This month, I'm sharing a different idea for a cookie platter where the cookies are propped vertically. I've displayed the mushroom cookies close together and used segments of a paper straw to connect them through holes cut into each cookie. This way...
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...
Top o' the morning to you! You must have found a four-leaf clover, because you just stumbled upon a huge pot of gold! This Spotlight is a veritable treasure trove of St. Patrick's Day ideas, about half of which are brand new to the site. The other photos...
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...
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...
After last week's polar vortex fiasco, I'm hopping as fast as I can into spring - and so is this month's Dynamic Duos™ design! The design, called "Hopping Into Spring" (of course, what else?!), is more...
Creating dimensional royal icing designs on my cookies is one of my favourite techniques. I especially love the more complex designs that make cookies a thrilling challenge.
The first time I heard about shortening was when an American colleague couldn't find it for a recipe she planned to make for Thanksgiving dinner. When she served sweet potatoes covered with melted marshmallows, I wasn't immediately...
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...
I mean, honestly, what else could I feature on this eve before Valentine's Day but hearts, roses, and chocolate?! Nothing, right?! That being said, tonight's hot list showcases...
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...
Spring is quickly approaching, so here’s a 3-D flower cookie to get you in the mood! It's decorated using the felt technique, because it's February and still cold, and because this technique is...
Valentine's Day has got to be one of the greatest cookie holidays (if not THE greatest), so I suppose it should come as no surprise that there are still a lot of heart-shaped and love-themed cookies hitting this week's hot list. Our Spotlight also has...
Hello, all! I’m Hallena and this is the Fantastic Bakes and Where to Find Them 's first tutorial. I will be showing you how to create your own Kopykake copycat for a fraction of the price. What is a Kopykake? According to the...
Wow, what fickle people we cookiers are! A couple of days ago, even before Valentine's Day had passed, chicks and spring flowers were beginning to lure us away from hearts, Cupids, and other love-themed sets. Or maybe it was just the sudden cold snap that turned us on to warmer, springier motifs? (It was 6°F here yesterday! Yikes!)...
Ooooh, it's another one of those eclectically beautiful times, when we're fresh off one holiday and not yet ready for the next, and we find our cookies taking on wide-ranging themes that often defy our own imaginations. Admittedly, a few people...
Whether you attended CookieCon this year or simply read about the happenings here on Cookie Connection, cookiers near and far have gone through some form of withdrawal since its ending! This month, I hope to ease the withdrawal symptoms...
With one of the year's biggest cookie holidays barely behind us, it's already time to get the creative juices flowing for the next big one - Valentine's Day! Phew! The work of the cookier is never done...
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...
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...
Sometimes a personality or product becomes so recognized that the brand name turns into common vernacular for all such similar things (like “Kopykake” as shorthand for “projection device” or “KitchenAid” for...
There's nothing like a little challenge to get the creative juices flowing and to push oneself to new design heights! With five Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge entrants and one Cake International gold award-winner on this week's hot list*, this Spotlight is certainly testament to this fact. But, regardless of whether you were competing or just decorating for fun when you created these cookies, you...
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...
I made you some money. Yes, I did. Well, not REAL money. But close enough! After the last tutorial, I got some questions about the gold coins from my leprechaun set. How did I make them? Since I don’t really like to make a set of cookies twice...
Fellow cookiepreneurs, the holidays are upon us, and I hope this month’s post finds you in high spirits and looking forward to the coming days. Before I begin, I wanted to share that I recently received feedback that some of you would be...
Hippity, hoppity, Easter's on its way! Yes, indeed, the site is overrun with Easter cookies, and each day they seem to multiply even faster than the progeny of the Easter bunny ;)! This Spotlight is testament to the fact that...
Well, it seems like we've finally emerged from winter here in St. Louis. Temperatures dropped below freezing only a couple of nights this week, my newly planted perennials didn't seem to object to the light frost on their leaves, and...
Even if you're not Irish, it's hard not to love impish leprechauns, frosty mugs of green beer, happy-go-lucky shamrocks, and pots of gold - especially when rendered in cookie dough...
