Unadilla baker named champion of Food Network competition

Jones plans to use his winnings to expand his business. He says soon you’ll be able to order Sweet Evelyn's cookies from anywhere in the country.

PERRY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Everybody loves a sweet treat during the holidays, and one middle Georgia baker is no stranger to serving up your favorite confectionery creations.

Cory Allen Jones owns Sweet Evelyn’s cookie shop in Perry. He says his passion for confectionery art started in 2016, when he took a cookie decorating class with his mom.

“I thought it would be something that she would be interested in, and so I’m the one that ended up getting hooked on that,” Jones said.

After that, he started selling special order cookies out of Unadilla.

Last year, Jones was scouted to compete in the Food Network’s Christmas Cookie Challenge. While Jones didn’t win, his appearance on the competition show helped his business take off.

“Being on Food Network for Christmas Cookie Challenge last year brought us an influx of business almost to the point where we could not fulfill it,” he explained.

So he opened up a commercial kitchen in Unadilla, and his cookie shop in earlier this year.

Once again, Jones was asked to return to the Food Network for its Holiday Wars competition show.

“Going into that, knowing I had lost and there was a little bit of extra push there to push myself harder to try to get that win,” said Jones.

After eight weeks of competing, Jones and his team, ‘The Frost Bites’, were selected as the Holiday Wars Champions, and awarded $25,000.

Jones plans to use his winnings to expand his business, and says the win wouldn’t have been possible without teamwork.

“I was incredibly proud of myself and of my team,” he said. “We pushed really hard. We all did things that we’ve never done before to to push through and just give that show everything we had.”

Jones says soon you’ll be able to order Sweet Evelyn’s cookies from anywhere in the country.