Please hop over to my Bling Bakery website!

Please visit my website, Bling Bakery Richmond Hill, and especially my Facebook page and Instagram page for up-to-date information and product photos, as I am no longer maintaining this blog. 

Thank you! See you over there! Love, Elaine

Maple Leaf Canada Day Cookies

Bling Bakery Canada Day
butter cookies with glaze flood

I had a customer request some Canada Day cookies for her staff and residents. She had sent me a picture of a red flooded maple leaf cookie with 'OH! Canada!' written on it in black, food grade marker and was asking for that design. No problem! I had the cutter, but what I didn't have was success in making red glaze flood that didn't go blotchy after a few days. 

Time was on my side, no need to panic, so I hopped off to the local cake decorating supply shop, then home again home again with a bottle of Sugarflair Red Extra. 

Well. Let me tell you. Magic. My 'experiment' cookie still looked amazing SIX DAYS after it was flooded. This is the difference that quality makes!!! I was thrilled and obviously, off to the races - doing a quantity of cookies for my customer would be no problem.

Coloured Border Hand-painted Butter Cookies

Hand-painted Bling Bakery
butter cookies with glaze flood

As you know, I've been spending most of my time hand-painting my Bling Bakery butter cookies. The white glaze flood background is the perfect canvas for my yet-to-be-refined painting techniques. 

But that got me thinking - how would the cookies look when grouped together on a plate? Will there be enough colour in the display or will my customer feel their order doesn't have enough pop? Since I'm not painting the entire surface of each cookie, will there be too much white, making the display look plain?

Hand-painted Cookie Gift Box

Hand-painted lilies on Large Daisy,
Hand-painted wisteria on Large Heart
Bling Bakery butter cookies with
with glaze flood 

A gift box of cookies is a beautiful way to let someone know you are thinking of them. It's a small but meaningful gesture of love and well-wishes that goes beyond a phone call or a distant wave. 

Cookie gift boxes can have any theme imaginable. If you can dream it up, there will be a cookie decorator with the skills to bring that dream to sugar. Whether that decorator is me or someone else, think about gifting a small box of cookies next time you remember someone you haven't seen in a while. They will truly be impressed by the unique and memorable way you have reached out to them.

Hand-painted Butter Cookies

Hand-painted roses on
Bling Bakery cookie

The more time I spend painting my glaze flooded butter cookies, the more time I want to spend painting my glaze flooded butter cookies. 

No joke. 

I have pushed to the side all other decorating ideas and even though I know I should be expanding my picture inventory for my Ordering page, all I can think about is 'what will I paint next?' 

Yesterday I went through Mom's gardening books and chose three with the most paintings and photographs. Lots of ideas there, and plenty to inspire. And that's the thing - I'm not exactly awash with talent so any photo/cartoon/painting or sketch that can serve as a starting point is critical to someone like myself. Where I end up is usually faaaar from where I started but that's always ok - that's the "creative" part that I bring to the product. I also figure there's no such thing as a mistake - it's just a cookie for heaven's sake! 

Mother's Day Cookie Gift Box

Mother's Day Painted Heart
cookies gift set

I figured I would join the trend of other bakeries who offer gift boxes for different occasions and Mother's Day seemed to be the perfect place to start. This year I offered four sets in total; three sets were painted cookies and one set was my usual glaze decorations.

Gifting a small box of cookies is a great way to go. It's inexpensive but totally personal and lovable. I kept my prices between $10 and $12, and that's fairly standard for a lot of bakeries. Places I scouted had sets for $9 (but packaging was an additional $2), and most were $12 for 3 cookies (plus $2 for the box). Regardless, any way you cut it, it's a wonderfully unique gift for a great price and you're not breaking the bank if you splurge for flowers or chocolates as well. If your favourite bakery does not offer gift sets, be sure to ask next time you shop there, I'm sure they would be delighted to put something together for you at a price that suits.

Painted Cookies

Flower Painted Heart cookie

I've been experimenting with painting my cookies and I must admit I'm a big fan of this new (to me) way of decorating. I love the effect, and since I have so many colour gels already, it's a simple matter to prepare a bunch of "paints" - a tiny amount of gel mixed with clear vanilla extract - and I'm off to the races .

This heart shaped cookie was my first painting attempt. I'm using an artist brush that I closely trimmed to a very fine tip. Lacking horribly in talent, I still have trouble controlling the end and more often than not, I'm creating random lines on the white background that can't be erased or hidden, especially when I'm starting with black. But, I feel I'm getting the hang of it, and I'm completely smitten with the results.