Blog: Trending Over Last 24 Hours

I decided to take a page from Julia's playbook to keep the holiday inspiration flowing. (As a side comment, I can assure you that it is hard to go wrong by taking any pages from Julia's playbook!) What all of this means is that...

It’s almost December, and after so many years of sharing tutorials on Julia M. Usher's Cookie Connection, I declare my November/December 3-D Christmas tree cookie tutorial a tradition. This year's tree...

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my Kitchen Club! This month’s release, simply called my Holiday Snow Globe kit, shakes up the traditional snow globe cookie (pun fully intended) with some very festive designs...

It really seems as though the top-trending cookies on this site are aligning perfectly with the feeling in my community. I noticed an increased number of Day of the Dead celebrations (my goodness, those decorations are beautiful!) and now...

After a week at my seaside home-away-from-home in Maine (see idyllic scenes of the Penobscot Bay in the post), I had one logical choice for this week's cover image - and that is...

I know, I know, this post has been a long time coming, but it's well worth the wait, I assure you. Though the winners in Julia M. Usher’s 2023 Cookie Art Competition™ were announced at That Takes the Cake Show in Austin, Texas on April 2, they were only...

As a kid, I loved to pick flowers and press them between the pages of books. It's these fond memories of pressed flowers that inspired me to recreate them in royal icing...

With many cookiers owning dozens – even hundreds – of cookie cutters, losing track of the identity of one or two is bound to happen. And, trying to decipher those "mystery" cutters can be a challenge all on its own. Fortunately, our Practice Bakes Perfect challenge entrants have shown...

I’m back with another Cookier Close-up! Boy, how I love doing these interviews! They allow me to connect with cookiers all over the globe without ever having to leave the comfort of my own home – which, in these crazy COVID times, is truly a blessing. Today, we’re talking with...

So, everyone, there was another unannounced site update today, which changed a few things that only impact me. However, it changed one thing that impacts all of us greatly...

I’ve had a hunk of modeling chocolate (left over from this Mother’s Day project) begging to be used up . . . or eaten. So in the interest of my waistline, I’ve been trying to come up with an idea that...

Brush embroidery is one of those techniques that has so much potential, yet seems to be stuck in a perpetual rut of ruffles, flowers, and beach scenes. It's time we change all of that. For this challenge, I want you to...

This cookie swing project has been sitting in my mind for a long time, mostly because I was looking for a way to make it completely food-safe, if not edible. I imagined it as a centerpiece or a cake topper. But I couldn't come up with an easy way to make an edible crossbar and swing chains, so I ultimately resorted to...

The idea for this project was sparked by an ad on Instagram promoting stamps to make real wax seals. I initially wanted to make an entire wax seal cookie, but I instead ended up using royal icing to make seal transfers to go on larger envelope cookies. For the envelope design, I...

Snowflakes are fascinating in their uniqueness. Though all snowflakes have the same structure, no two are alike. This interesting interplay between sameness and uniqueness is the basis for this tutorial. While I use only one cookie shape...

I wish I could drum up some clever and catchy verbiage to properly introduce this week's top cookie art (because it is truly astounding), but Australian jet lag seems to still have the best of me. So rather than drone on with words that are likely to...

"Hello, are you there? Are you ready to spread royal icing on me or spray me with airbrush coloring yet?" Wait . . . what are you thinking? No, don’t be ridiculous, that's not me talking! It's my new stencil set - "Fall is Calling" - urging you to give it a try! Though once you see it in all of its autumn glory, I doubt you'll need much prodding...

First, my apologies (especially to Timea) for getting seriously behind on these Close-ups! My 3-D cookie competition planning and some personal distractions (mostly my home renovation) have left me with little time for anything else! But onward – this interview with...

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?!...

Halloween is my favorite cookie holiday. There are so many fun themes to use; I feel like I’ll never run out of Halloween ideas. Designs can go in a million different directions too...

Hi, everyone! I've got an exciting opportunity for those of you who are into competitive cookie decorating, or just generally stretching your sugar arts skills! I am sponsoring and judging a brand new and very special award at the upcoming Show Me Sweets Cake & Candy Convention...

It's not yet Independence Day, but you'd never know it around here! People in my little suburb are already staking out spots along the parade route; bunting and American flags are cropping up on every porch; and premature fireworks are sounding even as I write this post...

A few months ago, I made a water lily pond cookie set inspired by a couple of real ponds that I saw during a trip. One pond had pink flowers, and the other pond had white ones. That set was my...

