Butter Than Ever Christmas Party

Hey, y'all, tonight on Paula's Party

it's my butter-than-ever Christmas party! The one, the only, Patti LaBelle joins me

for a Christmas shepherd's pie, y'all. And who in their right mind wouldn't want to be saved

by rescue chef Danny Boo? Santa left me in the truck. He's gonna help me make a buttered rum glazed turkey girlfriend

And then country singer Mark Wills is singing for a three-layer Christmas spice cake

So bring your butter, and let's party! Thank you, Santa

Santa Claus, everybody! Hello, y'all! Happy holidays

Happy holidays to y'all! Y'all, it's Christmas. It's better than ever Christmas

Let's not waste any time getting this party underway, y'all, because you're going to love it

My very first guest has shared her soulful voice for over four decades

Please welcome the legendary R&B singer, my friend, Patti LaBelle! Come on out

Look at her! Look at her! We matched! We matched! We matched

We matched! Oh, my God. Happy holidays. Happy holidays to you, my gorgeous

Thank you, sweetheart. You're going to make this good stuff later. We've got to step to the stove, honey

I know. I'm going to make you a Christmas shepherd's pie. Let's step on

This girl cooks like I do. Yes. Well, you've got those good fattening things in there like I have

And you do things like I do. And, well, you know, I can't really, like, eat everything that I cook

but I'll watch her cook, and I just want to just come to the extreme. As we get older. As we get older, y'all, our body starts making changes

And we do have to learn moderation. Yeah. And with my good life, honey, I'm going to be healthy for the rest of my life

There you go. Hey! Woo! Well, tell everybody, Patty. Yes, baby. I know that you travel a lot

Yes. And I heard that you travel with a... With pots. An appliance

With pots. An electric skillet, y'all. A skillet in my trunk. She orders room service, brings it to her room, and then she doctors it up

You know what happens? I bring the pots and pans in my trunk. I tried to order room service back in the day

Every time it comes out, it's wrong. So I have to send it back. So I just bring my pots, and we find a nice produce place and a nice fish market

Where do you live? In Philly. Philadelphia. Love Philadelphia. Do you? Love

I love it. It's one of my favorite cities. I was born in Philadelphia, and I'm still there

I have a house in the islands in Eleuthera. I've got our onions and I've got our ground beef, y'all

I get my cook on when I get there. I relax by the beautiful water and I chill

That sounds wonderful, Patty. And I cook for the island people, too. I love cooking for them. They came over one day and we were about to leave

And so I had all this food. So I said, I'm going to invite the people that I met. They came over, Paul

I had made everything that I could eat. I had made potato salad. I had made macaroni and cheese

You've got such a sweet soul. I had made some sautéed chicken. and I made like apple pies

And so I didn't want to leave them. And I wanted them to see that I really could cook. People don't believe I can really cook, right

Yeah, you know, it's hard for us to picture you in them. Stiletto heels in the kitchen fried chicken

But I do. And they came over and they tasted the food and they said

we know there are no restaurants around, so she did cook this. And then they said they gave me the hallelujah amen

She's a good cook. I said, thank you, Jesus. What a cute story

All right. Now, while I'm putting this pie together for you, I've got our onions and I've got our ground beef

But look here at this LaBelle hot sauces, y'all. My favorite is called hot flash

I'm 63 and I'm flash. I'm flashing. I'm way past the hot flash

But you have to be a baby girl. This is number five. This is for you

So is it the bigger the number? Oh, this is mild. No, this is mild. This is for the hot moms. So the littler the number, the hotter it is

Like this is number three. Three, that's in the middle of being hot. But this might hurt you hot

What I want you to do, Patty, is you do the seasonings because I'm not familiar with your hot sauce

But I don't want to hurt you with this. You won't hurt me, honey. Okay, I can put something in

You won't hurt me, I promise. Okay, baby. Can you handle it? Yes, you take whatever you want to do

Let me do this side. No, because you've got to mix it all. Yeah, I've got to mix it. Let's put a little in

Okay? You just can't eat it. But I can. But you can get some more later

I'll make you see. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll cook you a pie with this. I mean, I can do it, okay

But we have to show off my hot, hot stuff. Yes, I want to. Okay. You know what I'm going to do

What, honey? I'm going to take just a little bite to see. And watch, it won't kill you

