Baking isn't new to me. I began baking as a child; everything from cakes to pies to bread. But it never really held my interest. I baked a bit here and there as I got older and after I had my son, I would do some baking for holidays and special occasions. But it didn't go beyond that until...he left for college.
To be clear, I blame Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry.
After my son left for school, my husband and I started watching The Great British Baking Show. I loved the camaraderie among the contestants, I loved the big white tent, I loved the British accents and I started to muse, "I think I can do that...."
It started slowly. A bundt cake here. A chocolate cake there. Some Linser cookies, pecan cookies, French Macarons, challah bread, and then...a particularly cute cookie that I saw in a magazine caught my eye,
I was primed.
I printed out the picture and the instructions for cookies that looked like little slices of pumpkin pie -- with whipped cream. After baking, the first step was to flood the cookie with Royal Icing. Not only did I not understand what they meant by "flood", I had never heard of Royal Icing.
And so it began. Research included countless YouTube tutorials, a couple of Facebook cookie groups (with the most amazing people) and a multitude of Instagram stories, posts and videos by incredible cookie artists and a trip to CookieCon (yes, CookieCon -- more on that another time). My slow, steady evolution to "getting it" about Royal Icing began along with a serious and hopeless cookie cutter addiction.
I became the chief cookie supplier for a multitude of parties, holidays, celebrations and a happy mom dropping off cookies to my son at school for any occasion for which I was baking
So this is the next step in my journey and since you made it this far on this post I hope you continue to visit me here and give me the opportunity to add to your celebrations. Everyone is happy when they get a cookie!