly 'cause I used brown butter in there.
-Ah! -[Danny] Then it melted.
-You made a lace cookie. -Exactly.
-They're tuiles. Oreo tuiles. -Yes, Oreo tuile.
This color is darker than a real Oreo.
-[Danny] It is a bit darker. -[Ali] What cocoa powders did you use?
-Black cocoa powder. -Okay.
Then I added the tiniest bit of activated charcoal,
which does give it that extra dark.
This was the activated charcoal. It looks somewhat like charcoal.
Yeah, it looks a lot like charcoal.
In terms of comparing the texture of this filling to the cream in an Oreo,
it's really close.
But, ultimately, we need to be able to twist it apart
and be able to taste chocolate.
And yours has a savory leaning of brown butter and salt.
-Tastes more like a garnish of a sundae... -[Danny] Uh-huh.
...than, you know, a sandwich cookie.
-Heard. -Thank you.
Hey, awesome recreations, everybody.
You did a fantastic job.
But only one of you can win this challenge.
[suspenseful music playing]
Congratulations, Luna. You won the recreation challenge.
-Thank you. -Yay.
You're the only one to have embossing on your cookie.
And flavor was very close to original.
Thank you.
Luna, how do you feel right now?
I feel great. It was a fun little challenge.
You all did wonderful. Awesome stuff.
But will you be able to keep that momentum going through the next round?
-This could be anybody's game. -[Megan] That's right.
It's time for the Snack-Off Challenge.
Now, one of the most magical elements of the Oreo
is the fact that it's formed kind of like a little sandwich.
It's cute. It's tiny.
We're asking you to create your own sandwich snack.
Any time you have more than one texture,
things get tricky because those two textures
are gonna have to live under the same roof in a snack,
which means they might corrupt each other.
So, not only do you have to pick out two things that go well together,
you need to pick out two things that can live together in a package
and retain their integrity for the long haul.
We're really looking for you guys to be as innovative as possible here.
You'll have a two-hour limit for this challenge.
So, let's go in three, two, one.
Now.
[contestants cheering]
Come on.
Last round did not go exactly as planned.
I had, uh, you know, made that Oreo cookie many times.
I'm not gonna let it shake me.
So, I am coming into this challenge with guns blazing.
I'm thinking smoke. I'm thinking cheese. I'm thinking meat.
When I'm out on the boat, sausage, cheese, and crackers.
That's what I take.
I'm gonna make a version of that. It's called the Summer Stacker.
It's gonna be cheese cracker, jam, and sausage in the middle.
Key to perfect sandwich is something that has layers of flavor.
I'll get my jam going and get it set up.
So, I'm gonna make a blackberry honey-pecan jam.
I toasted the pecans so it releases the flavor of pecans.
I put gelatin in it to set it up.
I'm coming back with big, bold flavors.
My sandwich is a play on a cheeseburger.
It will be called the Fig Mac. It'll be macarons.
I'll do the top layer kind of like a Brandy Alexander cocktail.
The bottom layer will be a spiced chocolate
with layer of tamarind and fig jam
and American cheese frosting.
I think it'll be a little wonky, but I want it to be kind of weird.
I feel the pressure of winning the first round.
It's a hard task for me to make all these complex flavors.
For the filling, I'm gonna do fig and tamarind with molasses.
It's a balance of Mexican and American flavors.
Different worlds coming together. Luna's world.
[chuckles]
That's what I wanna go for.
There was not a Christmas that went by
where my family did not have German chocolate cake.
I'm making a cookie version of it.
It'll be a German chocolate cake cookie sandwich.
I even named the dish after my family. So, I hope that I do them proud.
Chocolate cookie outside. Thin layer of ganache.
Coconut pecan filling.
I'm gonna start on my cookie.
I'm smelling all of the chocolate.
Typically, German chocolate is a very rich chocolate.
So I'll add a bit of bittersweet chocolate to put my own twist to it.
I know that this snack may be unassuming,
but I know it will taste delicious and will move me into the finals.
What is the unique element of this challenge they'll have to master?
Anybody with two slices of bread and some meat can make a sandwich.
