Ina Garten Surprises Hoda and Jenna with Her Famous Giant Cosmopolitans: 'Only in a Pandemic!'
today with hoda and jenna/ twitter
Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager got a special surprise on Thursday.
The TODAY with Hoda and Jenna hosts were visited by Ina Garten, who dropped by with a plate of the freshly baked desserts she's now selling at online food marketplace Goldbelly.
"I was in the neighborhood and I just thought it would be so nice to bring you some goodies," Garten, 73, said, carrying a tray of her favorite cookies, outrageous chocolate brownies, and her peanut butter and jelly bars. "Happy holidays! I like to surprise people, just drop in!"
Of course, as Garten told Kotb and Bush Hager, after "all those baked goods you need something to wash it down with."
For that, the Barefoot Contessa star and cookbook author brought three of her famous oversized cosmopolitans. "Since it's 10 in the morning, I thought we all needed a cosmo," Garten said with a laugh.
Asked by Bush Hager if that's how Garten enjoys her cosmos, the Food Network star joked, "only in a pandemic."
RELATED: Ina Garten's Freshly Baked Desserts Can Be Shipped to Your Door, Thanks to Goldbelly
We got a special holiday surprise from the one and only @inagarten! ?? pic.twitter.com/crIzwy2N5T
— TODAY with Hoda & Jenna (@HodaAndJenna) December 16, 2021
RELATED: Watch Ina Garten Make a Giant Cosmo on Instagram: 'It's Always Cocktail Hour in a Crisis'
Fans will remember the drinks, which Garten first made on Instagram in April 2020, during the height of the coronavirus outbreak.
"At the beginning of the pandemic I thought we all needed a treat so I did the largest cosmo anybody's ever had," Garten told Kotb and Bush Hager of the drink, which became a viral sensation.
"It's the size of my face," Bush Hager said. Kotb added: "Your eyes are going to water if you take a sip of that. It's got a lot going on there."
It was just right for Garten. "No it's perfect," she said. "It's tart and got a bit of vodka in it."
She went on to say that while she loves a cosmo, she doesn't often make them for her husband of 53 years, Jeffrey.
"He likes a vodka, so that's really easy. Vodka with olives," she said. "I like Campari and soda at the holidays, it's kind of festive cause it's red."
RELATED: Ina Garten Says She Spends 'More Time Talking About Cocktails' Than 'Actually Drinking Them'
Ina Garten/Instagram
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Speaking of Jeffrey, she admitted on TODAY that he "loves everything I do."
"He's non discriminating," Garten said. "That's his best quality as a husband."
That means he snacks on all of his wife's delectable desserts, like Ina's Coconut Cake — which is also for sale at Goldbelly among her other cookies, brownies, and bars. Ranging in price from $59 to $99 and sent with free shipping, the Goldbelly offerings come "just in time for the holidays," she said.
As for Christmas plans, Garten said she and Jeffrey "don't really celebrate" but have big plans on the day.
"I'm going to cook," she said. "We're going to stay home, I'm going to make a rack of lamb, we're going to have a good time. We're going to have a movie festival."
TODAY with Hoda and Jenna airs weekdays (10 a.m. ET) on NBC.