Uh-huh. That's delicious. Hallelujah. It's not. That's what I'm saying

It's not just like honey. Can I taste? Please taste. I trust you

It's a wonderful flavor, y'all. It's good. You can also make this dish out of leftovers from a pot roast

Works perfect. And when we come back, I want to find out how Patti LaBelle spends Christmas

Don't y'all want to know? I don't think you want to know. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back

The great Patti LaBelle, y'all. Coming up next, Patti's going to help me finish up our Christmas Shepherd's Pie

Baby, you're talking about ghetto fabulous. Ghetto fabulous. And later, Food Network's Danny Boom

Boom. Boom. Flat, bada, bing, bada, boom. Crash, bang, boom. And turkey with buttered rum glaze

Yo, who's lucky here? Who is lucky here? We're having a Patti LaBelle Christmas

I'm gonna tell y'all something else about Patty the very first time ever laid eyes on her we were both at QVC

I had a cookbook and that's when I was having to do met me there no I didn't meet you honey

I was in awe I was a white girl in the corner with her mouth on the floor looking at you so you So your cookbook had just come out I had a cookbook and I was still doing my own cooking

you know, in the back. Yes. Had flour all over me. All right

Now, who comes out? They introduce Miss Patti LaBelle. Oh, my gosh

She comes out with six-inch heels on, a short dress. Minnie. And I'm standing there like this

How do I follow that act, y'all? Just by being here. Here was this old lady with flour all over her

I know. I know we're about the same age. But I was totally in awe of you. Yes, we are about the same age

We're about the same age, and we're as old as we feel. That's right. Age ain't on my page

Age ain't on my page. I'm 63. I'm 61. See, I'm older than you

Isn't that wonderful? Look at your skin. Black don't crack. Black don't crack

That's what I'm going to tell you. Black don't crack. But look at you

Are you over there? Thank you. I am making Patty a Christmas shepherd's pie

I've got our onions and I've got our ground beef. But it's a wonderful flavor, y'all

It's good. Can I have some more? Yes, please do. I'm fixing to put some tomato sauce in it

Girl, we can get some beef. This beef is awesome. Isn't it good? It's just a regular ground beef

New York City ground beef, though, I have to say. Great. This is good

All right, now you may want to taste that and see if you need to add some more hot sauce

because that's going to dilute it. Can I use this? Well, we're actually fixing to make our pies in it

but if you want to use it, take it. Put the sauce, baby, please. Take it, baby, take it. So good, this is going to be my fourth meal

See if it needs some more. I'm not kidding, y'all. No. That's probably the best hot sauce I've ever tasted

This sauce makes a difference. No, I don't need any more. All right, slide down, girlfriend. Okay

Work it. All right. I'm going to be putting together our shepherd's pie for us

But I want to find out about your Christmas parties. No, you don't

Tell me what you normally do at Christmas. Baby, you talking about ghetto fabulous. What'd you say

Ghetto fabulous. Ghetto fabulous. Okay, so you use frozen peas and corn

Simple. Just a frozen mixed vegetable. Keep it simple, sincere. If you get it fresh, use fresh

But if you don't, don't sweat it. All right. Now, I'm just going to layer our potatoes that I've just whipped up with a little butter and cream

Six years ago, I had this particular party. This was my cousin from New Jersey

Hey. Okay. So he had an attitude with me and said, who do you think you are

You all Patti LaBelle and everything, and you think you big, you think you all that

Was he drinking? Yeah. he done drank up all of my twister

okay or whatever I might have served so boyfriend had a little too much so he said yeah you think you all that

you're Patti LaBelle and everything I said you darn bet you I am Patti LaBelle

and I'm going to act like it so I'm going to tell you right now to get your out of here

now so he didn't believe me so I went to the kitchen I swear to God

and got a knife I said are you going to leave now

he said oh you really going to Hollywood on me I said no I'm going to go to jail

because I'm going to cut you Get out. That's the thing. That's it

So after that, about a week after that, he called me back

And my aunt, Hattie Mae, who I love so dearly, she says, Sugar, I think he had a little too much to drink

And forgive him. I said, You know what? I put him back into my heart because I can't beat people

But don't mess up my house. But you forgave him. He's back in your life. He's back in my life

