Hi, all! Usually I put admin posts like this in the forums, but to ensure that this post gets maximum visibility, I'm putting it front and center on the blog! As you may know, we had a large site upgrade last week, dubbed "The Recipe Release" by my site guys at Hoop.la...
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.
This month, I’m interviewing our May site artist, someone many of you have come to know and love through your involvement in her bimonthly Practice Bakes Perfect challenges. Yes, it’s none other than the woman who works hard to push you to new cookie decorating heights...
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.
As I said on our Contributors page, it takes a small community to keep a large community like Cookie Connection going . . . but what I really should have said is: it takes a small (and ever-growing) community of passionate, talented, and tireless volunteers to keep it going!
When I was a kid, one of my father’s colleagues, Mr. Oshiro, introduced me to origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. Several weeks later, our local summer vacation program offered an origami course for children. That was it - I was lost.
Too often here in cookie land, we skip from Valentine's Day to Easter, without giving St. Patrick's Day even a sideways glance. I've never been quite sure why that is, as leprechauns, when done right, can be so darn cute.
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!
Can you feel it? The sense that winter is past its midpoint, and spring is just around the corner (or at least, here in Chicago, that the risk of days in the single digits is behind us).
Well, you clearly decorated your hearts out - literally and figuratively - this week! We've had an impressive influx of heart cookies since our last Saturday Spotlight, all in anticipation of Saint Valentine's Day.
Happy holidays! Hopefully, by now, you have cranked out your last gingerbread man, assembled your last poinsettia cookie platter, and are ready to have some REAL cookie fun! But, first things first...
With one week 'til the big day, it's still all about Christmas cookies here on Cookie Connection! If you're like me - with all of your shopping and baking left to do - then you're in luck, because this week's Spotlight has plenty of ideas for both...
Hi, all! SURPRISE! It's me, Julia, not your usual lovely Christine. Since it's the holiday season and the time for giving, I wanted to give our hardworking contributors a crack at a challenge for a change. So, since most of them entered this time, I have flown solo through this recap...
It used to be, not long ago, that cookiers hopped from Halloween to Christmas, bypassing turkeys, pilgrims, and all other Thanksgiving themes without skipping a beat. But with the explosive interest in cookie decorating as of late, Cookie...
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...
"There is almost nothing that has such a keen sense of fun as a fallen leaf."...
Halloween is quickly approaching, so it's time to get planning for it! The big question is . . . do you have the coolest, most scary costume of the night picked out? And what about your Halloween cookies? They...
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...
Hi, all! I'm back with our "usual" Spotlight after a whirlwind week of triaging the vast amount of CookieCon coverage generated by our talented team of correspondents ! Congrats again to Barb Florin, Beverly Parker, Jen Wagman, and...
T-minus eight days until my official arrival at my first ever CookieCon in Salt Lake City, Utah. My husband swears it's called "CookieCon" because he's being conned into taking care of our four kids for four (okay, almost five) days. I endeavor to...
There’s never a dull moment on the CookieCon interview circuit! With a little under two months ‘til the big event and still three instructors to interview, I’m kicking into high gear with Q&A. On August 8, we live-chatted with Dotty of Sugar Dot Cookies, and on September 12, Bridget from Bake at 350 will...
** For a Limited Time Only, a FREE Cookie Cutter for 500 Readers! ** Seriously, y'all, this is a MAJOR extravaganza, with an estimated $2,500 in product being given away! But before I give you the full scoop, a huge thank you to cookie...
There are some things about being in business that need to be done no matter what size or kind of business you are running. You've got to do the official paperwork for a business in order to be properly set up as a business...
Practice Bake Perfect Challenge #10 is officially one for the books. I could not have been more impressed with the depth and overall quality of the entries we received. It is no small feat of planning and execution to produce a dozen...
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...
I was able to meet Katy Metoyer of Sugar Dayne at CookieCon 2014 and have been following her ever since. Over the last few months, I have noticed a shift in her decorating. Her style has become more expressive and free, filled with bright colors...
With all the baking TV shows being shown globally, the art of baking and decorating has become a very popular hobby. When you watch beautiful things being being made on TV, pick up a cookie decorating book in a store, or see some beautiful...
