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Hi, competitors! As you know, the 2022 virtual edition of Julia M. Usher’s Cookie Art Competition™ closed for entries yesterday, October 15. First and foremost, congrats to all of the registrants who successfully delivered entries to the virtual judging “table”! Seeing an idea through to fruition is 90% of any competition! I am pleased to report that...

My second kit is out, and well in advance of the holiday for which it's intended, so you'll have plenty of time to play with it! Yay! (For a reminder of how my new Kitchen Club came about, please refer to my club debut post from September.) This kit is particularly enchanting because it allows you to...

Hi, everyone, I am taking over this Saturday Spotlight with the recap of Watch-Learn-Create Challenge #51, featuring Julia M. Usher on the subject of shaping and covering 3-D cookies. Many thanks to each one of you who participated. This challenge wasn’t easy, even if...

Hi, competitors! As you know, we’re entering the last week of entry prep for Julia M. Usher’s Cookie Art Competition™ (how exciting!), so I wanted to leave you with a few reminders to ensure that the entry process goes smoothly for you...

I may have missed the Saturday Spotlight, but I promise you this Sunday Spotlight is just as good and sure to impress! (I was traveling yesterday and got to my destination much later than planned, so I needed a little recovery time before settling into writing this post.) Congrats to all...

When my kids were little, every Halloween we would make ghost decorations from cheesecloth and laundry starch. The process was simple: soak cheesecloth in the starchy liquid, drape it over a rough form of compacted aluminum foil, and allow it to dry. The gauzy cheesecloth would harden, creating spooky, semi-transparent specters. In this project, naturally-starchy rice paper stands in for cheesecloth to make an edible version of this Halloween craft.

It may be very late on Saturday (or maybe it's Sunday already?), but I'm baaaacck, nearly on time, with another wonderful hot list full of festive fall vibes. (Say that three times fast!) As with last week, tonight's roundup features everything autumn...

Hey, gang! This week, we've got a great assortment of top-trending fall cookies as well as Watch-Learn-Create Challenge #51 entries in our Spotlight. Speaking of the challenge...

Join me in my kitchen! Yes, at long last, it’s here – my debut stencil-cutter-video kit in my brand-new Kitchen Club Collection, designed in partnership with Confection Couture Stencils and just in time for Halloween! Now, in each big release (five times a year), I provide...

Hi, everyone! I am so thrilled to see all of the amazing creations presented so far for the Watch-Learn-Create Challenge #51, whose featured guest is Julia M. Usher. Julia wrote in a comment...

I love flowers of all kinds, but I have a special fondness for flowers that look a little unique. The coneflower, with its spiky, vibrantly colored seed cone and skirt of purple petals, definitely fits the bill. Apparently, bees are just as partial to them as I am, so...

Hi, everyone! This week's Spotlight is testament to the fact that cookies can have a lot of staying power here on Cookie Connection. (Hint: So keep on posting! Posting means long-term visibility, not just in this community but amongst the broader world of visitors, tens of thousands of whom make their way to this site each week.) As it turns out...