It was one year ago that I started making and decorating sugar cookies!!! St. Pat's Day cookies were my very first venture!!! My oh my - many cookies since then - I believe about 1800! Many hours spent, lots of hard work, lots of research, a whole new vocabulary for baking (ever hear the words coupler, pipe or flood and know what they mean in relation to cookies???) some frustration, lots learned --- what a great thing I found only one year ago. For the past year I've averaged at least making one cookie batch per week. You don't even want to know how many cookie cutters I have....I have had to find new places to stash things with all my baking! My dream is to have a bigger kitchen for all my baking. A real store would be wonderful - but that is a pipe dream!
I got started last year when my Mom gave me a cupcake book. I thought what am I going to do with this??? I can't even bake! I went into the speciality shop that it came from and started looking around. Wow - overwhelming to say the least. Cupcakes looked pretty hard and I ended up starting out with cookies. I reconnected with a grade school friend who is the BEST cookie maker and baker I have ever met. She has helped me with my progress - I've used her recipes, her advice, her templates...I wish someday I could be half as good as Amalia. I have to thank my dear friend Amalia Standard for all that she has done for me the past year! She is an amazing woman all the way around. I also subscribe to lots of blogs that send me updates on their cookie ventures, advice, etc. Those have been my inspiration as well.
Now I have to take a minute to compare.....here is where I was last year with my first attempt. Okay, not all that bad you say.....
But looking below, I can at least tell the difference on how far I've come!!! Much more professional in my opinion, although I still have a long way to go and lots more practice before I would feel that I"m really good at this!
To quote one of my favorite Blogs - The Sweet Adventures of SugarbelleBeing a good cookier is not about how perfectly you decorate a cookie, its about how well you can fix it when you screw up, and believe me, you WILL screw up!
Below I'm looking at my finished product from one year ago....Oh my. I can't say I'm all that great now but wow I have come a long way. I suppose practice does really make better, right? And at the time these were good for me and just starting out!
Below I'm looking at my finished product from one year ago....Oh my. I can't say I'm all that great now but wow I have come a long way. I suppose practice does really make better, right? And at the time these were good for me and just starting out!
These below are a few of the St. Pat's Day cookies I've done this week. A few new cutters for the holiday....
I didn't really think making a horseshoe for goodluck with black or grey would be very festive. So I decided to try a rainbow. I had no idea how hard this would be until I started. Doing a single line of each color took a very steady hand - and that I don't have yet! Far away they look okay, but you can definitely see the imperfections up close.
And for the rainbow we always need a pot of gold, right?
Just a few shamrocks for the occasion. These aren't my favorite cookies I've ever done but they can't all be, right?
I have a few more St. Pat's cookies up my sleeve that I will post later. I found some really neat things on some blogs and they were fun to make! I will share those with you soon.
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