Two locals compete on Food Network’s 'Halloween Cookie Challenge' ... one tastes victory

Two local women recently had the opportunity to showcase their baking and decorating creativity when they appeared on episodes of Food Network’s “Halloween Cookie Challenge,” with one of them winning a prize of $10,000 for her particular segment.

Aisling O’Sullivan of Auburn competed during the premiere episode of Season 2, which aired Sept. 25, and Loren Stanard of Worcester was on the second episode on Oct. 2. Hosted by celebrity pastry chef Duff Goldman and Rosanna Pansino, a producer, YouTube star, baker and food influencer, the show features four cookie makers each episode who design and make their best Halloween creations based on specific themes. After the first challenge, one baker is eliminated, leaving three to compete for a trick-or-treat bag containing a golden pumpkin that represents the $10,000 prize.

Both Stanard, who won the grand prize on her episode, and O’Sullivan, who didn’t win but made it to the second round on her segment, were recruited for the show by executives from the Food Network after discovering their work on Instagram.

Back in February for Valentine’s Day, O’Sullivan had made Wednesday Addams cookies, in a nod to the Netflix hit show "Wednesday" and posted it on her Instagram page, @aislingscookies. A full-time registered nurse at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, she began baking nine years ago when her four children were young, after she was asked to make sugar cookies for her brother-in-law who had graduated from medical school at the time.

She hadn’t ever decorated cookies before, but she always loved arts and crafts and had even considered becoming an art teacher at one point before deciding on nursing as a career. From that first lab coat cookie, she was hooked, and she started what would quickly become a successful home-based business. For the past several years, due to her work schedule, she has scaled back her orders but teaches cookie decorating classes, which she loves to do.

Shortly after O’Sullivan posted her Wednesday Addams cookie designs online, she was surprised to receive an email from a casting director who invited her to audition for “Halloween Cookie Challenge.”

“At first, I thought, ‘This isn’t real,’ ” said O’Sullivan. But after researching the show, she discovered that it was, in fact, a legitimate opportunity — contestants could either be recruited or apply themselves — and one that she gladly accepted. “I don’t think I ever would’ve applied,” she said.

Stanard also was recruited the same way, through her Instagram at @wickedsweetsma, and for her, it was definitely a surprise because she doesn’t bake professionally anymore. She began baking when she was 13, trained at the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vermont, and had a home-based business for a while. She also worked in bakeries and on kitchen lines in Massachusetts, including at Sweet Kitchen & Bar until it closed several years ago, and in New York and California.

When the COVID-19 pandemic caused a worldwide shutdown, Stanard decided to take a break from baking. Now, she is still an artist, just a different type — she works as an apprentice at Caged Raven Tattoo in Worcester. “I was making art on cookies, so it’s kind of the same thing — just a different medium,” said Stanard, whose tattoo work can be viewed at her Instagram page, @horrorlortattoo.

Even so, when the Food Network contacted her about auditioning, she decided to try it. Both she and O’Sullivan went through several rounds of auditions, and then a final interview with the producers. O’Sullivan said she had a good feeling about the process and an intuition that she would be chosen, but still, she recalled, “I don’t think it hit me until I found out. … I never, in my wildest dreams thought I would be on the Food Network.”

That call, the one letting her know that she indeed had been selected to compete the show, came a week before O’Sullivan would have to fly to Los Angeles for filming, which took place during three days. She described it as a “surreal experience” because it was April but everything on the set was Halloween-themed.

Stanard, who is working on a cookbook of favorite recipes she has created through the years, also flew to California during that same time to film her episode. Once they returned home, the contestants were not able to reveal that they had competed on the show or the results until just shortly before their episodes aired. For Stanard, that was especially challenging because she had won her competition. “It was horrible having to keep it a secret. It was really hard not to tell everyone,” she said. “It was a big secret to keep, and now it’s a big accomplishment. It’s crazy, really.”

During the filming, the challenges for both women had different requirements and time frames; the first had to be completed in 90 minutes and the second in 2 ½ hours. “It was pretty overwhelming. I worked right up until the last second,” O’Sullivan said, adding that in the studio, they didn’t always know where to find certain ingredients and had to hunt for what they needed. “It was so stressful. The second contest was extremely stressful. You’re literally just running around.”

Stanard said that although the process of baking came naturally for her, “the scary part was there were cameras at all angles and you have to talk through it. You have to narrate what you’re doing.” There was also no time to fix anything that might go wrong, so in the moment, “you have to make it look exactly like that’s what you were intending,” she said.

For the first challenge, Stanard had to make a self-portrait cookie, with one side a likeness of herself and the other side in spooky makeup. For the second, she had to create a zombie body part; she chose a foot with an interactive piece — a bone sticking out of the ankle that could be removed and, when snapped, “marrow” oozed out of it. Duff complimented it during the episode, calling it “disgusting,” and Pansino said that “every detail of your zombie foot was absolutely repulsive in the best way.”

O’Sullivan had different themes for her episode. Her first was “The Day After Halloween,” which challenged the bakers to create two cookie designs based on what the monsters do on Nov. 1. She made a skeleton relaxing on a hammock in “Maliboo,” and her second cookie was the Bride of Frankenstein recharging with a spa and yoga day. During the second round, the bakers had to make a 3D interactive coffin with a removable lid, using two different types of a dough and a secret ingredient that had to be included in the recipe; hers was dried apples.

Unfortunately, as the two judges were reviewing the contestants’ cookie coffins during the final round, the lid on O’Sullivan’s caved in; another competitor’s did, as well. “It broke my heart,” she said. Reflecting on her experience, she added, “I definitely would’ve baked the coffin longer. The judges told me if I baked it five more minutes, it never would’ve broken. I was happy with my design. I think I was pretty creative.”

If given the opportunity, O’Sullivan said she would definitely compete again. “It was an amazing experience. I still can’t believe I was on the show,” she said. “If the worst thing that happens to me is that my coffin breaks on the Food Network, I’m still having a really good day.”

For Stanard, who absolutely loves Halloween, winning her episode was a shock. “I felt like I was coming in as an underdog because I don’t bake anymore,” she said. “I definitely didn’t think I would win. It was great. It was an honor for sure.”

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This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Two local women compete on 'Halloween Cookie Challenge'