While summer doesn't officially hit those of us in the Northern Hemisphere until June 21, it sure feels like summer today here in Kingston, Tennessee, where I'm attending a family wedding...

The vast majority of the year, heart, flower, and lace cookies dominate our Cookie Connection photo feeds. But, come early June, we start seeing tons of cookies that Dads are sure to love too...

I LOVE challenges that create what I call a "circle of learning." Originally, my intent with this challenge was to introduce more people to all of the wonderful tutorials available (for free!) here on Cookie Connection, and thereby provide people with new cookie decorating techniques and skills. However, through the course of the challenge...

Hi, everyone! I’m back with our second (and last) installment of Cookier Close-ups featuring our 2017 Cookiers’ Choice Awards winners. A couple of months ago, we spoke with Cookiers of the Year Ginny and Doug Levack of Creative Cookier (here), and now we’re chatting with none other than swissophie (aka Sonja Galmad), our 2017 Cookie Artist of the Year...

Well, judging from this hot list, you folks have clearly had a more productive cookie week than me! After all these years of cookie decorating, you'd think I'd have the basics figured out. But...

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...

When I first started decorating cookies two years ago, one of the difficulties I encountered was putting together a satisfying set of cookies with the harmony of shapes and colors that I admired in the sets of veteran cookiers. It was hard...

The initial idea for this project came while sketching Christmas trees on paper. The triangular shapes soon became a pyramid, which reminded me of the playing card towers I used to build as a child...

This Toolbox Talk tackles an ingredient that is so fundamental to rolled cookie recipes that maybe it should have been the first in this series. I'm talking about flour, people! Even an ingredient as common as flour has its differences around the world, which impact baking results...

As summer turns to fall (or winter to spring for those of you Down Under), you can definitely feel that change is in the air. Change was also all over Cookie Connection these past several weeks, in the form of...

I remember many years ago when my kids were “cute”. We’d walk to school on the first day holding hands, their sweet little cherub faces glowing with the anticipation of a new school year. Now in high school...

Three-dimensional (3-D) cookie projects are my favorite, but they need to be broken in pieces in order to eat the cookies, and very often I hear "they are too nice to be broken" on top of the usual "they are too nice to be eaten"...

If you're still at a loss as to what to get Dad on this Fathers' Day, you're in luck! I've got another dose of top-trending cookie inspiration for you in this week's Spotlight...

Man, dads always seem to get the short end of the stick when it comes to cookie decorating and gifting. While Mothers' Day cookies started posting here in March and April, and were even spotted as late as last week...

Our November site artist Kari Arroyo, aka Yankee Girl Yummies, is no newcomer here! From January to December 2014, she contributed a wealth of wonderful tutorials to Cookie Connection, all under the title of Dear Yankee Girl.

Icing sugar lies at the base of cookie decorating, be it with royal icing or glaze or buttercream. It was through Cookie Connection host Julia Usher’s comments about her teaching experiences in other countries that I realised that icing sugar isn’t the same all over the world...

Ta da! I’m back – with another Cookier Close-up! This time, it’s with Noriko Forster, who goes by two cookie names on the internet - mintlemonade and Cookie Crumbs!

I love these last lazy days of summer, when we savor every bit of sunlight, wistfully listen to the crickets, and spend as much unconstructed time with family and friends as we can squeeze in...

Everything's coming up roses! (Unless, of course, you live in the Midwest, or Northeast, or frankly anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon Line, in which case, there is nothing coming up, and there is snow on the ground. But I digress)...

This is my very first tutorial, and I am the worst photographer in the world, so please excuse the bad pictures. I hope you will still be able to follow. I tried to find a tutorial for gumpaste lavender and could only find two in total.

It's about that time, folks, and so naturally we've been inundated with sp-ookies this past week. (BTW, "sp-ookies" is short for spooky cookies, a term conjured up after imbibing too much witches' brew when writing this post. ) While...

I'm definitely detecting a hint of end-of-summer in the air. Sunny days, but cool air; morning mists that quickly clear; and greens in the garden that are starting to glow brightly, with just a few delicate edges of burnt orange...

They're breeding like rabbits - the Easter cookies on this site, that is! And the rabbit theme is even more prolific! (Only one of this week's top ten Easter cookies doesn't have one, or a part of one.)     Turns out, bunnies can be cute as...

This week I've got an unconventional and very exciting Saturday Spotlight for you - the announcement of the winners in the 2014 Cookiers' Choice Awards ! After a long couple of weeks of serious deliberation, our panel of esteemed Cookiers'...