Okay, so it's still Friday, but better early than never, as they say. Okay, maybe no one on this planet has ever used that expression before, but I'm taking the liberty with this Spotlight...
As a cookier who has spent hundreds of hours piping thousands of lines, it was only inevitable that a Practice Bakes Perfect stringwork challenge would eventually happen. This challenge is all about...
With winter now in full effect, I've been thrilled to catch a rare glimpse of snow on the far hills across the valley. Snow angels are an iconic and joyful celebration of the winter season. I imagine happy children thrashing in...
A couple of months ago, I re-posted my “old” Easter Cookie Box, a tutorial I wrote two years ago. The idea was that the sides of the box would look like a fence that had its vertical planks replaced with Easter cookies. I was surprised to see how much love this box has still...
Frangipani, pomelia, and plumeria are all different ways to name the same beautiful flowers. I like the contrast of their white color against their dark green foliage and brown branches. Under each frangipani tree, you can...
Even though I am now living in Thailand where it is currently 85°F (29°C), I haven't forgotten the cold of winter, which many of you are now experiencing. So, I thought, what better way to get cozy than with felt warmers on hot cocoa (cookie) mugs?!...
While this Easter cookie box may look complex, it is actually quite easy to decorate and assemble, and a very manageable project for beginners. Imagine each side built as a fence with two vertical planks nailed onto two parallel horizontal planks. In this case...
Considering the thermostat topped 104°F here in St. Louis today, I probably should have entitled this post, "Top 10 (Dog Days of) Summer Cookies"! Even when it gets this hot outside...
Well, after a brief nod to St. Paddy's day a couple of weeks ago, you all pretty much hippity-hopped right on over to Easter, as confirmed by the abundance of eggs and bunnies hitting our hot list* this week.
Remember this cookie set I posted here recently? Well, since then, I've been asked if I could explain the steps to create it. What a great idea! Let's do a tutorial!
The summer before COVID struck, my son was thrilled to be selected for an internship at NASA. He went into the program excited to get a taste of his intended career path; he came out...
Hi, everyone! I am starting this Spotlight in an unconventional way with a special mention and an explanation. Many of you have been wondering why a certain fabulous dragon cake (pictured below) has been in our "Top 10 Cookies" home page photo gallery, often in the...
This month, I've got a Christmas version of my tutorial from a couple of years ago, which, as you may recall, was a cookie platter that became a surprise 3-D lantern just by stacking the cookies. In the previous project, the cookies were...
Hi, all! It's that time again! This week, our Spotlight features a nice blend of old-timers and newcomers, as well as a few Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge #42 entries...
My neighbors are expecting their first baby any day now. A little girl! With comically unfortunate timing, our street is being closed for two weeks for repaving. We’ve all had to park our cars a few blocks away on another street or risk being...
Thank you all for participating in the most recent questionnaire in my Sugar Dot Surveys series. In it, I wanted to find out how thick you roll your cookie dough. I also wanted to know if you use any tool(s) to help achieve a consistent thickness, and why you use the tool(s) that you do...
I’m back with our second-to-last Close-up with CookieCon 2018 instructors. (I know, it’s hard to believe, but by January, I’ll be moving on to the 2019 instructors!) Here, we’re catching up in more detail with Andrea Walters of Andy Kay’s Cookies, with whom we first chatted back on October 6, here. We learned then that...
Hello! I sincerely hope everyone in the US is enjoying the long Labor Day weekend, and that others elsewhere are finding some time to chill out as well. I too am trying my darnedest to get in a little downtime before the fall sugar show season kicks in next weekend...
Phew! It's been a super busy weekend, what with cookie prep for my next video shoot, hosting a live chat with Autumn Carpenter, teaching a private airbrushing class, and trying to keep on top of my home reno decisions...
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...
For some reason, no one ever wants to eat beautifully decorated cookies! Usually I hear, "they're too pretty to eat", and so I find myself giving advice about how to store and display them for optimal longevity...
This post is all about my introduction to meringue powder, one of the subjects that initially spurred the idea for this Toolbox Talk column. Questions about meringue powder come up regularly on Cookie Connection, as there seem to be many differences between brands...
