Blog: Trending Over Last 24 Hours

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...

Meet my muse for this cookie: my Great Dane, Atlas. Atlas is a giant goofball, literally and figuratively. He jumps like he’s on a pogo stick, he flings slobber to unfathomable heights, and he sleeps folded in half like a pocketknife.

Hi, all! As you may recall from this past post, in 2021, I partnered with the world-renowned Japan Salonaise Association, aka JSA, to bring my signature 3-D cookie techniques and recipes to Asia. Well, this beginner-to-intermediate 3-D cake stand cookie with sweets is...

The internet is a vast and strange place full of endless inspirational imagery and ridiculous tripe. Every once in a rare while, I find something that is somehow both at the same time. The other day I came across...

Hi, all! Surprisingly, we've only got two Valentine's Day-themed cookie sets on our hot list this week. (I know you're making them, people, so please post away! 😘) One set contains the...

Love is clearly in the Cookie Connection air, if this week's hot list is any indication! On it, you'll find Valentine's sets galore, with which you're sure to be smitten, as well as a few...

Hello and welcome to a very special Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge #50! In recognition of this extraordinary milestone, I thought it only fitting that we mark the occasion by giving you an opportunity to participate in not one – but 50 different challenges! This means you have...

Happy New Year! We're kicking off 2022 with a bang! Not only are there so many outstanding cookies on this week's hot list, but...

This month’s tutorial is only about royal icing transfers. As a reminder, a royal icing transfer is a royal icing decoration that has been piped onto some substrate other than a cookie - usually acetate, parchment paper, or silicone. Once the icing has dried...

Hi, everyone! I’m back with a wonderful chat with our October site artist and cookie philanthropist Lisa Foss. As you may recall, Lisa’s luminous fall cookie leaves graced our banner and backdrop a few months back. Lucky us!...

'Tis the season for cookies! We have SOOO many festive Christmas cookies flooding the site right now that, even if you've just glanced at the home page photo feeds, there's no way they won't put you in the holiday spirit. Kudos to all who have been posting this delightful work - keep it up, please...

When I was experimenting with different materials to create the spiderweb in my Black Widow Spider Cookie tutorial, I was pleasantly surprised by edible glue. The glue was transparent, shiny, flexible, repairable, lightweight, and relatively forgiving. I’ve since come up with all kinds of ideas to make use of this new product in my decorating toolbox. First up...

Ack, where did the year go?! I swear, I utter this same thing every November when I launch my first Christmas stencils of the year. Truly, 2021 escaped me; it blazed by in such a flash. In fact, I've already...

Hi, everyone! My apologies for taking so long to interview our August site artist Zeena Mohammad! I’ve been dying to get to know her better myself, so I’m quite relieved that my schedule has calmed enough to allow me to get her interview questions drafted and posted. As you may recall...

The judges and I are getting SO excited to see all of your cookie creations! But don’t forget: both 2-D and 3-D entries to Julia M. Usher’s Cookie Art Competition™ are due in about one week, on October 15 at 5 pm CDT, to be exact...

You may have caught this awesome news already in my September stencil release post, but, if not, let me break it to you first, here and now...

I'm back - at least for this weekend, that is . . . my multi-week 3-D cookie course is going well, but it's been nonstop teaching, cleaning up, and resetting for the last two weeks, with a few more weeks yet to go. I am...

Hi, competitors! This week, I introduce you to the illustrious judges of Julia M. Usher’s Cookie Art Competition™ - three out of four of them at least! In the following video, judges Sandie Beltran, Stephanie Kappel, and Laura Saporiti tell you a bit about their competition and judging experience, as well as...

There are so many reasons to love sunflowers. Their cheerful, sunny yellow petals always brighten my mood, and their late-summer blooms are a welcome reminder that autumn is just around the corner. But perhaps the best thing about sunflowers is...

Hi, all! It's Saturday Spotlight time again! This week, we've got a few Fourth of July stragglers as well as a mixed bag of birthday, baby shower, portrait, and other cookies topping our hot list! It's always great fun to...

On this eve of Independence Day, it's only fitting that this week's top-trending cookie (and also our cover image) is a tribute to the beauty of the United States. Kudos to Zeena for the very clever concept of...

Whenever a new challenge is posted, I always look forward to seeing the unique and creative designs that our members will develop to take their cookie decorating skills to the next level. I was especially interested to see...

