Vienna Resident Appearing On Food Network’s Halloween Cookie Challenge

VIENNA, VA — A Vienna baker's ability to create spooky Halloween cookies will be put to the test when she appears on a Food Network special on Halloween.

Minh Bingham, who moved to Vienna just over a year ago, is one of the bakers featured on Food Network’s Halloween Cookie Challenge season finale airing Monday, Oct. 31, at 10 p.m. The show, hosted by Jet Tila and Rosanna Pansino, features four bakers in each episode competing for a $10,000 prize and bragging rights at Halloween Cookie Champion. Bakers will go through two rounds of baking, including making a 3D cookie creation.

Bingham told Patch in an email she's been "baking for as long as I can remember." She picked up cooking and baking skills by spending time in the kitchen as a child with her mother and grandmother.

She's also a big fan of baking and cooking shows, so she likes trying out recipes and techniques shown on TV.

The Vienna resident bakes both sweet and savory items, but her specialty is sugar art. That's often in the form of sugar cookies, which are prepared with attention to details and different confection mediums such as fondant, isomalt and buttercream.

"My baking style involves tons of detail, intricate line work, textures, airbrushing, and using different mediums to achieve dimension and interest," Bingham said.

Bingham started her home bakery, Wellington Point Bakery, in Texas, fulfilling requests for baked goods from family, friends and neighbors. Her bakery specializes in cookie art and fine confections.

"My business grew so much through word of mouth, that I started getting larger corporate orders," Bingham said. "It got too time consuming to balance that with my relatively demanding day job, so I no longer sell, but I still bake quite a bit as a hobby and for family celebrations."

Her home bakery's Instagram page @wellingtonpointbakery got noticed by Food Network, leading a casting producer to reach about Food Network’s season 4 of Christmas Cookie Challenge. That episode aired in December 2020 and was Bingham's TV debut. Due to the show's success, a new spinoff called Halloween Cookie Challenge was started, and Bingham was once again invited to participate.

Bingham called it a "surreal experience" to participate in her first Food Network show since she grew up watching these types of baking shows. But explained how the experience is not solely what you see on TV.

"The time pressure in the kitchen is very real, and you have to adapt to a new kitchen and equipment that you’re not used to," Bingham said. "I was also surprised to learn that there is so much that goes into a show. Things that I would never have thought of, like what shelf to put lemons on and taking pictures of contestants each day to make sure they look exactly the same the next day (from hair down to jewelry on each finger)."

She says contestants usually become friends, and she keeps in touch with her fellow competitors.

Now Bingham is based in Vienna, where she enjoys the quality schools and small-town feel despite close proximity to DC and other entertainment. While Bingham's home bakery isn't currently accepting orders, she wants to offer classes to other cookiers.

"I’ve only recently moved to Northern Virginia and do not have the same network and clientele that I did in Texas," said Bingham. "I hope this will help me establish myself as a baker and cookie artist in Northern Virginia and help my classes take off."