But I've had some other parties since then that I put people out I ain't never talked to again. Every year

Oh, my God. So now what we're going to do is we're going to take this cornbread batter

Girl, is this butter? That is butter, honey. Traditional shepherd's pie is topped with mashed potatoes

but in this southern version, we're going to use a boxed cornbread mix as our crust

Oh, my Lord. And when I get this put on top of that, if you'd butter it

This is so good. All right, here we go. They're happy to get it. That butter looks good

Look at your patty. Okay. Well, these ain't really hot because my oven ain't on

It's good. It's television that they don't know. It's television. You don't know

Look at here. Ah! Ah! Ah! Oh, my God. Can I eat it

Yes, eat it. Patty, I sweat too hard. If my oven's on

And you don't need it. So we have to pretend. So do real pretend, okay

Yes. I am not mad at you. Thank you, because, you know, fat girls don't look pretty when they sweat

No. You lost a lot of weight No honey I'm 40 pounds overweight

That's alright This needs some more juice in it Candy don't eat that crap

Put it in here Put some right here Perfect Sorry about a dry shepherd

It's not dry now It ain't dry now Alright but reach down in there

Those potatoes are bad to the bone honey It's phenomenal Thank you

How easy was that, Patty

That was so easy. And that's what I believe in. Quick miss

Patty, give me a kiss, girl. How sweet is this woman? You're so wonderful

If you ever go to her house at a party, you just behave. Just don't put your hands on my wall

Or she'll throw your ass out. I will throw you out. And she might even cut you

Yes, I might. That's right. Patty, thank you, sister. Thank you, Pearl

Merry Christmas. I love you, too. Thank you, darling. I love you

The great Patty LaBelle. Shake it, sister. Shake it

Shake it. Whoa. Thank you. Thank you

Next, turkey with buttered rum glaze with rescue chef Danny Boone. I was down at the department store, and they let me off for 20 minutes, aren't they

Oh, yeah. And later, country crooner Mark Wills and a spice cake that's gonna have us all singing

It's a night, holy night. Yo, it's butter than ever Christmas

Yo, my next guest makes a living by showing up at people's houses

ready to fix any kitchen disasters that they may have. Please welcome the brand new Hottie Hottie newest team member

here at Food Network, Rescue Chef, Danny Boom. Come on out, Danny

Santa left me in the truck Santa left me in the truck Santa left me in the truck And I been sitting around like a lemon all day

You're so cute! Here, can I look under there? Please. Look at him, girls

Do you like my rouge? It's good. I love your rouge. It's perfect

Let me put your hat back on. Thank you. I forgot my raccoon hat. Daniel, boom! Boom

Boom. Like bada bing bada boom, crash bang boom. But crash bada bada boom bang boom

So how are you liking doing your show? I'm loving it. Are you

America, you know what, guys? You may have a bad rap everywhere else, but I'm here and I'm loving it

I'm absolutely fantastic. Isn't it, America? America's the greatest place in the world, isn't it

You know what? I'm having a good time. Where else could you dress up like a damn elf and make a living

Well, actually, this is my other job. I was down at the department store and they let me off for 20 minutes

So how are you liking doing your show? I'm loving it. And they've already re-upped your contract

So people are enjoying your show. They're enjoying your show. And you're from England

That's right. Diane, I have a funny accent. I'm not from North Brooklyn or down where you're from

You know, everybody's got an accent to me. y'all. Danny, honey, you come over here and you tell

everybody what you're going to make, and I'm going to help you get comfortable. Okay. We're going to make a butter rum glazed

turkey and chestnut apple stuffing. Sounds fabulous. It's all about Christmas, isn't it

Yes. It's all about what's great. Traditions. You know, this is nowhere near my

stuffing that I make, so I'm really going to be interested in tasting this

Let's think about it. You know what? Your jingling balls are really distracting me

So is that pal nephro? Could you tie them up or something? Oh, my... Well, we're even

Right, OK. Just let me jingle away and let me get this cooking going, all right? OK. Right, so what we're going to hear is we're going to have a little mirepoix off

We've got some celery, and we've got some carrots. We're going to be cooking away there nicely. Now, the thing is, when you're dealing with a turkey, you've got a big cavity to fill

