Middle Georgia cookie master heads to finale of ‘Halloween Baking Championship’

Before a cheering crowd of family, friends and fans Monday night, Middle Georgia’s cookie master and owner of Sweet Evelyn’s in downtown Perry advanced to the finale of Food Network’s “Halloween Baking Championship.”

The public watch party for Cory Jones of Unadilla was held on the lawn of city hall off Carroll Street in downtown Perry. The competition was filmed in March but episodes air at 9 p.m. Mondays on the Food Network and stream the next day on HBO Max.

Comedian and actor Tom Henson hosts the show that’s set in a “haunted mansion.” Renowned pastry chefs Carla Hall, Zac Young and Stephanie Boswell are the judges.

“It floors me that on a Monday night at nine o’clock that the city hall lawn is full of people that have come to support me by watching a show,” said Jones, who was also about to view Episode 6 of the “Halloween Baking Championship” for the first time.

Dot Leach was among those rooting for Jones at the watch party. Her daughter, Kimberly Britt, owns an upscale women’s consignment store and kids boutique on the other side of Carroll Street from Sweet Evelyn’s.

“Sometimes when I’m down here helping her out at Brittle & Company, I’ll run over there and get a cookie,” Leach said with a laugh.

Having been watching Jones on the show since the 2025 season premiered Sept. 15, Leach said she’ll definitely be cheering him on in the finale.

Childhood monsters & ties to Perry

In the semi-finals episode aired Monday, Jones won the “Haunted Heat” challenge about most childhood fears and childhood monsters — propelling him into the finale with three other remaining contestants.

During the show, contestants were tasked with creating a dessert depicting their childhood fear. Jones chose a monster under the bed.

His winning dessert was a caramel apple cheesecake. The cheesecake formed the bed, with bloodied monster hands reaching up out from under it. During the show, he noted the bloodied scratches on the pillow.

The creation gave Jones the opportunity to talk on the show about the annual Georgia National Fair in Perry, with the caramel apple flavor tying back to the fair and his childhood.

In the interview, Jones described his winning entry as a cheesecake layer with Granny Smith apples with a pecan oat streusel topping with caramel on top as well.

Viewers got a real-life scare during the episode when Jones cut into his finger with a knife while chopping peanuts initially planned for his cheesecake. The cut at the side of the nail extended about half an inch down his finger, he said.

During the show, Jones immediately stepped back from chopping and asked for a medic.

“All I could think about was losing time,” Jones said during the show. The baking challenges on the show are timed.

Not wanting to forfeit the contest, Jones said in the interview that he powered through the rest of the episode with a cleaned and wrapped cut. Jones wore a glove over the wound for the remainder of the show.

His perseverance pays off

The episode win was the second in the show series for Jones.

Jones also won the “Haunted Heat” challenge on Episode 3, in which contestants were challenged to craft a dessert with a “cryptic spirit writing.”

Jones created a gingerbread cookie coffin with a burn away wafer that revealed the message, “You’re next.”

In the interview, Jones described the gingerbread cookie coffin as having a saffron scented cake inside that’s made with cardamom spiced pears.

Heading into the finale and final episode, Jones is one of only two contestants to win the “Haunted Heat” challenge twice. The other is Oksana Shchelgachova, a pastry chef and owner of Edelweiss Highlands, a pastry boutique in Highlands, North Carolina.

“Winning this time really shows me where my strongest competitor is,” Jones said of Shchelgachova in the interview.

“It’s very meaningful to have won again because it shows me that just being known for the cookies and then coming into a competition like this where I’m doing all other baking, it kind of makes you feel good because you’re capable of doing all of this other stuff as well.”

Incidentally, on a trip back from Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in September, Jones swung over to Highlands, North Carolina, to visit Shchelgachova at her pastry boutique.

“She has a very nice place,” Jones said of the pastry boutique. “Very similar in that she is still 100% hands-on with all of her baking just like I am.”

As a chocolatier, Shchelgachova offers some very intricate, detailed pieces, Jones noted.

Jones is best known for decorated cookies that he hand-crafts one at a time. He also offers delicious drop cookies.

The final four in the finale

Shchelgachova, Alan Arras, a pastry sous chef based in Orlando, Florida, and Melanie Bjork-Jensen, a self-taught baker from West Jordan, Utah, made it to next week’s finale with Jones.

Camille La Caer, a pastry chef in Buffalo, New York, was eliminated in the semi-finals episode in the “Bake for Your Life” challenge that was themed on scary clown cakes. Jones did not have to compete in the elimination challenge as the winner of the episode.

Of the original 10 contestants, one withdrew and five were eliminated over the course of the series. Tune in next week to see who wins the competition for the $25,000 prize.

This story was originally published October 21, 2025 at 1:03 PM.