Making a snack sandwich, it has to be portable
and you have to wanna return to it again and again.
It's not enough it's one bite and done.
[Helen] It's the development of two delicious things
that become more delicious when they're put together.
Ninety minutes left.
[pop music playing]
I've got the pecan jam working.
I'm making a yeast-leavened cheese cracker now.
Yellow cheese powder,
all-purpose flour, baking powder, and yeast.
[whirring]
Once my dough's pressed, I'll cut ring molds out and throw it in the oven.
With $50,000 on the line,
it'd change my life.
Opportunity to create more success for my business.
Boom.
So, I have to just, like, wow with the flavors. Pow!
I went for the same color of cracker to the glasses.
I need to get the macarons formed as soon as possible.
We've got almond flour, powdered sugar, egg whites,
cream of tartar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract.
Bottom layer will be a spiced chocolate.
Top layer will be like a Brandy Alexander cocktail
with crème de cacao and brandy.
If I don't get the macarons done in about 50, 55 minutes,
there will be no Fig Mac.
Getting them in there right now. Cool.
They're gonna work.
[Lauren] I'm gonna start on my filling.
One cup of sugar. It's coconut.
Pecans as well as cornstarch to stabilize the filling.
Hi, guys. I see your feet.
Hi. It's good peripheral vision.
I'm whisking like my life depends on it.
What are you whisking?
I'm making filling. I am making German chocolate cake cookie sandwich.
Are... Are you worried that's a bit too old school?
What's gonna be fresh and new about it?
It's an approachable dessert that many in the South love,
but it's a new format. I think that's what's making it exciting.
You get to have your favorite cake to go.
Okay.
-[Ali] Can't wait to see it. -Thanks.
So, I am a little concerned that the judges say it's not innovative enough.
But I know it's important to deliver food that I feel passionate about
and I know will taste good.
Right now it's about executing.
This is beef summer sausage.
It's cured sausage that goes great with crackers.
So I'm gonna elevate it to a higher level.
I'm gonna put a bit of extra smoke onto this sausage.
I'll smoke the sausage like I'll smoke the competition. [chuckles]
[upbeat music playing]
-[Hari] What is happening? -[Megan, chuckling] Oh, no.
Are we allowed to be this close, Danny?
Close to the smoke?
How does this work? You take the flame and put it in that...
It's got oak chips. I hit it. There's a fan in there.
It pushes the smoke through and it holds it in this.
-Wow. -Wow.
Chefs. [coughs]
Chefs, we have one hour.
That was just smoke. I'm not sick.
I'm gonna do, like, a cheddar cheese-flavored pastry cream.
I want to do that to mimic American cheese.
Some vegetable shortening, palm oil, and some white cheddar cheese powder,
and turmeric.
I'll add a bit of this fluff. It will make it a little marshmallow.
I'm feeling a lot of pressure.
Lauren is talented, and she's a scientist.
And I'm not. I'm a chef.
I'm thinking,
"Oh, gosh. I have to make my snack as perfect as possible."
I've been in worse situations before.
Luna is very meticulous.
[Helen] Like, only what she needs is what's there.
Yeah, that's exactly it.
Okay. I think this is good.
The cookies look delicious. I love how they're cracked on top.
So it's almost reminiscent of a brownie.
Now I'll start on my ganache.
Equal parts heavy cream to bittersweet chocolate.
It's really important for me to win.
It'll show my daughter that
even when people say to go after your dreams,
it's more important to walk it out too.
She tells me I'm the best cook in the world.
She is just gonna be elated if she sees me win.
Looking pretty silky and smooth.
I'm gonna fry this sausage up.
It's gonna give it a bit of texture,
but it will also give it something for the jelly to adhere to.
With jalapeño powder, I wanna bring out the spice.
It's gonna cut the fat from the cheese cracker.
You get sweet, spicy. It's gonna be great.
[funky music playing]
[Luna exhales]
Oh, no.
They're still pretty soft.
I'll throw them in the oven. They're a little soft.
[Francis] Oh, no.
Did Luna put something back in the oven?
Ugh. Yes.
What does that mean?
It means something didn't have quite the right texture.
Yeah.
