I love art. I have always enjoyed doing it in my free time. Drawing, painting, design, illustrating, name it, I loved it. I took many courses in school and college thinking that this would be the field I would naturally fall into. I took advanced level art classes, graphic design classes, photography classes. I pursued a lot of it in my (little) free time. And I loved it!
But there was something else that I always enjoyed doing, and that was baking. My mom was and still is an amazing baker. I mean, I remember being 7 and my mom making homemade donuts. This was before there was a gadget for everything. Baking is what she enjoyed. And I eagerly watched (and taste tested many a batter) as I hoped someday to bake as well as her. Her cookies? Amazing. They're the kind that completely turns you off to any other kind of store bought and even bakery bought cookies. That good. As in, people would tell me all the time that my mom should go into a baking business. And what was her secret to her cookies? (all of which I will share in future posts). It took many years and I still don't think I have quite perfected my mom's recipe of chocolate chip cookies, but I probably come as close as I can.
So after about 10 years in the field of elementary education as a teacher (which I LOVED!), I became a stay-at-home mom with our first son. Still nurturing the baking needs and desires and cultivating the artsy needs and desires I had always wanted to learn how to make decorated sugar cookies. Surprise, right? It was the perfect balance of the 2 passions. Art (decorating the cookie) and Baking (the cookie). I read up on as much as I could. I wasn't too nervous about getting the dough recipe and icing recipe down right and adjusting it to a level that I think is good, but the decorating part was a whole new world.
If you too are into sugar cookies, whether it be new to it, or established, you're quite familiar with terms like, "20 second icing, 10 second icing, flooding, piping, thick consistency, medium consistency, etc."
I don't know about you, but it was overwhelming. I felt like I had to do everything by the letter or it wasn't going to turn out just right. If I tried to make a cookie, and the icing wasn't EXACTLY a 20 second icing, I would work at it until it literally was exactly a 20 second icing (meanwhile, it was maybe at a 17 or 18, but that wasn't good enough). I found much of it frustrating. And sometimes I had to really think about designs and how to reinterpret them. They are not nearly as easy as they look sometimes. But the first time I made a sugar cookie that turned out well and actually had people saying good things felt amazing. So I forged ahead. Then I opened an Etsy shop to gain further skills. It has totally surpassed my expectations what my Etsy shop has done. I am humbled by the response and support of those that I have worked with or have contacted me.
Then I went local. And my little occasional cookie order business became a serious thing. Like, we are talking invoices, business email and business cards. I never imagined it would take me to this point. It is hard grueling work. But I love it. Some days I want to throw the rolling pin at a window, but most days I still find it very rewarding and it fills my cup.
So this website is dedicated to sharing photos of cookies (because I love photography!) and recipes, and other cookie anecdotes and anything else cookie related. Stay tuned for more cookie inspired stories to come!
Comentarios