Recap of Recipes to Riches: Episode 1

Jason Keary and his delish bees' nests!

The first episode of the season was titled "Cakes, Puddings and Pies." The three contestants were Jason Keary and his Cheesy bee's nests, Jillianne Niver with her Butterscotch pots de creme and Cherilynn Balachander and her Classic Batternburg Cake. This episode got me so excited for the new season and it was just a great reminder about how excited I was last fall!

For those of you who don't remember the show, each episode three contestants are chosen to battle against a certain title (desserts, entrees, snacks etc). After a "batch-up" challenge where they make portions for up to 250 people, suddenly cooking or baking for that many doesn't seem easy anymore! After this challenge, one person must be eliminated. The remaining two contestants battle it out - this time they must create a unique name for their product and they must market it as well. The person with the most innovative and well-accepted (and not necessarily numbers, as we learn in this episode) wins the title of the challenge, along with $25,000 to pocket. Their product also becomes available for Canada to try the following weekend. They also get a chance to nab the grand finale prize of $250,000 and their product becoming a permanent President's Choice product in Loblaw stores. Not bad heh?

Now back to the episode - after an interesting battle as per usual, Jason Keary takes the title with his Cheesy bee's nests!  Although that was not originally the name of the product (honey cheese pastries was the original, I believe, and changed it to bees' nests but decided not to during the final challenge) the judges convinced him to stick to the previous name of bees' nests. And delicious are his bees' nests! It's basically a small nest/tart made out of phyllo pastry, filled with a honey cream cheese filing, topped with berry compote and sprinkled with mozzarella cheese. What an unusual combination but it totally works! You'll need to run to Superstore to get yours and tell me what you think!

To watch this episode, go here.