BYU freshman Anya Fazulyanov won Food Network’s “Christmas Cookie Challenge” in an episode aired Thursday, Nov. 14.
Fazulyanov competed against three other bakers in the second episode of the show’s new season for the coveted prize of $10,000.
Fazulyanov described the competition as a “challenging” but also rewarding and exciting experience for her.
“It was definitely challenging. The time limits were something that was just not what I'm used to. However … I work really well under pressure. And so, I think that helped me stay calm during all of it,” Fazulyanov said.
During the competition, Fazulyanov said contestants had to bake intricately designed cookies that were evaluated by the show’s judges. During one of the rounds, Fazulyanov used apple cider as her secret ingredient.
“You're filming. It's all happening. There's so much going on. There's cameramen around you, for the second round,” Fazulyanov said. “You have to get a mystery ingredient, and you have to use it in your cookies. So that was also something that was challenging.”
Fazulyanov won the advantage in the first round, which led to her to win the entire competition. She said she was thrilled, yet it was difficult keeping her victory a secret.
While the show was filmed in April, it would not air until November.
“I'm excited. It's crazy that now it's all out there, you know?" Fuzulyanov said. "I filmed this in April, so I've just been holding in the secret. But I'm excited that it aired."
Despite all of the attention Fazulyanov has received from the contest, she said she’s no stranger to putting herself out into the public eye.
Fazulyanov has been running her own cookie business for the past five years. She bakes, designs and completes commissions from multiple clients every month.
However, Fazulyanov said this wasn’t always her passion.
“So it started all kind of around ninth grade,” Fazulyanov said. “I have always loved baking ever since I was younger, but it was more just here and there for my family. No orders or anything like that.”
Fazulyanov said she was always artistic, but she never took her baking seriously until she took a cookie decorating class from a local cookie maker.
The class inspired her to start marketing her designs.
“And then, eventually, I started doing them (cookies) for celebrities who came to Utah,” Fazulyanov said. “And so it kind of just exploded from there.”
While there are dozens of cookie competitors in the state of Utah, Fazulyanov said her cookies are unique. While cookies from other companies such as Crumble or Chip are known for being “decadent” and “flavorful,” her artistic designs are her focus, she said.
“Mine are honestly all about the art and design of them. Because they're very detailed, designed and decorated and they're super custom,” Fazulyanov said. “I can turn someone's product into a cookie.”
Fazulyanov’s website and Instagram feature some of her detailed cookies and other famous designs.
Christine Fazulyanov, Anya’s mother, said that her daughter has always been artistic and has even had two pieces featured in the Springville Museum of Art.
“The cool thing about the cookies is this is just her combining her art with her love for food and baking, because they are truly works of art,” Christine Fazulyanov said. “She is an artist, I would say first, and then a baker very second.”
Christine Fazulyanov said some people have commented her daughter has made success look easy, but she said a particular comment on Facebook praised Anya for her hard work: “Great people do hard things. Exceptional people make those hard things look easy,” the comment read.
“It doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but it is because she spent years working on this,” Christine Fazulyanov said. “She does the research. She's researching their merch, their album covers and pulling together from a design point of view. She's sketching out the patterns on her iPad. ‘What's the color palette? What shapes of cookie cutters do I need?’ And so, to see her go from a request, you know, to a commissioned order, to the final product is so neat.”
Anya Fazulyanov said that she is currently taking limited orders but hopes to expand her business in the future.
“I'd love to host a Food Network show,” Anya said. “So hopefully, this is the beginning and it's something that I look back on as like, ‘Well, that was the start of it all.’ So that's what I'm hoping for. We'll see what actually happens.”
