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LYNCHBURG, Va. — While competing on Food Network's "Christmas Cookie Challenge," Tarsha Joyner prayed the entire time.
A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joyner is an amateur baker and was recently featured on the show, competing for $10,000 against four professional bakers.
The first challenge saw the bakers creating festive, frosted and filled cookies, the second required ooey and gooey and soft and chewy cookies for Santa and the third and final round was Joyner's forte — decorated cookies.
Joyner said praying helped her stay focused on the tasks at hand.
"If I felt myself starting to freak out, I would just start praying," Joyner said. "And it really helped me to make it through without having a total breakdown, because it was very stressful."
In the end, Joyner won the prize money, along with "bragging rights," she said.
Since the show's original Nov. 28 air date, Joyner's cookie sales have increased exponentially at her local farmer's market and online.
The baker makes a variety of cookies and said one of her specialties is alfajores, a South American shortbread cookie filled with dulce de leche.
Joyner became interested in baking while attending Lynchburg College as a graphic design student.
One of her projects required her to create a brand for a product line, and she chose cookies. She decided to test her product and packaging within her community at the farmer's market and ended up winning two ADDY awards for her package design and logo.
To those aspiring to bake cookies, Joyner said they need to know how their ingredients will interact with each other.
The baker declined to share any of her recipes but hopes to publish a recipe book sometime in 2016 after she opens her new Lynchburg store, "Mrs. Joy's Absolutely Fabulous Treat Shoppe."
Those who wish to order Joyner's cookies can do so on her website. The "Christmas Cookie Challenge" will air again at noon Sunday on the Food Network.