Hi, everyone! What a charming round-up of cookies I have for you on this lovely Saturday night! All of our Spotlightees, with two exceptions, are veteran honorees. Special congrats to...

Hi, everyone! This week's Spotlight is a straight-up pure, unadulterated "top 10", yet, even so, Mothers' Day cookies clearly dominate it. With...

Hello, everyone! As you may have heard, I have decided to take my cookie art competition fully virtual this year. When the That Takes the Cake show was canceled in February due to the pandemic, I knew my show had to go on, and...

My tutorial for this month is focused on honing piping skills: basketweave, rose buds, and leaves, in particular. All of these things just require practice - and sometimes...

I've always worked hard to hide the seams of my past 3-D cookie constructions by mitering the edges, or by mitering and then covering the edges with royal icing. My goal was to...

A couple of years ago my childhood friend decided she’d had enough of the Silicon Valley rat race. She packed up her family and...

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...

Another Cookier Close-up! Woo hoo! Sorry for the brief hiatus, but I had a super busy December with virtual classes and events, and it took me a little while to re-group after all of that! Anywho, I’m back, and I’m sure you’re going to love reading this up-close-and-personal interview as much as I loved conducting it. It’s with...

This month's release is called "Chinese New Year," but I consider it more of an East-meets-West way of ushering in 2021. While its background of plum blossoms and auspicious messages of "Love", "Luck", "Hope", and "Peace" are...

Hi, everyone! Alas, with Dotty - our past survey writer - having recently moved on to bigger and better things, I have assumed the hat of Chief Site Survey Writer once again. But, I am...

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's not even Christmas yet, but here in cookie stencil-designing land, I'm already gearing up for the next best cookie holiday - Valentine's Day! Or wait - maybe Valentine's Day IS the...

Well, Christmas is clearly here! And I couldn't be more eager to usher in the holiday season after this crazy year we've had. Apart from one cookie on this week's hot list*, all of this week's fabulous creations are suitable decking-the-halls material. With everything from...

Our homes have never been more important than in this unprecedented year. They've not only been the roofs over our heads, under which we routinely take shelter to eat and sleep; they've also been our workplaces, the schools for our kids, and the sanctuaries sought...

Woo hoo! I've got a first-of-its-kind cookie event to share with you, and, if you jump on the waitlist now, you'll be at the top of the list for VIP status and other special perks...

I love the crisp nip of cool air on fall mornings, and the brilliance of the changing leaves - not to mention the abundance of autumn cookie designs that invariably hit our site this time each year! We've got some true beauties of the season this week, including ones created by...

This tutorial combines two of my favorite things: miniatures and Halloween. The result is a spooky play on my previous miniature projects, Breakfast in Bed for Mom and Dad’s Breakfast. Complete with...

Styles and designs in the cookie world are constantly evolving, and it seems as though there are always new techniques and trends to capture our attention. At the same time, there are the "classics"...

This "Welcome Back" cookie by Ryoko ~Cookie Ave. is an apt cover image considering it's been a couple of weeks since I wrote a Spotlight! It's not only apropos, it's also impossibly cute! What a...

Summer may be coming to a close, but it continues to live on through the stunning array of floral masterpieces submitted for this challenge. From the traditional to the unexpected, our entries showed that...

At long last, we’re picking up where we left off in our June 27 (!) chat with Cookie Connection challenge host Sweet Prodigy, aka Christine Dutcher! In addition to organizing and recapping our bimonthly Practice Bakes Perfect challenges, Christine is a precision-piper extraordinaire, best known for her...

Hi, everyone. Please take a moment to read this message. It is very important. It relates to the ongoing wellbeing of this community and the respect we show to fellow members, especially our hardworking contributors who do....

Summer is that time of year when Mother Nature dazzles us with a spectacular show of beautiful flowers and an endless array of stunning colors and exquisite designs. With so much inspiration all around us, now is the...

At the start of this challenge, I asked you to take the traditional technique of brush embroidery and turn it into something completely new and unexpected. Admittedly, I wasn't sure how much could be done beyond the traditional ruffles, flowers, and beach scenes that we commonly see, but you...

Seeing as it's the Fourth of July, I thought it only appropriate to feature the ten top-trending patriotic cookies on the site this week. Naturally, there's lots of red, white, and blue depicted in our...

Hi, all. In an effort to keep you on your toes, I am once again changing up this week's Saturday Spotlight to focus on another less oft-visited area of the site. Last week, it was the blog, and, this week, it is the...