We all have our comfort foods.  Mine are probably mashed potatoes and my Mom’s meatloaf, or perhaps her barbecue chicken.  She also makes an incredible chicken casserole.  Pretty much anything she cooks or bakes is comfort food, I suppose.

But what happens when comfort foods collide with comfort television?  That’s the case with Audre Myers‘s review of a beloved Netflix series.

I won’t spoil the scones any further.  Here’s Audre on The Great British Baking Show:

Everyone knows I’m a huge Anglophile. I love the English. I was delighted to find, a couple of years ago, The Great British Baking Show, on Netflix. The English refer to it as ‘Bake Off‘ and that’s how I’ll refer to it, too, just to keep from typing the actual title.

As the title infers, it’s about baking (and sometimes savory cooking), and each season twelve bakers are chosen from across the UK to be contestants. They are just average folks with a passion for baked goods. Netflix had offered six seasons but as Bake Off continued, they dropped the early seasons and now all you can watch are the last six seasons – I miss the early ones but I’m happy with the later ones.

I told you all that to tell you this – I love the holiday baking shows. Contestants that didn’t win their seasons are invited back for special Christmas baking. The decorated tent (the wonderful castle-like tent in a beautiful field) is aglow with all the signs of the season and only four contestants compete. You can feel the excitement of the season and the bakers and it immediately puts me in a good mood. The challenges are the same as the standard Bake Off routine – first bake is ‘signature bake’ (the baker’s own recipe for whatever item the judges have asked for), then there’s the ‘technical challenge’ wherein the contestants must use the recipe supplied to them, and the final is the ‘show stopper’ challenge, which is some huge effort and test of the contestants’ talent. People really are amazing and when you see how creative they are, it’s inspiring.

My favorite episode – my favorite favorite – is the New Year’s Day Bake Off featuring the actresses and the actor from the UK series, Derry Girls. They’re all Irish (Derry being in Ireland, of course; not to be confused with the Derry you often read about in Stephen King novels … thank goodness!) and they are as naturally funny as the English are. I laugh out loud every time I watch the episode and the smile on my face never falters for the entire episode.

There are days – sometimes weeks – when there’s precious little to smile or laugh about. Generally, I’ll watch a zombie series to feel better (I mean, anything is better than the zombie apocalypse, right?) but if I really feel down, only one thing will do. Bake Off and the Derry Girls.