You know, I have heard a lot of controversy about to stuff or not to stuff

They say that the stuffing, before it gets done, you know, it can almost sour on you

Wow. So I'm hearing more and more that they recommend you to cook your stuffing separately

So what's your take on that, Danny? Well, I've got lots of different takes, okay? I mean, I basically stuff chickens and grouse and things like that with fruit. Right

Because they're very dry. What did you say you stuffed? Fruit. Fruit

Apples, pears. And chickens. Yeah, oranges. Citrus fruit. You stuffed oranges. Yeah, I don't generally put in the actual bread

We've got sourdough here, okay? But what we generally do is we do that with the actual fruit

because then what happens is it rehydrates the inside instead of drying your actual bird out. But what we're going to do here, because turkey's a big bird

a lot of juice, we want some of that to be soaked out so the actual bird cooks a little bit quicker

Yes. All right? So we've got some sourdough, we've got some cranberries, we've got some apples, we've got some parsley

and we've got some sage. All that goes in there. Okay. We've got some mushrooms that have been sautéed away

If you'd like to take that stuff there and just pop that all in. And this is just carrots and celery

Yeah. No onions. No. And that really sort of like brings the flavours along

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And then we have a little bit of beet and egg

I want to help hold it together. And you've got butter back here

That I have. I understood you like your butter. I love butter

I love it. Yes, guilty. Does this go in here? Yeah. everything. Okay? The thing is

the thing of the Rescue Chef thing, when we started this, we were trying to basically deconstruct

recipes and give people confidence for one. And then the next part we were trying

to do was actually say, well, okay, let's not worry about, you know

whatever you have in the house, you can use. You've got apricots

you've got bread, you can use anything. You could even use graham crackers at the end of the day. Okay? It's all going to

go in. It's all going to do the same job. Yes. Okie dokie. So

put in some chicken stock. Uh-huh. In that goes. This is great

Beat an egg. And then we mix it all together, okay? Let it soak up a little bit

You mix it over, over a few times. And then what you do is when it's a nice big lump, you get ready for your bird

Okay, where's your bird? He's looking for his bird, y'all. We'll be back in just a minute

Danny's going to find his bird. Next, it's more Christmas turkey tips

Preheat the oven. or that turkey won't be done till next month. With rescue chef Danny Boone

and later country star Mark Wills and a Christmas Spice Cake. Sweet

So, what do y'all think about my little elf here? We're having a butter-than-ever Christmas

Danny is preparing us a stuffing and now a turkey. During the break, thank goodness he found his bird

So go to it, baby. While you're doing that, I want to take just one second

to thank my friends at Radco for doing my Christmas tree and my wreaths

They're beautiful. Christopher Radco, thank you. Thank y'all. Your decorations are just beautiful

Right. Cracking on. Okay. So I've made my stuffing. We've got the sourdough

We've got the apples. We've got the cranberries and all those brilliant, brilliant flavors. All going to go into our bird

Okay. You want to make sure, y'all, that you really wash that turkey really good. Yeah

Take the plastic innards out. Yeah, please don't forget that. Sometimes they can be tucked into the neck

and between your legs cavity. That's probably the number one Christmas disaster

And you know what? You've got to basically just plan it, relax, and enjoy it

Yeah, you know. And organize yourself. Oh, la, la. Absolutely. By the way, we used sourdough

We used it because it's been toasted out and dried. Because that's why we used it

Because we want basically all the juices to flow in, soften it up, and away you go

It's going to be delicious with all that rich turkey stock in it

Right. I understand you used to be a manny. Yes, I used to look after kids

I was a male nanny. A male nanny is a manny. Danny the manny

Danny the manny! Okay, extraordinaire. That's who I was. Well, you got stuff over here

Am I supposed to be doing anything for you? Right, we've got the..

