Hi, everyone! My apologies in advance if you came here seeking sweet cookies, and only sweet cookies. I assure you, we will get to them, but I feel that it would be negligent of me to avoid the mention of more serious matters first.
First, to our members in southern California: There are no words that serve as a salve for such unimaginable loss and devastation, so I will be brief. Please know that I am terribly heartbroken for all of you who are experiencing this unthinkable tragedy, and send love and hope for strength as you and your loved ones replenish and rebuild. To those of you, like me, who are watching in disbelief from afar with a profound sense of helplessness, here are some tangible ways we can lend support to those affected by the wildfires in California. The governor of California has specifically requested donations to the California Fire Foundation, where the money will go directly to firefighters and the communities they serve. ❤️
One doesn’t need to look far to find ongoing and seemingly escalating tragedy throughout the world. Communities everywhere - and I am sure many of you - were impacted in 2024 by war, natural disasters, domestic violence, racism, hate crimes, terrorism, and/or disease. I mourn for everyone affected, and I apologize if I missed sending similar condolences to other members of this community, as I am sure I did. This past year has been almost too much for me to fathom and keep up with at times . . . my overall outlook on life has been greatly affected by what I see happening in the US and across the world, and, truth be told, it has been quite difficult for me to happily maintain my singular focus on cookies.
That said, I remain a hopeful person. In fact, I am full of hope! 😀 My hope for 2025 is that we can all work together, putting aside our differences and divides to find shared peace, well-being, and prosperity. More kindness and empathy are needed in this world, and that starts with each of us taking time to do our part. I hope that, at least in some small way, Cookie Connection can offer a refuge to you when you need love and support. I pledge to do my best to keep it a peaceful, welcoming, and understanding space. I may be naively optimistic, but I believe I can do more myself to help shape the course of our planet, and so I am starting to take those steps.
Now, on to sharing the sweetness in this week's hot list*, which is one baby step I know I can take. 😀 Congratulations to all featured, especially to our cover artist @Masumi Oka, and our newcomers and those with multi-mentions, including @Padu Oliveira, @Jarosław Dyniewicz, and @Roberta Sweetart. Also, a special nod to @Lorena's Sweets whose wonderful products were used as part of her recent cookie art competition in @Jarosław Dyniewicz's three winning photos below.
#1: Japanese Pattern Cookies by Masumi Oka
#2: Green Jewel House - View #2 by Padu Oliveira
#3: Sugar Gingerbread House by Padu Oliveira
#4: Christmas Reindeer Cookie by Mahsa_abbasi
#5: Baubles and Bells by Jarosław Dyniewicz
#6: Vintage Jewelry by Bakerloo Station
#7: Sri Lankan New Year Cookie (with a Real Flame!) by Zeena 
#8: Mother's Day (or Valentine's Day!) Cookies by Roberta Sweetart
#9: Night in Paris by Jarosław Dyniewicz
#10: Cookie Memories by Jarosław Dyniewicz
Lovely work, honorees. I thank you for doing your part to make this site and our world so much sweeter! May my wishes for 2025 come true so that we can all enjoy happier, healthier, and safer lives.
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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