My mini-vacay in the Big Apple last weekend was just what I needed to recharge. Escaping the treadmill of daily life (and the confines of my basement work kitchen!) opened me up to sights and sounds I hadn't experienced in quite a while. Everywhere I looked, whether up at the buildings enveloping Ground Zero or down through the subway tunnels and past their painstakingly tiled walls, I found some source of inspiration that I could translate into cookies.
It didn't take more than a few hours of wandering the streets to amass a year's worth of possible cookie ideas! I left brimming with excitement, eager to mix up some cookie dough and get my ovens cranking.
Come to think of it . . . every Saturday after sitting down to write this Spotlight, I feel pretty much the same way. The wealth of creativity flowing from this community is nothing short of astounding. And I absolutely love to see how different people take the same basic techniques and apply them in wildly different ways, resulting in completely distinct, but equally satisfying cookies. Thank you, everyone, for reminding me each week that the sky's the limit when it comes to cookie decorating!
Of course, this week's hot list* does it again, as you'll soon see! Please say thank you and congrats to our honorees!
#1: Golden Summer by Dolce Flo
#2: Vietnam-Themed Cookies by mintlemonade (cookie crumbs)
#3: Gingerbread Sunken Ship by Aulga
#4: Piggies and Ice Cream by Teri Pringle Wood
#5: Starfish and Shell Cookies by Gingerland
#6: Happy Birthday, Manu by Ryoko ~Cookie Ave.
#7: Horse Birthday Cookie Set by Anastasia - Peony Cookies
#8: Horse Cookies by Anastasia - Peony Cookies [EDITOR'S NOTE: Congrats on your second honor of the week, @Anastasia - Peony Cookies. Your horses are amazingly lifelike!]
#9: Baby Unicorn by Ines Doherty
And, last but surely not least . . .
#10: Boy's 12th Birthday by lulubakes
Even if you can't play hooky from your "real" job next week, I sincerely hope you find time to stop and smell the roses - and to delight in the inspiration that invariably exists in your own backyard!
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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