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“Baking It!” Judge Bubbie Norma Zager Shows the Power of the Grannies

The show combines witty co-hosts and hilarious challenges with amazing bakers creating elaborate edible masterpieces and, of course, a delightful panel of grandmothers, serving as judges. 
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January 5, 2023
Norma Zager (far left) with her fellow judges. Photo courtesy of Peacock.

“Baking It!” the uplifting reality cooking show, is visual comfort food. The series, which wraps its second season on Peacock January 9, pits teams of two against each other in a warm and humorous baking competition. 

The show combines witty co-hosts and hilarious challenges with amazing bakers creating elaborate edible masterpieces and, of course, a delightful panel of grandmothers, serving as judges. 

“Grannies are the new supermodels,” Bubbe Norma Zager, who is one of the grannies, told the Journal. “Move over, Heidi Klum, because I am here to tell you that grannies are cool.”

Zager, who previously appeared on Food Network’s “Battle of the Grandmas,” said she gives the producers enormous credit for bucking the youth norms and bringing in grandmothers as judges. 

“I think the grannies have been a really positive part of the show, and I give them kudos for taking a shot [that has] paid off,” she said. Another benefit of grannies: no one leaves the show without a hug.

The grannies enjoy watching the bakers grow through the course of the season. Amy Poehler, who is joining season two as Maya Rudolph’s co-host, has also been a welcome plus.

“Baking It!” Zager said, which is about people coming together and achieving things they never achieved before, has “a lot of shtick and a lot of food.” 

 “Baking It!” Zager said, which is about people coming together and achieving things they never achieved before, has “a lot of shtick and a lot of food.” 

For Zager, this achievement has been more than three decades in the making. 

“There are no limits to what you can really achieve in life,” Zager said. “If you have the mindset to do it, it’s never too late to live your dreams. … it took me 36 years to get to NBC. I was an overnight success after 36 years.” 

Originally from Detroit, Zager moved to Los Angeles to move forward in her career as a comedian. The only problem was, Zager said, if you wanted to do auditions, you couldn’t go on the road. And if you couldn’t go on the road, you couldn’t make money as a comic. 

All the comics loved Zager’s cookies, as did those managing shows at the LA comedy clubs.

“I would get a set by bribing them with cookies,” Zager said. She started to sell her cookies, and it evolved into a baking business called Norma’s 14-Karat Cookies.

Combining her love of humor and food, Zager started doing funny cooking demos on TV.

About six years ago, Zager was on a cooking competition show called, “Clash of the Grandmas” with Anne Leonhard, another one of the grannies from “Baking It!” Spoiler alert: Leonhard won; Zager was taken down by a turkey. “It was a lot of fun, we stayed in touch and stayed friends,” Zager said. Many years later, the casting director from that show called, inviting them to audition for “Baking It!”

“It just shows you in show business, you never know,” Zager said. “People go from show to show, network to network, and sometimes they remember you and take you with them.”

When asked where her love of food came from, Zager said, “I’m Jewish and part Italian, so I mean, come on. What chance did I have?”

Zager said she grew up eating the way most Midwestern Jewish families did at that time, “like a heart attack waiting to happen. Every night, there was some kind of dead animal on that plate. And there was tons of food in the house. It was always, ‘Eat, eat, eat, eat. You’re not eating enough.’” 

For her role on “Baking It!,”  embraces her love of food, as well as her Jewish and Italian roots. 

“I don’t think it’s just a Jewish thing; it’s also an Italian thing,” Zager said. “I’ve never seen two ethnic groups that are so similar. Italians and Jews: they talk with their hands, they yell a lot, they are family oriented. They’re always eating. They’re always feeding.” 

Zager’s favorite Jewish food: Bagels, lox and cream cheese with a tomato on top. And, of course, it must be Nova lox. 

“As far as Italian, just throw some kind of sauce on pasta and I’m a happy woman,” she said. “I love pizza. Everybody does. You don’t have to be Italian to love pizza.”

Since her grandsons were little — they are now 14 and almost 10 — Zager has been making pizza with them. The older one has really taken to cooking. 

“I’m hoping that someday when he is [cooking] with his children in the kitchen, he will use a recipe that he and I made together,” she said. “I’m hoping he will share the memories with his children that he had making it with me.”

An enthusiastic chocoholic, Zager shared her White Chocolate Peppermint Mandelcotti. This mandel bread/biscotti mashup is a homage to her Jewish Italian heritage.

White Chocolate Peppermint Mandelcotti
Photo by Norma Zager

White Chocolate Peppermint Mandelcotti 

1 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
3 1/4 cups flour
3 eggs
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon of peppermint extract
1 cup white chocolate
½ cup very finely chopped peppermint candy for inside recipe
¼ to ½ cup finely chopped peppermint for the topping
1 cup melted white chocolate for drizzling on top of cookies

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Place oil and sugar in a mixing bowl and mix well. Add eggs and mix until well incorporated. Add extracts and mix.
  • Add baking powder and salt to flour and mix.
  • Add flour to wet ingredients 1/4 cup at a time. Check for consistency: If dough is too wet, add small amounts of flour until the dough has some body and isn’t loose.
  • Add white chocolate and peppermint and mix through.
  • Divide dough into four parts and form them into long rolls and place them on a parchment-lined sheet pan.
  • Bake for approximately 20 minutes and check for doneness. They will probably crack and be light brown on edges when done. 
  • Lower oven to 200 degrees. Let cookies sit for 5 minutes and cut into slanted slices. Separate them and place on a baking sheet and bake until they are toasty to the touch; the longer they are in the oven, the crunchier they will be, so it’s a matter of taste. I like them to have a bit of softness left inside.
  • Let cool. 
  • Melt chocolate and drizzle over cookies. Then top with crushed peppermint while chocolate is still melty.

For more recipes, go to NormaZager.com.

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