On the heat, we've got one stick of butter. Okay, so I may need a little bit more butter

So I'm just going to take... All right, well, go over there and borrow it from my snowman. Oh, gee. Oh, oh, oh, oh

Knock him off, Danny. I'm going to just... How does what just know my I mean how does that I could say something but I ain Oh it okay So we going to melt our butter down

Okay, that's that. Can I add that, Ron? Wait, wait, wait, wait. Just a little bit of patience

Well, we only have 60 seconds. Well, I'd like to get there quickly. Right, so we've got some brown sugar that's going to go in, okay

We're going to make a sort of like a syrup. Okay, we've got a little bit of cinnamon. All that goes in

Yes. A couple. Just a couple of grates of fresh nutmeg. Nutmeg goes a long way, doesn't it

Oh, nutmeg. It's Christmas to me. Cinnamon, that, fantastic. Oh, I love it

So now I'm going to put the rum in. Just guys, please don't put rum and flame

Okay, so be very careful. We put that in. We give it a little bit of a twist, all right

So we want that to basically reduce down for 10 minutes. We want a nice sticky syrup

Okay, so our turkey is then basted a little bit with some salt

What is this stuff? Oh, this is the money. This is the money there, Paula

That's what that is. Okay. Bit of salt and pepper. Yes. Season your bird

Preheat the oven. Or that turkey won't be done till next month. All right

Seriously. Yeah, it'll just get brown on the outside. Pink in the middle. Right

Okay. Now, what I've made here, you know, your bird is your centrepiece, isn't it

Yes, it is. Yeah, it's your centrepiece. We want the ooh and the ah and the wow factor, yeah

Yeah. Can I hear a ooh? A ooh. Can I hear an ah? Ah

And can hour. Ooh! Ew! Now, what I do is basically you've got a bit of soft brown sugar

a couple of sticks of butter. So we're going to pop that on our turkey, and this is your rub, OK

This is going to make that skin. So what we're going to do, we're going to put this butter mixture

on basically the top and underneath the skin. Oh, OK. So what you do, and this is a really cool little trick

is because you've got to think of your bird, it's only skin, and it's like a plastic wrapper itself. Thank you

Yeah, we're going to get it. This was such a good idea at the beginning. You know, it really is

This is a good tip for this. Whoa. But this, at this point of the show, when you're in the kitchen cooking

especially when you're cooking with gas, you want to be careful, you know, about how you dress

And now I'm the bike elf. I'm the biker elf. So what we do is you take your fingers and you can just rub underneath

There's your flesh. There's your skin. And you get your fingers and you just give it. You start pushing that butter up the skin

Okay. Now, what that does is that helps you get a nice, moist, but sweet bird

This is going to be a very, very sweet thing. This is a candy apple of a bird. This is..

Oh, that sounds delicious. Okay. And you say this is like just butter and brown sugar

That's all it is. Very soft. Like yourself, my darling. Right. I'm washing hands, washing hands, washing hands

Wash your hands. Okay. So, basically, what that's going to do is... Here's your towel. Thank you, hon. So, how do we know how long to cook this bird for, Danny? Right

We're going to go... Three hours at 3.75. Three hours at 3.75

Before we put the turkey in the oven? Pre-heared. What are the ladies like

Pre-heared oven. Anyway. Okay. All right. So now, does it matter how much our turkey weighs

The best person to ask how you cook your turkey is the guy at the supermarket you buy it from

Okay? He's going to know the right thing. I could say, I think it's generally per pound

I think it works about half an hour, 25 minutes or something. About 25 minutes a pound, I think

But, you know, I've got a lot of numbers rolling around in my head. Well, you know what the best bet is? If you don't know, because I don't know and she don't know

go to foodnetwork.com and I'll have all the answers there. That's exactly right. Okay, so we're going to pop this in the oven

And there's also meat thermometers out there. That work nicely. That's a heavy bird, honey

Jesus. And look. Look over there. Right here, Danny. I know, there's money playing with you

Oh! Right. Okay. Look at this bird, y'all. All right, now we've got the hot over here, honey

Okay, we'll use the hot. I don't know if it has reduced enough for you

There's two. Well, basically you could do two quick ways. You could basically go straight on from warm, okay

Or you could just put it on like a syrup as a finisher, okay? So look at this

You're basically going to varnish up your bird. We take our little rum, we take our brown sugar, we take our butter

we let it cool down a bit, and then we have this beautiful syrup, and we just put it over the bird, and it gives it a really beautiful glow

Can I taste it right now? I shall carve. You carve. OK, I shall carve

And I'll chew. OK, so what we're going to do is we're going to just..

