We seem to be plagued by SCD (Seasonal Confusion Disorder) on the site this week! Some of you have cookied the transition from summer to fall; others are fully into fall; and still others (in the Southern Hemisphere) are celebrating the arrival of spring! No matter what...
Vacation is wonderful in so many respects, isn't it? My one last week to the Amalfi Coast not only gave me the opportunity to spend time with my niece and to explore a new place, but it also gave me a newfound appreciation for the stunning work that you all routinely do...
Evidently, both Manu and I have had beach cabanas on the brain! While her recent cabana cookies were inspired by modern neon-colored huts in a beachfront area of Dubai, mine take after the small time-worn boathouses and lobstering shacks that...
Most of my cookie projects are inspired by my memories, and so is this one, inspired as it is by some beach huts I saw in La Mer, Dubai (UAE), a beachfront with restaurants, shops, activities for children, and more. It was...
Following a particularly wet winter, California is officially drought-free! I think any native Californian meets this news with both gratitude as well as a little skepticism. I’ve lived here most of my life, and I can’t remember a time when we weren’t experiencing some degree of drought...
Greetings from Chiberia! In case you are wondering what Chiberia looks like, it pretty much looks like...
I love to take inspiration for my cookie designs from nature. There’s an imperfect quality to organic objects that I find very forgiving; things don’t have to be perfectly straight, smooth, or symmetrical. So I try to...
Oooh, so exciting! My all-time fave cookie holiday is nearly here, so there's no time like the present to celebrate our top-trending Valentine's Day cookies with another valentine-themed Spotlight...
I’ve mentioned previously my experiments with stained glass cookies. Cooked sugar was one of the obvious contenders to create the look, but I was hoping to avoid the stark contrast between crunchy, hard sugar and relatively soft cookie. So I set about concocting...
Woo hoo! I've got a special Spotlight for you today - a recap of the CookieCon 2018 Sugar Show, which concluded with much fanfare only a couple of days ago! As you may or may not know, CookieCon is the largest cookie-only convention in the United States...
As we all know, the creative process of decorating cookies involves so much more than baking cookies. In fact, the actual cookie is, for the most part, just a blank canvas. It's really the icing, sprinkles, fondant, and all of the other materials and techniques we use that...
My first child is packing for college as we speak. Her once overcrowded room is looking practically stark as more and more boxes accumulate in the hall. These visual reminders of her departure have me thinking excitedly about where this new journey will take her...
I LOVE challenges that create what I call a "circle of learning." Originally, my intent with this challenge was to introduce more people to all of the wonderful tutorials available (for free!) here on Cookie Connection, and thereby provide people with new cookie decorating techniques and skills. However, through the course of the challenge...
When I was a little girl, every morning my sister and I would hop into my mother’s bed. We would sit there beneath her cozy comforter and eagerly wait for her to return. After what felt like an interminable amount of time...
Ooooh, it's another one of those eclectically beautiful times, when we're fresh off one holiday and not yet ready for the next, and we find our cookies taking on wide-ranging themes that often defy our own imaginations. Admittedly, a few people...
Hi, everyone! Happy 2018! We're fresh from ringing in the New Year, but I'm already releasing spring and Easter sets for you! I know, I know, I feel like I'm living in some kind of time warp...
It's easy to forget the treasure trove of videos that get posted to this site, as our home page photo feeds are oh-so-captivating and often all-consuming. That being said, I decided to mix up this week's Spotlight by gifting you with...
My husband served a couple of years in the Navy as a young man, and what remains of that experience is his love for everything maritime and nautical. Our house is littered with little boats, shells, beach pictures, lighthouses, and so on and so forth...
Three-dimensional (3-D) cookie projects are my favorite, but they need to be broken in pieces in order to eat the cookies, and very often I hear "they are too nice to be broken" on top of the usual "they are too nice to be eaten"...
Wowza! What a wonderful collection of cookies topping our site this week! As is often the case, there's no consistent theme among them, other than that each one is gorgeous in its own right...
Well, all reports from CookieCon 2017 say that it was the best CookieCon ever, and from the looks of the Sugar Show winners, I'd say those reports are right...
I have a thing for benches. I especially like those in parks in spring and fall, and those along rivers. The idea for this project developed around this white little bench...
First, my apologies for the delayed Spotlight this week. I wish I could say that all of the prematurely blooming flowers here in St. Louis (daffodils, magnolias, and red buds already!) gave me a bout of spring fever...
Yes, at long last, here's what you've all been waiting for - the announcement of the finalists in our 2016 Cookiers' Choice Awards! First, before the big reveal, let me extend a sincere thank you to all who took the time to nominate candidates this year...
Well, after a very long fall season in St. Louis (my neighbor's golden gingko tree still had all of its leaves until last week), I can officially declare it's winter! I had to don triple layers today to...
As much as I love Christmas – the time spent with family and friends, all those smells, and, yes, even "Last Christmas" by Wham! – there is always the thing about the presents...
