To my surprise, rice paper has become one of my favorite elements to incorporate into new designs. It’s such a versatile material. Rice paper can be molded (to create a balloon), imprinted (with the veining of a bumblebee wing), or kept flat (like the windows of a tiny cabin). It can be...
Judging by online searches and tutorials, the cookie community adores puffy royal icing. I, too, love that soft, pillowy look. But with puffy icing also comes sloped, rounded edges. Sometimes I don’t...
This month I have a tutorial for a dimensional cookie platter comprised of two flowers whose petals, centers, and leaves are contoured. When I was thinking about how to decorate the cookies, I decided to...
Do you ever get a cookie idea that stubbornly refuses to budge? The idea for this Rapunzel tower cookie popped into my head one day and set up camp. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the concept. It seemed cute but also...
I am celebrating winter with a 3-D winter wonderland tree cookie, and I hope you'll come celebrate with me! This 3-D project doesn’t require any icing "glue" to stand, so it's more like a 3-D cookie platter. The concept behind its construction is similar to that of mug-hugger cookies, which are . . .
Like so many others, I’m smitten with the golden and crimson hues of autumn leaves. But they shouldn’t get all the love. On close inspection, the leaves of each season have their own unique beauty...
It’s the end of November, which means that it's time to share a Christmas tree-themed tutorial! [EDITOR'S NOTE: Apologies to Manu for my delayed posting - it's now early December! However, there's still plenty of time to enjoy this tutorial, and even make this fabulous project! ~ JMU] To kick off, I am posting pictures of the Christmas cookie tutorials that I have shared over the past several years here on Cookie Connection...
The holidays are right around the corner, and I’m feeling mixed emotions. On the one hand, I have all of the joyful anticipation of family gatherings and delicious food. On the other hand, there’s the shopping. In real life, I haven’t even started. But in my cookie fantasies, everyone wants a...
When I was younger, my sister and I used to scramble to grab the newspaper to read our horoscopes. I’m a Virgo. My horoscope was always predictably mundane - “Today you will clean the house . . .” or something equally boring. The symbol for my zodiac sign is a...
This is the story of a cookie tutorial that was meant to be a 3-D pumpkin cookie project but ended up becoming a dimensional cookie composition that resembles a pumpkin. Three years ago I shared a tutorial featuring royal icing place cards. They were royal icing plaque transfers decorated with three different kinds of...
When my kids were little, every Halloween we would make ghost decorations from cheesecloth and laundry starch. The process was simple: soak cheesecloth in the starchy liquid, drape it over a rough form of compacted aluminum foil, and allow it to dry. The gauzy cheesecloth would harden, creating spooky, semi-transparent specters. In this project, naturally-starchy rice paper stands in for cheesecloth to make an edible version of this Halloween craft.
I love flowers of all kinds, but I have a special fondness for flowers that look a little unique. The coneflower, with its spiky, vibrantly colored seed cone and skirt of purple petals, definitely fits the bill. Apparently, bees are just as partial to them as I am, so...
These lavender cookies were inspired, in their entirety, by a video I shot last year while mesmerized by a butterfly moving from sprig to sprig on a lavender bush. When I replayed the video...
I wasn’t trying to pick favorites when I made a cookie inspired by one of my dogs. But ever since, my daughter has been campaigning for our cat to get a cookie of his own. I’m not surprised; they have always had a special bond. We’ve had our cat since my daughter was little, and they’ve been an inseparable pair. While the décor in her room...
Over the last two months, the hills around our house have transitioned from a lively green to a sad brown to a lovely gold. Summer has definitely arrived. When my children were younger, this time of year we would always visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The aquarium never...