Now, the thing is, a carving tip, yeah? OK, stick your knife in, and then just go against

Uh-huh, uh-huh. OK, and then you've got a little bit of that. See, beautiful, eh? Uh-huh, beautiful

So we're going to go in here. You want to get a plate there, hon? There you go. Okay

A little bit of that. Nice thin strips. I think this turkey's that big it could feed the audience for a month

You know what? I think it could too. Oh, look at you. You've not eaten enough already

Look how beautiful that turkey turned out. All right, Danny. Are you going to feed me or am I going to feed myself

You're on your own, honey. No, I'll feed you. Are you happy

You satisfied with it? My mouth's full. I'm happy. Very good, Danny

And it? Very, very good. I love the sweet on it. Y'all don't go anywhere because it's a butter than ever Christmas

Up next, y'all, country star Mark Wills and a Christmas spice cake

Yeah, my diet's gone. Sorry, my publicist. Y'all, it's a butter than ever Christmas

Are y'all having fun? Good. I'm thrilled that I'm getting to spend the holidays with y'all

My next guest, y'all, is a country crooner. He was raised in my home state of Georgia

He's a singing superstar, and he is host of the year on the Great American Country Channel

So y'all, please welcome this dear young man, Mark Wills. Come on out, Mark

Hello. Hello. How are you doing? I'm great. How are you? Very good, very good

You are so pretty. Well, thank you. And you've got beauty marks all on your face

No, I just painted those on. Oh, you did? Yeah. I've got one over here that I'll paint on when I'm feeling hussy-like

Now, tell me what part of Georgia you grew up in. I'm originally, well, from a little town called Blue Ridge, Georgia

Blue Ridge, that's got to be in North Georgia. It is right on the Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina line

It's got to be. Exactly. Right up there near the Blue Ridge. Exactly

Exactly. You can't trick me, Mark. But I now live just outside of Atlanta

Well, I'm going to make you a cake, honey. You know what? I actually saved up a few calories just so we could make a cake today

Oh, did you? Absolutely. Well, I'm going to make you a three-layer Christmas spice cake with a..

buttercream icing. Wow. Yeah, my diet's gone. Sorry, my publicist. I want to go ahead and just say sorry to, you know

the folks over at GAC who have been like, you know, we need you to trim down a little bit and all that kind of stuff

Oh, no, they have not told you that. Well, no, no, they haven't told me that. But, you know, I get to watch it myself on television

I'm like, damn, the camera adds about 40 pounds. You know, listen, y'all

Not 10 pounds. It adds about 40. They say it adds 10 pounds

if it just adds 10 pounds, honey, I'm screwed. Because, you know, I try not to watch myself

but if I catch myself, I look like two-ton Annie. No, you don't

And when people see me in person, they say, oh, you ain't that fat

Don't you love it when they think they're complimenting you like that? Yes. I say, well, thank you, I think

You are not fat. You're, like, just right. Well, okay. I'll take your word

See, honey, my wife's watching right now. Honey. What do you mean, honey

No, no, I'm just saying. She's watching right now. She's not jealous, is she? No, no

Oh, good. She's good. She's good. Now, the kids are jealous. The kids are jealous

Well, let's get started on this cake. And I'm going to kind of let you make it, okay

Okay. All right. Okay? All right. Now, we have got our butter and our sugar already creamed, so crank up your engine

A little more. Yeah. Can you get going here? And we've got four eggs here

I'm going to drop them in one at a time, let you beat them each one. I've got flour here with cinnamon, nutmeg

All the good stuff. All spices. All your Christmas spices. And then I've got some buttermilk

I'm going to add it alternately, starting with the flour and ending with the flour

Okay. So now that we got that out of the way, I want to fill y'all in on a little something about Mark Wills that you might not know

I wish I had been in the pre-taped session so I knew what you were going to say

No. Make me a little nervous when you start saying stuff like that. This says so much about you, honey

Oh, okay. It says so much. The month of December, y'all, this young man is not home with his wife and family

like most of us are. He goes to our right. He spends his time with our troops

Have for the last five years. For the last five years. That's me and some of the crew from..