I'm gonna have to really rush.
-Fifteen minutes. -Good. She's got 15 minutes.
The ganache serves two purposes.
One is flavor, and it's also a barrier to prevent too much moisture
from my filling migrating into the cookie.
I feel certain I'm gonna get questioned about whether it's innovative enough.
But it's good enough for my family that is very Southern and very particular.
I'm hoping the judges are not gonna come down too hard on me.
-I can see Lauren's sandwiches. -Please be good.
They look super consistent.
Yummy. Like a homemade German chocolate cake.
These two minutes are taking forever.
I never thought snacks would be this stressful
because snacks are supposed to be awesome and fun.
My blackberry pecan-honey jelly set up really nice.
It's sticky and it's gonna make it stick to the cracker.
These, compared to my Oreo cookies, are night and day.
I feel a comeback coming. Summer Stacker.
[Lauryn] Bring it here. I want some. [chuckles]
Yeah.
-[cheering] -[Lauryn] Oh, yeah.
[laughing]
-[contestant] Didn't share. -[Lauryn] Rude.
It looked like a cheese macaron.
[contestant] I think she's letting them set, 'cause she's pacing.
Let's do it.
You got this, baby.
Ten minutes, chefs!
Two hours is, like, tight for macarons.
But it's okay. You gotta go for it and believe.
I just put a little last flavor smoke on these.
-[gasps] He's smoking the bags. -Okay. Nerd moment.
Danny's actually displacing some of the oxygen in that bag
with hopefully a bit of antioxidant perfume.
Smoking.
When you remove oxygen, your products are living in a vacuum.
Bacteria can't grow because there's no oxygen.
Oxygen is our friend, but it is the enemy of snacks.
But snacks are our friend.
It's hard to choose between two good friends.
Yeah.
[tense music playing]
Two minutes, everybody. Two minutes left.
[Luna] It's, like, not enough time.
-Come on! -[Lauryn] It's crunch time.
Everything is done. Just getting it assembled.
I think Lauren's are gonna be too chunky.
I feel better this round than I was last round.
One more minute!
[tense music rising]
[Francis] Oh, she's still glazing.
I'm just gonna do a bit of sprinkles.
-Luna. -Luna!
Luna!
-Time's up, guys! -[horn honking]
[cheering]
Please head to the checkout line.
-[Hari] Thank you. -No problem.
-Thank you. -You're welcome.
Lauren J, tell us what you made.
I made German chocolate cake cookie sandwiches.
I call them Phifers.
That's my mother's maiden name.
I decided to take nostalgia and put a little modern twist to it.
So, you have a chocolate cookie
with bittersweet chocolate shaved and incorporated into the cookie.
It's a filling that has coconuts and toasted pecans.
This, to me, feels like a handheld, perfectly portable version
of a German chocolate cake.
In a way that I almost wish was a little bit more adventurous.
Okay.
But when you put this decadent, very moist layer of cream in the middle,
you can contaminate your cookie and make it become a soggy mess over time.
Yeah.
I'm nerding out on your force field layer of chocolate.
To keep water at bay and hold the specialness of the sandwich.
It's beautifully executed top to bottom.
-It's really good. -Awesome.
I like that it's cakey cookie.
Yeah.
I could see red velvet cake cookie, the cheesecake cookie,
the carrot cake cookie, going on into all the cookies.
German chocolate cake frosting approaches caramel.
-Mm. Okay. -You know?
This is very creamy, which is delicious. I like it because it's not too sweet.
Yeah, I didn't want it to be clawingly sweet.
I wanted you to get through it like,
"That was delicious," versus like, "Now I need to go to the dentist."
-Thank you so much. -Thank you, guys.
[Hari] Luna, tell us what you made.
I made a Fig Mac which is a take on an iconic cheeseburger.
The bottom is a spiced chocolate cookie. And the top got a bit of liqueur.
I did a fig filling and a cheddar cheese frosting.
It's a lot of flavor.
As far as sandwich cookie, it's a little difficult to read,
partly because the two halves are not the same.
It feels more like a layered dessert, but not necessarily a sandwich.
It definitely has a desserty flavor.