Foregoing fancy meals or pulling decorating all-nighters in order to scratch together the change for CookieCon ? Hoping you'll win the lottery so you won't have to go another year without meeting your online cookie friends? Well, hope no...
I love hot air balloons, but I really don't love heights! So my experience of them will always be from the ground, looking up and imagining how serene and beautiful it must be - that is, if you're not up there screaming and dribbling in...
Recently I've been experimenting with my old edible food pens. Many times I need a very fine writer, but I have not come across anything readily available, very fine, and, well, cheap. This solution works very well for me using Wilton FoodWriters and...
I was completely floored when I caught sight of these “mix tapes” created by Danielle Lind of Dany's Cakes on Instagram. I mean, look at them! I was also stumped! Were they cookies? Were they edible? Were they real cassette...
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...
There are several ways to cover a cookie with decoration. Some like glaze or fondant, but most seem to design in royal icing. It is the medium that I use and with which I am most familiar, so when I started following the work of Kathi Dangler of My...
Well, in case you hadn't noticed, it's 2015, and that means I've almost completed a year's worth of these tutorials! So to celebrate, I'm going to do things a little differently today. You might notice there aren't many photos . . . that's...
Now that we’ve got the business plan out of the way, let’s move on to why I made the decision to open a storefront. You might be wondering why I would make such a decision when my state already has a cottage food law in place....
If there’s ever a triple-threat (or quadruple- or quintuple-threat) in the cookie world, it’s Ginny McCormick-Levack, owner of Creative Cookier and subject of this month’s Close-up . She does it all – she decorates,...
I got hooked on the work of Lorena Marin of Au Claire de la Lune when she posted this clip for a Cookie Connection contest well over a year ago. My first impression of that entry was that it seemed to tell a little story. Further...
Alas, National Cookie Month is drawing to a close in a few short days. I hope you've had your fill of cookies and cookie tutorials over these last few weeks. But if not, no worries . . . there's still time for cookie sustenance! This week, in the last...
Admittedly, I'm a little ODed on pumpkins and ghosts around about this time each year! But considering we've got less than one week to go 'til the big day - and we've got such an abundance of great Halloween cookies on the site - I had no choice...
National Cookie Month has been a blast, hasn't it? And just when you thought it was about to fade into distant memory, I'm bringing it all back with another giveaway! While definitely fun, this giveaway has actually got a very serious component...
Well, I've got a bit of exciting news - for me and for you! Admittedly, this announcement feels a little anticlimactic, as I've been privy to this information for close to a year. Around about January, my book Cookie Swap , first published in 2009,...
So, as I alluded to in last week's post , we've got some fun stuff for you on Cookie Connection during this special National Cookie Month! Today, I present the first week of our National Cookie Month Film Festival, sort of a "Best of...
Yeah, for real! October is National Cookie Month, at least here in the US! So, what's this mean for Cookie Connection ? In short, lots of fun stuff! For starters, I've posted a splashy new site backdrop and banner, designed...
Another great challenge!!! I'd like to thank Tammy Holmes for the idea for this month's challenge - cookies based on a single inspiration photo. I asked her to pick the photo, and she picked this picture of a gorgeous fancy lilac powder room ! I...
It's been a while (May, to be exact) since this itinerant cookie decorator hit the streets. But last week I satisfied my growing cookie wanderlust by trekking to São Paulo, Brazil and back for the 1º Encontro de Designers de...
We marvel over her delicate handpainting. We mutter oohs and ahhs at the sight of her intricate piping work. Heck, we stop dead in our tracks nearly every time she posts something to this site! Yes, I’m talking about Evelin Milanesi, aka...
For those of you who enjoy the occasional glass of wine (with or without cookies), boy oh boy, do I have an offer for you! And it's one that NEVER expires! Club W , a personalized wine club that sends monthly shipments of wine tailored to your...
I'm badly in need of a holiday by the sea - we'll be going soon. Every year about this time, we stay in Cornwall (UK) with my aunt. Some of the most beautiful coastline and beaches in the world are in Cornwall. And every year,...
In this challenge , we asked you guys to cookie a theme onto a terribly random set of cookie shapes: a gnome, a pear, a skull, a rectangle, and a fleur de lis. I thought for sure you'd either be bored or stumped. Boy, was I wrong. Each and every one...
