Spokane bakers slated to appear on Food Network’s “Christmas Cookie Challenge”

Spokane bakers Ricky Webster and Amber Stout are slated to appear on Food Network’s “Christmas Cookie Challenge” on Nov. 26.

They’ll compete against three other bakers for a grand prize of $10,000 and the title of Christmas Cookie Champion.

Stout runs Flour and Frosting, a local custom cookie business.

And Webster, a business resources consultant with Sysco Spokane, is no stranger to Food Network. In 2012, he competed on the network’s “Cupcake Wars.”

He also made local headlines last holiday season when he created a life-size gingerbread house at Spokane’s Hotel RL, now the Centennial Hotel. He was Hotel RL’s corporate executive chef at the time.

His walk-through gingerbread house featured 1,300 gingerbread bricks fashioned from 800 pounds of dough and decorated with 100 pounds of fondant. It was on display in the hotel lobby to help raise funds to feed the homeless in downtown.

Webster said producers from Food Network contacted him because of that endeavor. “I think that drummed up some attention, and they reached out to me because of that,” he said.

During his and Stout’s hour-long “Christmas Cookie Challenge” episode, five contestants will compete in two rounds, narrowing the field to three bakers and then determining a champion. The theme is modern classics. “The Pioneer Woman” Ree Drummond is one of the judges. Filming took three days.

Webster said he was able to put his gingerbread recipe to use for the show, but he can’t give away any specific details, including how well he fared. But, he said, “I had a fantastic time.”

See Webster and Stout on “Christmas Cookie Challenge” at 10 p.m. Nov. 26 on Food Network.