While the chats in our CookieCon 2018 Speakers Series are now over (our last chat was on November 3 with Katy Metoyer of Sugar Dayne), the in-depth Close-ups continue! (HUGE sigh of relief.) This month, we’ll be tapping the brain of cookier...
At the start of 2018, I never imagined that the year would be more cookie-rich than 2017 . . . but I somehow managed to trot the globe from Japan to the Dominican Republic; attend a record number of trade shows (which, for me, was four); judge four cookie competitions; keep Cookie Connection going; and launch (and retire . . .) a new airbrush system...
While fall still lingers on Cookie Connection, Christmas arrived in a beautiful flurry this week! Our hot list features an old-time Santa, a pair of darling birds wearing knit caps, a reindeer how-to (which first posted in 2013 and rises the top of our charts every holiday season), and...
Hi, all! As I will be away next week on my first (and only) vacation of the year and will be trying desperately not to work, I wanted to alert you early to three upcoming stencil sales...
When my kids were little, they loved advent calendars, especially ones with hidden chocolates. They’d start hounding me to buy them in the beginning of October, long before I wanted to think about the winter holiday frenzy. I assumed it was the (subpar) chocolate that appealed to them. But...
Hi, all! I'm thrilled to announce that Dotty Raleigh (aka Sugar Dot Cookies) is doing a pilot test of a potential new feature for the site called Sugar Dot Surveys. Basically, the idea is this...
Well no one's ordered any autumn cookies from me this year, and I do love a collection of pumpkins and gourds. I always have a few in the window where I work. I particularly love the quirkily shaped, knobbly gourds, both beautiful and funny! Though...
I just returned from my first holiday party of the year, and, boy, did it ever put me in the Christmas spirit! (And solidly remind me that I need to get cracking on my decorating!)...
High on spice yet relatively delicate in texture, this dough is perfect for 2-D cookies and small-scale 3-D construction projects, like my sandwiched baskets and Fabergé egg cookies shown in the attachments. It also spreads less than my...
Deck the halls with bowls of cookies, fa la la la la, la la la la! See the blazing oven before us, fa la la la la, la la la la! Oops, wrong lyrics! What can I say, all of the amazing holiday cookies posted this past week have gotten me way into the yuletide baking spirit!
What makes the difference between a cookie aficionado and a cookiepreneur? Profit! Remember we are talking business here, and the bottom line is the bottom line. I am going to dive right into this two-part series. Part I, Creating a Successful...
Thanks to Julia M. Usher and some community members for their inquiries concerning the "interesting" surface texture on my gingerbread cookies made for Halloween, shown above. I've been testing various techniques for a while...
In this edition of Toolbox Talk, I'm zooming in on another ingredient that can mystify cookiers outside of the United States (US): corn syrup. It is sometimes listed in royal icing recipes, but it is not available all over the world...
It's "cookie kryptonite" time again here in Practice Bakes Perfect land! Since it is either spring or fall for you, depending on your hemisphere, now is the perfect time to wrestle with the ever-changing temperature and humidity conditions that play such a critical role in executing wet-on-wet cookie designs...
I don’t know about you, but I have faced many challenges in my lifetime, the biggest of which knocked me down so hard I thought I would never survive. Oddly enough, it was through that challenge that I found my true calling and built a small...
Hi, everyone! As Bakerloo Station mentioned in today's Practice Bakes Perfect challenge recap, we unfortunately had to delete an entry from the challenge due to lack of compliance with our "no copying copyrighted work without permission rule" (which mirrors US copyright law)...
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here on Cookie Connection! While most people ramp up for the Christmas season after Thanksgiving, we cookiers have to start planning our cookie sets well in advance of the holiday rush...
Just mention the word "marketing" to a cookie maker, and she'll most likely want to run and hide under a blankie. We all know marketing is really important, and we know we need to do it, but we don't entirely understand what it is or...
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...
Admittedly, I've seen little sun in recent weeks, holed up as I've been in my basement kitchen prepping for the OSSAS. That said, it's altogether possible that autumn arrived in Missouri long before now and I was simply oblivious. We could...
Lovely for Easter, May Day, or Mother's Day, these baskets are made from contoured cookie dough covered with frosting sheets. Simply swap out what's tucked inside to adapt them to a particular holiday! What you’ll need for one basket: Cookie...
Fa la la la la . . . la la la la! Happy holidays, everybody! In the spirit of the holidays, I want to hold a Practice Bakes Perfect virtual cookie swap. This is not your ordinary cookie swap...
It’s hard to believe that the subject of our next Close-up has only been decorating for a little less than three years, but, yes, it’s very true. Marta Torres, aka The Cookie Lab , may be a relative newbie to cookie-land, but she...
I'm back from Japan - and from the associated jet lag (I think)! Thanks, everyone, for granting me a little reprieve from Spotlights as I tended to my cookie courses. While the classes and whole experience were magical, it is nice to once again feel home turf underfoot and to be...
