always trying to make a buck

so yes - i am, indeed, going to give the cookie business a go.  no, i don't think i'm particularly super talented.  and no, i don't have any creative recipes that will make me stand out from the rest of the crowd.  but i do have a lot of enthusiasm, i love to bake, and i seem to have friends who trust my skillz enough to actually give me money to make cookies for them.  heh.  i decided to keep it separate from my current online persona, though, and nixed the idea of naming the business with another play on "wan."  besides, i couldn't think of anything that wasn't super cheesetastic and lame.

it actually started with one of my junior league sisters, who contacted me via facebook to see if i could help her out of a jam.  she needed 3 dozen heart-shaped sugar cookies with red royal icing, and she said "i'd rather pay you than a bakery if you can swing it."

um, hell YES.  i'd rather you pay me than a bakery, too.

and so although i was already busy last week with lots of other things, including those candy cane macarons for a junior league cookie exchange (which i still need to blog!), i accepted the job.  i always want to help my friends whenever i can, and it wasn't difficult to squeeze it in with the other stuff i had going on.  i did a little research on pricing, got back to her, and she seemed pretty happy with it.

the bean "helped" me out with the rolling and cutting:

and while she was happily squeezing her little ball of dough (which i didn't bake, obvs. what kind of businesswoman do you think i am?), i got the hearts all cut out and in the oven.

i always have meringue powder on hand, so royal icing is just a mixing bowl and a pound of powdered sugar away.  i used an ungodly amount of red food coloring gel to get it this bright:

i had debated using a shortcut - tinting some fondant red and cutting hearts out to cover the cookie and then just piping the icing to outline it - but decided against it.  after all, she had specified "royal icing," so that's what she got.  i did the outline first:

and by the time i was done with the 36th one, the first one was dry enough to start the flooding process.

i sprinkled some red sanding sugar on top of them to make them extra sparkly and pretty.

i left them overnight to dry, and the next morning, i got up early to get them boxed up.  the purple tissue really makes the red icing pop, don't you think?

i thought a red grosgrain ribbon would be lovely to tie around the box.  and so that she didn't have to open it to see the cookies, i packaged an extra cookie in a cellophane bag and tied it in.

i wasn't satisfied with the width of the ribbon, though.  so i went into my ribbon stash (which is ridiculous, let me tell you) and ended up settling for a satin one that was only slightly wider.  oh, well.  still pretty, right?

she was so happy with them, she placed another order for 4 dozen gingerbread men for this weekend!

and i have an order for 100 cookies for saturday - which are for a last-minute holiday shopping extravaganza at my buddy's party store, where i'm also repping stella & dot.  woo-hoo!  and yet another order - for two dozen macarons on new year's eve.  yeeeeeuuuuh.

fun stuff, all of it.  i just hope i keep getting orders - maybe valentine's day?  easter?  there's always a reason to have cookies.  at least, that's the case in my world.  heh.