The first crumbs…

I have always loved making cookies. New cookie recipes, perfecting classics, and sharing fresh baked confections with everyone are at the top of my list of favorite things! Little did I realize that purchasing our new home and starting a different job would lead me to a whole new goal to push myself towards.

Before the first challenge…

A few years ago, I left my current career for a brief stint in the beauty industry. I worked for one of the biggest cosmetics retailers in the US. While I was with the company, I was in charge of celebrating the team, showing them appreciation and love.

The week leading up to Valentine’s Day, I decided I was going to make decorated sugar cookies for the team. “Little Jars of Love,” and boy did I bite off a task.
I had ample practice piping buttercream with all of the cakes I had made while working as a pastry chef.

Royal Icing was a whole different story. We didn’t make decorated cookies at the restaurant. However, I am always ready to take on a new mission! I was confident and ready to tackle the challenge. Oh boy, was I ever deluded. These two icings are not the same, and while the cookies turned out. These “little jars” were a big headache and look like they belong on an episode of “Nailed It.”

I decided to park decorated cookies on the shelf for a while.

25 Days of Cookies…

Let the challenge begin…

The December after moving into our first home, I tasked myself with a goal. That goal was to create or challenge myself with a new cookie recipe from December 1st to December 25th. I did this all while working about 60 hours a week between both jobs.

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After powering through a few missteps and bulk-baking, catch-up moments; I completed my self-imposed challenge.

All Real Talk…

This challenge almost killed me. It definitely turned off my desire to see another cookie for a long time. My weariness from baking, posting, and working was palpable by the time we reached the end of the experiment.

Cookie #25 was a point of exhaustion. While the sentiment was genuine, it was a complete cop-out. I genuinely just needed a day off from baking. Christmas just felt like a great choice. Everyone else is off, why not me?

Nothing but fond memories…

Once the cookie PTSD had passed, I found myself back in the kitchen baking. I had made decorated sugar cookies at home to use a set of super-cute bumblebee cookie stamps.

A regular at my part-time job wanted to try my cookies. I brought her some bumblebee cookies, and she loved them! It just so happened that she owned a couple of tea shops in the city. Things progressed and I began to make unadorned sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies for her shop.

Let the baking begin…

I produced cookies for a couple of months before life interfered. After I stopped baking for the shops, she still sent clients my way for decorated cookies. This is when the cookie decorating monster came back to terrorize me.

Baby Shower Cookies Round #1…

She fielded a client for baby shower cookies. The client had originally booked someone to produce cookies for her, but they cancelled last minute.

Insert trumpet sounds here…

And here I come to the rescue! I had 48 hours to mimic the original designs and perfect royal icing. One of these tasks was not meant to be, guess which one?!? HA!

The finished cookies were beautiful, but could be better. Royal icing was not the only obstacle in my path. The original order had a script cookie cutter that said “baby” on it. As one could imagine this cookie cutter was a special order item, and no retailer had anything even close to it at the time.

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With a little effort and some mad-skill with a hobby knife, I created my own template. Then I cut these cookies by hand, one by one. It was a great problem solving moment and sure fire path to carpal tunnel! The cookies were finished on time through perseverance and delivered to the client.

The one thing I can honestly say about creating these edible works of art is that practice pays off!