Hi, all! Usually I put admin posts like this in the forums, but to ensure that this post gets maximum visibility, I'm putting it front and center on the blog! As you may know, we had a large site upgrade last week, dubbed "The Recipe Release" by my site guys at Hoop.la...
As I said on our Contributors page, it takes a small community to keep a large community like Cookie Connection going . . . but what I really should have said is: it takes a small (and ever-growing) community of passionate, talented, and tireless volunteers to keep it going!
This post is all about my introduction to meringue powder, one of the subjects that initially spurred the idea for this Toolbox Talk column. Questions about meringue powder come up regularly on Cookie Connection, as there seem to be many differences between brands...
Easter is coming, and with it comes warmer weather, bright and lively colors, and (yeah!) lots of baskets full of candy: marshmallow peeps, swirl pops, chocolate bunnies...
Next up in our site artists series is Marie Elgaard of Lille Kage Hus in Randers, Denmark. Marie, as you may recall, won top honors in Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge #13 for the banner and backdrop she designed for the month of February, which are now beautifying our site.
This is my very first tutorial, and I am the worst photographer in the world, so please excuse the bad pictures. I hope you will still be able to follow. I tried to find a tutorial for gumpaste lavender and could only find two in total.
Hello, and welcome to Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge #13! In my family, 13 is a very lucky number, and I hope this challenge is lucky for you too! As I said in the recap for the last challenge, Lucky Challenge #13 is special and a...
Hello, and welcome to the latest installment of Practice Bakes Perfect! This time, we are reaching, once again, into our big bag of "cookie Kryptonite," and asking you to face your decorating demons. What fresh hell could I possibly have in store for...
Once you decide you want to start selling your cookies, you'll need to start putting a dollar value on them. For many of us, this is the hardest part of being in business. Because we put our hearts and souls into our creations, we sometimes...
Even as recently as last week, I wasn't completely convinced it was summer, as Saint Louis was still experiencing record rainfalls and unseasonably cool weather. But now, with five straight days of sweltering temperatures, everyone here in Missouri is...
There is something about painting on a cookie that I can't resist. People say it's a great stress release and outlet for self-expression and creativity. For me, painting is not only a very accessible and enjoyable...
I know the anticipation has been building for some time, so today I finally announce the outcome of Building C. In all honesty, I hope this post does not let you down, or leave you frustrated or feeling sorry for me. Instead, I want you to think of it...
I was able to meet Katy Metoyer of Sugar Dayne at CookieCon 2014 and have been following her ever since. Over the last few months, I have noticed a shift in her decorating. Her style has become more expressive and free, filled with bright colors...
With all the baking TV shows being shown globally, the art of baking and decorating has become a very popular hobby. When you watch beautiful things being being made on TV, pick up a cookie decorating book in a store, or see some beautiful...
As moderator of Cookie Connection , I have the unique vantage point of seeing every cookie photo that hits the site - and that's a lot! Most of the time, it's the season that dictates the dominant cookie subject matter . . . like right now, we've got...
Well, in case you hadn't noticed, it's 2015, and that means I've almost completed a year's worth of these tutorials! So to celebrate, I'm going to do things a little differently today. You might notice there aren't many photos . . . that's...
At this time of year, most people (at least in the US) are dreaming of turkey with all the fixin's or pumpkin or pecan pie . . . but not us cookiers! Instead, we're conjuring up ways to turn our favorite Thanksgiving foods into cookies . . . or new...
[EDITOR'S NOTE: If you didn't see my recent forum post about changes to our team of contributors, let me quickly catch you up! Aymee VanDyke, writer of From Dough to Dollars , recently departed Cookie Connection , much to our dismay. But we've been blessed with the addition of a new business correspondent - the talented Rebecca Litterell of Litterelly Delicious Cakery . We're thrilled to have her join the team! Today marks the debut of Rebecca's Storefront Diaries !
Well, I've been aching to spill the beans for nearly two weeks now, and I finally can! Earlier tonight, the winners of the 2014 Cake Masters Magazine Awards were announced live in Birmingham, England at Cake International , the world's...
Admittedly, I'm a little ODed on pumpkins and ghosts around about this time each year! But considering we've got less than one week to go 'til the big day - and we've got such an abundance of great Halloween cookies on the site - I had no choice...
Is it too early for Halloween? Hmmm . . . judging from the quantity of eerie (but gorgeous) cookies hitting the site lately, I'd say no! Plus, by the time you design, bake, and ice, Halloween will be upon us in no time flat. So, sit back...
In this fourth edition of special Cookier Close-up s focused on Cookie’sCool instructors, we visit with Jacinda (aka Jaci) Baynes Harper of Ali’s Sweet Tooth , a cookier widely known for her romantic shabby chic style and predilection for...
There is amazing work being regularly posted on Cookie Connection , which makes my job of finding an interviewee super easy, but also incredibly hard . . . how do I choose just one a month?! You all are so incredibly talented! The talents in this...
***** THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED ***** Hey, all! Cookie Connection is partnering with Zazzle this week on a terrific giveaway surrounding their blow-out Christmas in July sale that's running from today, July 21, through July 25, 2014. ...
