Suzanne's Mom's Blog

Photo: Arty McGoo
These artistic Santas are an example of Arty McGoo’s cookie handiwork.

Before I share today’s story about Christmas cookies that are works of art, I want to tell you what Sandra does every Christmas for her extended Italian family in Connecticut. Sandra, you should know, is beloved of a large network of friends and family for her kindness, insight, moral support, good sense, and many other sterling attributes — not least of which is her cooking skill.

At Christmas, her family produces a prodigious feast, and her role is to make the cheese-filled anolini below, which she serves with chicken soup. She’s ahead of the game today having made and frozen roughly 1,100 of the small, ravioli-like dumplings.

Photo: Sandra M. Kelly
It’s traditional among Sandra’s Italian family members to serve anolini in chicken soup as one of the Christmas-dinner courses. She’s already made and frozen 1,100.

Nina Keck reported a story about another edible art form at National Public Radio [NPR] last year.

“For many people the holidays wouldn’t be the holidays without baking and decorating cookies. But a growing number of creative bakers, known as ‘cookiers,’ are taking their art to a whole new level.

“Mary Thode of Chittenden, Vt., is one of them. This time of year, she bakes all sorts of cookies — some of the recipes were her mother’s, she says, which bring back nice memories.

” ‘But I do like a painted cookie,’ she says, nodding toward the nine coffee cups on her dining room table that are each filled with different colored frosting. … Thode makes cookies all year — baby-bottle shaped ones for shower gifts and pumpkins at Halloween. But during the holidays, she’ll bake about 700 cookies, half of which she’ll paint, often with many layers of different colored frosting. …

“Thode is among a growing number of people, who’ve changed bite-sized treats into an art form. Many, like Thode, are hobbyists, who give their cookies away as gifts. But it’s also big business. Some of the most elaborate designs by top artists sell for $150 per dozen, or even more. …

“Elizabeth Adams [is] known in the cookie world as Arty McGoo. McGoo has made a career out of cookies. The California resident has more than 80,000 followers on Facebook and now devotes most of her time to teaching others her craft. …

“The popularity of decorating cookies has been great for companies like CK Products, which manufactures and distributes things like edible glitter, sprinkles, meringue powder and piping gel. …

“Ann Clark Cookie Cutters, a family-owned business in Rutland, Vt., that began in 1989, has also ramped up production. CEO Ben Clark says 52 employees work two shifts and their assembly line churns out 22,000 cookie cutters a day. …

“Clark says llamas are big this year: ‘We immediately said “let’s do a llama.” And are our creative director said we’re going to do two; we’re going to do one that looks like a llama and we’re gonna have one that’s more of a cartoony llama. … Ten days later [both] those products were dominating Amazon as the llama cookie cutter.’ ”

More here. By the way, next year’s serious cookie convention, Cookie Con, will be held in Louisville. Get your tickets here.

The cookies my grandchildren made at the church’s craft workshop Saturday are works of art that have meaning for me. This one is by my youngest grandchild.