For me, my favorite part is the top.
I've never had that combo of flavors before.
It's supposed to mimic kind of like a little cocktail.
-Oh! -[Ali] The fig and spiced chocolate,
that interesting earthiness in, like, a sweet meringue,
is a super cool move. It feels very avant-garde.
Forward-thinking. It feels super progressive.
This is what the rich people in The Hunger Games would eat.
-Oh, yeah. -You know?
Again, Luna, I appreciate the fact that you shared this with us.
I appreciate you letting me share it with you.
-Danny, can you tell us what you made? -[Danny] Absolutely.
I made a Summer Stacker for you. It's a cheese cracker
with a blackberry honey-pecan jam and summer sausage.
And I infused the sandwich with a little bit of smoke.
The following is a compliment.
-This tastes like truck-stop snacks. -Yeah.
Which is a very underrated subcategory of snacks,
where it's like, how creative can you be with meat stick plus cheese?
-Yeah. -My thing with truck-stop snacks.
They're really doubling down on salty and savory.
[Danny] Yes.
[Ali] I love the presence of the jam here.
It doesn't make it feel like it's a salt lick.
I don't know the last time I heard the word "blackberry" in a truck stop.
That's my favorite innovation,
where there's context and I can appreciate the specialness.
-I like all of this. -[Megan chuckles]
For me, it tastes a little stale.
It tastes stale?
Which is weird because I do get that it tastes like
a dirty-orange-cheddar-don't-wanna-know what's-in-there pepperoni snack.
I feel there's a lot going in each part, which I like that they're aggressive.
But, uh, I also wish it had more distinct texture.
It's not soft enough to be biscuit.
It's not hard enough to be crispy.
Which is why I think it tastes stale because it's not one or the other.
Really? Okay.
Well, thank you, Snack Daddy Danny.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
Father of Snack!
[applause]
[Luna] I won the first round.
So, I'm hoping I have what it takes to make it to the next round.
I really am super, super nervous.
Like, my competitors are super talented.
But I'm hoping the things I love and enjoy will translate to a winning snack.
Let's see who's getting a guaranteed shot in the finals.
[Danny] I'm feeling confident. I feel I brought good flavors.
I'm hoping for a...
gift from God.
The vending-machine god.
Oh, mighty vending machine, who has our judges declared as winner?
[suspenseful music builds]
Lauren J.
[applause]
I'm very happy, but I'm very surprised.
There were great competitors to go up against.
You were rock solid in both rounds today
and delivered two things that legitimately we'd all buy in a grocery store.
As you get into the finals,
we wanna see solid become superlative.
We can't wait to see what you do next.
Now, we've determined who's going forward in this competition.
Lauryn B, Lauren J, Clara, Sandy, step forward.
Congratulations on making it to this stage.
But we have one more trick up our sleeve.
We have a wild card who will be joining you.
Oh, wow.
We're picking a chef
who we felt really accomplished something amazing with both their dishes.
Though they didn't win the original round, it was such a razor-thin margin
that we decided to give them another shot in the next round.
A wild card? Like, we could still get back in this?
All right.
Thought I might've been out, but I guess not.
The $50,000 isn't quite out of range yet.
I'm coming for it.
This is not over until the snack lady sings.
Do you hear her singing? I don't hear her singing yet.
So, there's still a chance for you to win the ultimate prize, $50,000.
Let's find out who the judges chose.
[drumroll]
Hari!
[applause]
Oh my God. What just happened? I didn't think it was possible.
Now that I'm in it, I'll do my best to win it.
Hari, you were so close in your round, and we loved your ideas.
-Ooh. -Oh!
That's deeply satisfying.
So, we're looking forward to you hammering us with flavor coming up.
I'm ready to compete. I'm so excited to cook more dishes.
So, thank you.
Unfortunately, that means we must say goodbye to the rest of you.
-Bye, y'all. -Good job.
-Bye. -Sweet.
Congrats. Well done. Congratulations.
Congratulations, all of you, for a well-fought four rounds,
but things are about to get real.
You're one step closer to being a snack food legend
and taking home that $50,000 prize.
[closing theme music playing]