I've got another cookie platter! Why?! Just because I like to design them, especially when they can be customized to the season, holiday, or occasion! I also like stenciled effects...
The sun is shining; the birds are singing; it’s a warm, wonderful spring that's quickly turning into summer. It's a time for new beginnings! I’ve missed all things cookie while I’ve been away, and so it’s with great pleasure that I...
Valentine's Day is just around the corner and what better opportunity to talk about love? In this case, love for a cookie decorating technique: the crackle effect!
By now, I'm sure everyone's ovens are cranked into high gear, what with Christmas just around the corner. But before you get all of your cookies safely stowed on cooling racks, I urge you to stop and smell what's been baking here on Cookie Connection ...
You've probably noticed that most of our Cookier Close-ups have focused on how people got started in cookies and the business of cookie decorating. (And that's because they have!) This is all well and good, perhaps, but I’ve decided to...
I love the idea of stained glass cookies; the shine and transparency are so striking and delicate. I’m not too crazy about any of the mediums I’ve used for the effect, however. I tried...
Before I dive into this interview with Berni Solti (aka @Gingerland), please stop whatever you’re doing and give her a huge round of applause! Berni now holds the official record for site art submissions, topping out at five in total with four more still to post...
As many of you know, I have been hard at work (for over a year!) with my partner Badger Air-Brush Co., a premier US airbrush manufacturer, designing a new high-performance airbrush system for cookie and cake decorating...
Once again, we've hopped-skipped-and-jumped straight from Halloween and onto Christmas! Aside: I've never understood why Thanksgiving gets the short end of the cookie-stick each year, but I've got some new Thanksgiving...
May first was Mothers' Day here in Spain. In our home, it is a very special day, and so, each year, my brother and I thank our mom for all she's done with a Mothers' Day gift that surprises her.
Cream of tartar is one of the more mysterious yet most common ingredients in baking. It can also be one of the more elusive ones to find in some countries!
Bye bye, sun. Bye bye, sunsets on the beach. Bye bye, mojitos! Fall is almost here, and we have to start thinking about changing our bikinis and beach hats for something warmer. Nope, I'm not speaking about a...
Wow! Last month, we had one of the liveliest chats in recent history with Dotty Raleigh of Sugar Dot Cookies, another fabulous CookieCon 2015 instructor. The chat room was buzzing! People came craving solid, practical advice about how to launch...
I'm sad to announce that this will be my final blog post as a tutorial contributor on Cookie Connection. I've got some personal matters that need my undivided attention and therefore I've decided to take a break from...
Next up in our CookieCon Speakers Series: Jeanette Durham and Laurie Thompson, the dynamic sister duo behind SugarBliss Cookies, renowned for their expert use of the airbrush! We live-chatted with these ladies a few weeks ago...
Day 16 (February 18), 9:00 am to 10:00 pm. I haven't planned much for today other than transit to Portugal. Though I am sad to leave Spain, I'm pretty darn excited to meet more cookiers in another part of the globe! I prep for a long day of...
OK, gang, with Halloween now behind us, it's time to ditch the witches, ghouls, and sugar skulls (my, were those skulls ever popular this year!) and make way for more Thanksgiving-y things. Think leaves, acorns, turkeys, drumsticks, green bean...
Summer has finally slipped well into autumn here in England, but it's still gorgeous weather, sunny and bright with just a slight chill. So while the season is getting into full swing with its riot of colour and spices and warming treats, I felt like...
Admittedly, it feels a little premature to be posting Christmas and Hanukkah cookies when the mercury climbed to 93°F today! But, I know how we cookiers are - it's almost never too soon to start planning ahead for the year's biggest cookie holidays...
Because I so much liked using the wet-on-wet technique to make the sunflower in my last tutorial, I decided to use the same technique to make a poppy this month. Poppies are wild; their stalks are irregular; and their petals are always messy. In other words, they're ideal...
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...
I like sunflowers. I remember, as a little kid, asking my parents to "kidnap" a huge sunflower that I had seen for a while towering strong, wild, and lonely along a road near a sunflower field. They finally said "yes", so we transplanted the sunflower in a large vase to our terrace, and I took care of it...
Ah, summer. When my kids were in grade school, those first few weeks of summer vacation were like paradise. Sleeping in, staying up late, slumber parties, and lazy days - summer was everything they thought they wanted. As the days passed, however, they’d always reach a point when...
Hi, all! I'm back from my teaching trip and ready to kick into high gear on Saturday Spotlights again! I thank you all for your patience and understanding over the last two weeks as I worked through some big cookie commitments on this end. I think I've finally recuperated...
As I mentioned with some dismay in last week's Spotlight, it seems that cookiers always hop from Halloween right over Thanksgiving and onto Christmas, without ever giving turkeys, pumpkin pies, or other Thanksgiving themes a chance...
The recent Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge #21 about lace was the source of my inspiration for this project. Each challenge is a wonderful experience because it focuses participants...
