As many of us get to our holiday baking, cookie decorating and gingerbread house garnishing, we also can admit we are not professionals.

However, on the Food Network, professional bakers come together to compete for who's the head honcho of holiday goodies. When it comes to gingerbread, well, she's from right here in Michigan!

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Meet Monroe, Michigan's Own Beth (Popeler) Meyer

According to The Monroe News, Beth Meyer has been a sugar artist and a baker for about 18 years now.

She grew up in Monroe, Michigan where she also graduated from Monroe High School and Monroe County Community College.

From there, The Monroe News shares she went on to get her English and secondary education degrees from Michigan State University.

We love a woman who not only can make some mean cookies but is also a pretty dang smart one herself!

Beth Meyer's Baking: Beth's Cake Boutique

While Meyer is skilled in HTML, English and education, per the Monroe News, she is also an extremely accomplished baker.

One look at her website's "about" section you'll find she has won many awards as a cake artist and professional chocolatier. She also is a certified judge of sugar art as well as an instructor and more.

Meyer got her start with baking when she wanted to create cakes for her kids like her mom did for her, as she told The Monroe News. When she and her family moved out towards the Detroit area, she figured culinary school would be a great way to learn more about baking, hone her skills and meet new people.

She graduated summa cum laude from Oakland County Community College and now, in 2021, has taken her talents to the big stage of the Food Network!

Food Network's "Holiday Baking Championship: Gingerbread Showdown"

Now, you've probably seen or made some pretty nice-looking gingerbread cookies, houses, men, etc. in your day but NEVER like this.

For Food Network's "Holiday Baking Championship: Gingerbread Showdown" contestants are tasked in each episode with creating extravagant displays out of gingerbread to then be critiques by the show's three judges and a winner is chosen.

The episode featuring Meyer and her teammate, Mary Jo Dowling, was titled "Holiday Window Shop 'Til You Drop."

"Host Jesse Palmer tasks the baking teams with turning their favorite holiday window scene into a gingerbread display with an animated element," the episode's description reads. "Many fine stores offer champagne to their shoppers during the holidays, so teams must also create a champagne dessert to go with their display..."

Meyer and Dowling's Gingerbread Windows Win

Now, the episode first aired on Thursday, December 9th and ended with Meyer and Dowling's creation winning them the $10,000 prize.

With her half of the winnings, The Monroe Times reports Meyer is planning to open a bakery in Mattawan, Michigan in February of 2022 called "The Cake Boutique."

You can catch the full episode and see how their winning gingerbread creation came to be for yourself either by streaming it on Discovery Plus or when it re-airs on the Food Network on Monday, December 13th at 6 PM.

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