Yes, I’m finally back with another Cookier Close-up, and I’m especially excited about this one with our June 2024 site artist, Dita Dortová aka Dita. Until recently, I only knew Dita through her forum intro from a few months ago and her stunning cookies that she posts quite regularly to this site. So it’s been my...
It's hard to pinpoint the exact birthday of this (my beloved) site. It launched "softly" into cyberspace in Spring 2013 with different people getting introduced to it at various stages of development. About a month before I announced its birth...
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...
Happy fall, y'all! This week, I've been in Maine at my home-away-from-home, enjoying a little time off, replanting pots for the fall, continuing to furnish the house...
Earlier this week, I noticed a sign on an office door that read, "Octobering . . . be back soon". I found it to be the perfect phrase for how I am feeling at this particular moment...
One day toward the end of July, my daughter looked at me and said, “I can’t wait for Halloween.” I was in complete agreement. Is three months too long to count down? My daughter is...
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...
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...
As Taylor Swift (muse for this year's competition theme) would ask, "Are you ready for it?!" - "it", of course, being the grand winner reveal in the third virtual edition of Julia M. Usher’s Cookie Art Competition™! From what I've witnessed online, I suspect so. And the good news is...
Seeing as this is my last Spotlight before Christmas (more on the Cookie Connection holiday schedule below), I'm just going to say this now in case I miss you on the 25th: MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! May you have a...
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...
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...
Yes, it's your lucky day. I've finally got the site's first official giveaway ready for any and all interested takers! I'm calling this one The Great Spring Summer Cleaning Giveaway, because I had every intention of doing it in the spring,...
It's been a hot summer in Rome, and, even though I haven’t turned on my oven for a while, I've been working on this tutorial for you! It's one that needn't require much, if any, baking as its focus is on stenciled royal icing transfers. You will learn how to...
It's fall, y'all! The weather in my area is still a bit warmer than I would prefer, but I definitely have all the fall feels. It seems as though many of you do too, which is why this week's hot list is filled with such a wealth of...
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...
Ooh, I just love this time of year on the site, don't you? I mean, who needs visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads when there are so many glorious Christmas cookies dancing across our screens?! Tonight, I'm featuring this week's top ten cookies, but it should come as no surprise that...
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...
Fall is in full bloom at my house. The temperatures have finally dipped; the leaves are starting to turn; and Halloween decorations are popping up everywhere. It seems as though many of you are...
Hey, all! I need to be super snappy with this post, as I'm teaching at The Bake Fest all weekend, and I still have some prep yet to do tonight. Aside: As a means of enticing last-minute class-goers to...
I knew the year 2020 would be one of change and challenge for me personally, but I think I speak for all of us when I say that no one could have predicted where we all would be just three months into the new year. Y'all, I can't deny that my heart is heavy...
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...
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?!...
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...
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...
Years ago, my husband and I decided to bring in a sofa that we’d been storing in our garage. After lugging in the unwieldy piece of furniture, we plopped down on it in triumph. I turned to look at my husband, and my smile melted into horror. Perched on his neck was a...
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...
Many years ago (almost thirty), a friend of mine and his girlfriend found a way to make some money by selling framed sailing knots. The knots, each labelled with its name, were glued onto a nautical chart together with other embellishments like mini anchors and ship wheels...
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.
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...
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,...
Hi, 2024 cookie art competition entrants! Just a quick update to say that I have completed all of the feedback forms that were requested by the June 30 deadline! Hurrah! If you didn't get yours and think you requested it on time, please...
With tomorrow being the official first day of spring, it seemed only appropriate that we celebrate with a giveaway! Woo hoo! Thanks to the very generous and talented cookie cutter designer Michael Bonne , dubbed America's Favorite...
The chalkboard shelf is a popular item among cookie decorators. It is used to display cookies at farmers' markets, during pop-up sales at home, during birthday parties, and so on. Here are a couple of pictures of a real display shelf with cookies, kindly shared with us by...
Upcoming Mother’s Day and orchids are the inspiration for this month's tutorial design. It couldn’t be any other flower, as I am currently living in Thailand where orchids are everywhere, in every color and in every shape. In fact...
Roses, roses, EVERYWHERE! I don't think I have been surrounded by this many roses since my wedding. In 1993. Seriously, people! You shattered the Practice Bakes Perfect participation record, with a whopping 76 entries for Challenge #16!
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...
Wow – it’s been quite a while since our last Cookier Close-up (my bad!), but this one certainly won’t disappoint. Today, we’re talking with serial Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge entrant, January 2020 site artist, and a cookier who harks from a distant land...
I love summer. And I love flowers too. One of my all-time favourite flowers is the daisy. We call them margaritas in Argentina. (Yes! Exactly like that refreshing drink.) Daisies have been adopted as a symbol of...
When I used to sell my cookies, practicality was my worst enemy. It was an infuriating little voice in my head whispering sad truths: “too fragile”, “ too big”, “too sticky”. Every design had to live in a little bag without risk of breaking, smudging, or becoming stale on its path to the customer’s event. Now...
Hi, everyone! Welcome to Watch-Learn-Create Challenge #57. The topic of this challenge is stenciled royal icing transfers, and - surprise! - I am...
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...
One of the things I love most about the cookie community is how cookiers are always coming up with new and creative ways to take cookie decorating to the next level. There have been so many...
I have been living in Southeast Asia for almost two years now. The flowers and plants here are really fascinating in their shapes and vibrant colors, and have often inspired my tutorials. Moreover...
Too often in recent weeks, I've been posting our Saturday Spotlights on Sundays and using the "better late than never" excuse. Well, not this week! (Let me pause while everyone breathes a big sigh of relief . . .) Thanks to my husband...
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!
[EDITOR'S NOTE: While I'm terribly sad that Kari Arroyo ,aka Dear Yankee Girl ,has retired from our amazing team of contributors, I'm thrilled to introduce our newest tutorial writer through this debut post! You probably know her as Sugar Pearls Cakes & Bakes , the maker of those magnificent multi-technique cookies (say that three times fast!) that have wowed us all on this site. (Remember that stenciled honeycomb set? And the crazy quilt-style gingerbread...
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...
Fall and its vibrant colors are a joy for the heart and a great source of inspiration to me. Mums, pumpkins, and wagons surely have been my favorite things to “cookie” in past years...
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...