Now, which one are you, Mark? I'm the one in the red hat on the very end

Oh, I see. On the left. Yes. Let's see, you've got in that same picture

you got some of the crew that we were flying with I think I lost a whole mess of us I didn actually go I didn go this past year because my oldest daughter was turning five

And it was the first Christmas I had ever spent with my youngest daughter during the Christmas season

Really? Probably by the time this is on television, I will be in Iraq, so

Well, that's so commendable of you. Our guys are stuck over there

Away from their family Away from their friends And I know it must mean

So much to them What a great guy he is When we come back y'all

I'm going to have this cake all ready Because I want to feed Mark

My spice layered cake With buttercream icing y'all It's a butter than ever Christmas

I'll see you right back Up next, buttercream frosting and a serenade from Mark Wills

I heard this was one of your favorite songs. It's a... Hey, y'all, welcome back

It's a butter than ever Christmas. I'm here with that beautiful country singer, Mark Wills

I have got him a cake cooked up. Now, we've got these layered up into three pans, y'all

We're going to bake them at 350 for 25 minutes. Now, we trimmed the tops off this cake, Mark

because it humped up like, and we didn't want no humps. Don't want no humps in the cake

No, we didn't want a humpback cake. So looky here. Now, I'm going to take just a little bit of icing

Okay. And I'm going to put right there just to help give us some glue

Right. Now, all you have to do, I'll do the first one. I know that you probably know how to do this

We're going to take our icing, and we're just going to load that layer up

You're like my wife. She loves the icing. Buttercream icing, honey. I love it

Yes, yes. And listen, the thing about this cake, now you'll want to take your cake

and you'll want to find the fat side and put it on top of the skinny side of the previous layer

Right. So there you go. And you know what? This cake doesn't have to have icing on the sides

It doesn't have to have icing on the sides? No. Okay. Take your word for that. So while you're doing that, tell me about your mother-in-law and her turkey

What is that I heard? Well, no, and I see you're going to get me in trouble here

And I should have never told that story, but it is so true. my mother-in-law loves to bake the turkey every year here honey i'll get you some more you give

me some more okay she likes to bake the turkey every year and and if she

if she would stop about what she thinks is halfway cooked it would be great but it never is so like i was looking at the turkey that y made a little while ago in the back and it was perfect

And hers comes out about as dry as this board right here. And I want to thank you because now when I go home, I'm in trouble

You're so welcome, honey. Anytime I can help. Well, how about your wife? Does she do a better job

No. No? Like mother like daughter? Because mom's turkey's so bad, we've never let daughter try

Now, having said that, now I'm really in trouble. So I just may stay here in New York for another couple weeks or something like that

Tell everybody about that show that you host. Well, yeah, we're doing a marathon of the year

I feel like I'm thicking my tongue in the corner. We're doing a marathon of the year, which is going to be on GAC

We basically run the whole day of the year on GAC, all the episodes

Wow. Should be a fun time. Well, I'm so going to watch you and listen to you

Now, I'm going to sprinkle some chopped nuts. The grand part about this cake, this particular cake

is we don't ice the sides. So look how simple that is. That is perfect

It's perfect. That is perfect. Isn't that beautiful? Little cinnamon. All right, now I'm going to cut you a piece

I'm going to go ahead and cut you a piece and let you have it because I've got a big favor to ask

Mm-hmm. And that would be? Would you sing us a song? Absolutely

I would definitely sing you a song. I would definitely sing you a song

Well, I can't ask you to sing us a song without sending you off with some nourishment

Okay. So, taste your cake. You come in here. Get in here

Come on. Honey, I'm so in there with you. You ain't got to ask mama twice

Well, that's really heavy on the frosting. Yes, I know. It's really heavy on the frosting

Honey, I want to thank you for being here with us. My pleasure. And I want to thank you for making Christmas for our men overseas

Thank you for helping make their holidays. What a wonderful person you are

And before we go, I want to tell all of you out there, I hope you have a blessed, peaceful Christmas

and I hope it's loaded with love. And I want to thank you all for everything that you give to me

Merry Christmas, y'all. Thank you Come on honey All right let go Mark Wills everybody

You know, I can't sing and eat cake. There's another Diet Coke in there

I hope it was okay that I drank this water. Let me check tuning on this thing before we do it. Okay

Close enough for country music. You ready? Yes. I heard this was one of your favorite songs

Yes, it is. Silent night, cold night

All is cold, all is bright

Round yon virgin, mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night

Shepherds quake at the sight

Glorious dreams from heaven afar Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia

Christ the Savior is born Christ the Savior is born

Happy holidays, everybody