Local baker, former Panthers player star on Food Network’s ‘Christmas Cookie Challenge’
Charlotte viewers will spot a pair of familiar faces this season on Food Network’s ”Christmas Cookie Challenge.”
Eddie Jackson, a former NFL defensive back who played his rookie year for the Carolina Panthers in 2004, hosts the holiday-themed show with The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. This year’s “Christmas Cookie Challenge” — now in its eighth season — also features Sweet Spot Studio owner Jossie Lukacik.
Jackson has been there from the beginning, munching his way through hundreds of highly-decorated Christmas cookies while working to make Drummond laugh and looking forward to what crazy things the production staff will have him do next. Climbing on rooftops, into sleighs and donning Santa suits are a given.
But, above all, the intricately designed cookies are the real star of the show, with all kinds of standout flavors such as butterscotch and matcha.
“That’s really cool to see after eight seasons that the cookie community is really kind of still evolving,” Jackson told CharlotteFive.
Pro tip for future challengers: When it comes down to it, the host and judge’s all-time favorite cookies are the classics: oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodles, chocolate chip and the like.
Jackson is “old-school” and he’s got culinary skills in his blood. Both of his grandmothers were chefs, and you just might even see him around Charlotte sometime. His mother still lives in the area, and he comes back every so often to visit.
“Charlotte still holds a special place in my heart,” Jackson said.
Sweet Spot Studio on “Christmas Cookie Challenge”
Lukacik, who is Jewish but heartily celebrates the Christmas season, had applied to “Christmas Cookie Challenge” each year since 2020 and that work has paid off. This year, the cookie maven whose Charlotte decorating classes fill up fast finally got a space on the show.
“This was kind of the dream,” Lukacik told CharlotteFive. “I didn’t do sports growing up, so I had never competed in anything. And so it’s just a really special experience to be able to participate in the competition.”
Lukacik had appeared on Food Network once before, as an assistant to her mentor on “Big Time Bake” with Cake Boss Buddy Valastro. But this time, with $10,000 and The Golden Ornament prize on the line, Lukacik just so happened to land on an episode that put her cookie skills to the test with her favorite flavor.
The show’s synopsis describes the episode about building cookie billboards and creating edible trains — challenges perfect for gingerbread.
“I am a gingerbread girl,” Lukacik said. “During the year, we make so many cookies — and I don’t eat any of them. I want to come to gingerbread like that is the one cookie that I can’t not eat.”
How to watch
- “Christmas Cookie Challenge” airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Food Network and via streaming on Max.
- Viewers can see Lukacik compete on Dec. 19 or when her episode re-airs on Dec. 20 at 1 a.m. and 10 a.m.
This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
