I Bake, therefore I Am

I am finding that a mom's world can be somewhat like a black hole. The pull from changing diapers, fixing lunches, singing songs, playing outside, wiping tears and cuddling at bedtime is so strong that it's impossible not to get sucked in completely. Which honestly is fine with me. I love motherhood, my girls, and my husband. I'd be a sad, sad girl without my sweet little family. 

But, once in awhile, it's nice to feel like just Annie again. Not Mommy-Annie or Wifey-Annie, just me, Annie Cabannie. And cookies are my total escape. My creative outlet. It's my one thing that's just my own. I can slip into a cookie dreamland and be blissful for just a few moments. And then it's back to my happy, hectic reality. 

During one of my cookie daydreams, when I was contemplating my life and my love for baking, I came up with this cookie:

You might be familiar with Rene Descartes' famous statement "I think, therefore I am." Proof of one's existence. Well, the proof of my existence is most definitely my baking adventures. (click here to read more about Rene Descartes on Wikipedia. I found it to be a nice refresher of what I had once learned a long time ago.)

I made a few 'sweets' themed cookies to go along with my 'I bake' cookie. The classic cut-out is and always will be the gingerbread man. I kept his design simple. 

I had a birthday in mind when I made this two-tier cake. 

Here are some delicious cupcakes. I tried to create a little extra dimension with my icing colors and outline. I wanted it to look like it was decorated with one of those closed star tip. Not sure if it worked completely, but I was happy with it.

Doesn't this donut look like Homer Simpson's? This was my favorite of the four sweets cookies and it was by far the easiest! 

I had fun sketching these cookies out before I started decorating.

This collection took a lot of different icing colors. Since I'm only making a few cookies at this time, I used small containers to mix my colors. I think cleaning these up at the end is the thing I like least about decorating cookies. 

Here is the whole set together. I donated these cookies to a local bake sale. I loved the font on the "I Bake therefore I Am" cookie. It's called D_Old Modern and I found it on www.1001freefonts.com. I didn't freehand this, I got by with a little help from my friend kopykake.

Speaking of fonts, I'm working on a blog post for next week dedicated to fonts on cookies. I can't wait to share a few other cookies I made. 

Also coming this week is a follow-up post to the Elmo, Dorothy, and Heat Gun post - click here to view the original post if you have no clue what I'm referencing. I have received so many comments and messages that I think it warrants a follow-up. Several other decorators have tried it and have some great feedback, so I'll be sharing that later this week. If you have experience with using a heat gun on your cookies, please email me what you think works, doesn't work, and what you're still testing. Include an example cookie photo and your blog/facebook/flickr address to be included with the post. My email address is anne@flourboxbakery.com. I look forward to collecting this information and sharing it soon.

Happy Decorating! Happy Sweet Week!!

Anne