Recently, I had a stretch during which I was extremely depressed. The reasons were varied and also unimportant. What was important was that I knew I had to do something to otherwise engage my thoughts. It was then that I reminded myself about the true joy I get from baking and cookie decorating. I love the creative process, practicing techniques, and admiring the end results. I even enjoy the problem-solving and lessons learned from epic fails! 
Being in the kitchen is the perfect way for me to self-care.
As I start to plan the cookie platters, gingerbread creations, and baked goods that I will be making over the next couple of months, I'm going to make sure I allow ample time to really enjoy the process. I don't want to bog myself down with deadline crunches, snafus, and mistakes. I want to stay focused on the stress-relief that baking and decorating can be and not get consumed by the stress-creator that it can become. When I am fully immersed, the experience is incredibly soothing and fulfilling. Isn't that really the point?
I'll tell you what else I find incredibly soothing. It's looking at clips of beautiful cookies. Particularly from all of you! And, this week's hot list* does not disappoint. It's a sweet conglomeration of all sorts of holidays and inspiration galore. I'm going to refrain from my usual commentary on each clip (except for our cover artist), and let all of you weigh in on what you find noteworthy. Please leave your thoughts on these cookies in the comments below. Let's get started, shall we?
#1: Pumpkin Time by Treatfairy
#2: Dulce Navidad by Ester y sus galletas
#3: 3-D Haunted House Cookie by Manu biscotti decorati
#4: Kouzlo Okamžiku aka The Magic of the Moment by Dita
#5: Halloween Mirror by Ryoko ~Cookie Ave.
#6: Corona Navidad by Ester y sus galletas (As a kickoff to the holiday season, Julia and I selected this perfectly charming Christmas set for this week's cover art. Congrats, @Ester y sus galletas!)
#7: Dia de Muertos by Rae Dare-Smith
#8: Móda Letem i Filmovým Světem aka Fashion through Flight and Film World by Dita
#9: Lest We Forget ♥️ by Heather Bruce Sosa
#10: Santa Claus Close-up by Iliana Hernández
What do you think?! Again, please leave comments below about specific clips, featured techniques, or anything you find noteworthy about the art and talented artists that I've spotlighted here. There is so much to celebrate.
Last but not least, during the busyness of the months ahead, I hope you too are able to take a moment and appreciate the self-care of cookie creation! ❤️
So that no one has an unfair advantage in making it onto a hot list, the algorithm is secret even to site administrators. Only our platform developers know the code, which has been exhaustively tested by those developers and Cookie Connection staff.
All photos shown here are the courtesy (and copyright) of the designers listed.
To check out our other hot lists, at any time of day, visit our Hot Spot, also found in the site's main navigation line.
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Lisa Foss is a hobbyist cookie decorator. After careers in corporate communications and freelance writing, she focused her attention on the nonprofit sector. She spent more than a decade at various soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and prison reentry programs. Lisa’s cookie journey began in 2011 when she started making gingerbread houses. Though she enjoys making cookies for family and friends, Lisa’s main focus is cookies for charity.
For more information about Lisa and her work, please check out her Facebook and Instagram pages.
Byline photo credit: Shutterstock
Note: Saturday Spotlight is a weekly Cookie Connection blog feature written alternately by Lisa Foss and Julia M. Usher. Its primary intent is to cast a spotlight on the week's top-trending cookie posts, as determined automatically by the site algorithms described above. This article expresses the views of the author, and not necessarily those of this site, its owners, its administrators, or its employees. To see all of Cookie Connection's past Saturday Spotlights, click here.
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