Update:
Codr won the coveted golden ornament during the episode that aired Sunday!
Original story:
Born and raised in Alaska, but now an Omaha resident, Larissa Codr has put in hours of practice to perfect her craft.
"I've perfected my butter vanilla sugar cookie and people love it so I just kind of roll with that," Codr said.
Four years ago, Codr started her company, The Finicky Cookie.
"That's kind of my forte. I will do really unique custom orders that are really detailed and just really special," Codr said.
Handcrafted, baked, designed and decorated, this weekend the local cookie master's skills will be on display across the country.
"I watched the show with my boys, we have for the last several seasons, so I was very familiar and thought I was being punked actually," Codr said.
About a year ago, Food Network reached out. After a series of interviews and cookie presentations, she was cast for the fourth episode of Food Network's "Christmas Cookie Challenge".
"Crazy, absolute crazy chaos, and I don't know how they make us look so calm on TV because we are frantic," Codr said.
A baking challenge that was both physically and mentally taxing. She described the Food Network kitchen as 4 feet larger than a basketball court.
"There's one pantry on that end of the basketball court so if you forget something and you are at your station, you have to run over cause you are timed, you are on a time limit," Codr said.
And that time limit was a huge adjustment as well.
"You are doing what you normally have several hours to do, by the time you get your dough made and the cookies baked and the frosting made and all the colors mixed and you are ready to actually decorate you have about 30 minutes," Codr said.
But for Codr, it's about more than the decorations.
"It's the experience and I love to bring joy to others by giving them something to appreciate and eat," Codr said.
Codr's cookie skills will be on Sunday's episode of "Christmas Cookie Challenge" on the Food Network at 7 p.m.
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