Merry Christmas!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a wonderful holiday season!

These "Joy" cookies were inspired by the talented Christy from Dolce.

Great jingle bell design from Sweet Sugar Belle!

Curling Cookies for the American Olympic Team

These cookies were made for Erika - an American who happens to live in Canada.  She also has a very kind and generous friend who got her these cookies to help here celebrate her trip to Sochi to compete with the American curling team!  Good luck Erika!!

The 2014 Winter Olympic Cookie Countdown!

During the 1992 Winter Olympics my husband and I were living in our first apartment.  The TV Guide (a weekly magazine that had the television listings in it) had a feature article on the Olympics and I distinctly remember the cover had pictures of Canadian figure skating pair Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler on it along with other Canadian athletes.  We loved watching the events and when it was all over it was a bit of a let down.  I didn't even want to throw out the "Guide" because it seemed so magical and my husband made a comment about how old we would be during the next Olympics - it was hard to imagine being four years older!

Twenty-two years later (and older), my entire family has enjoyed many winter and summer Olympics together.  We gather to watch the opening ceremonies and our favourite events.  "When do the Olympics start?" is a common refrain in our house.  To help with that, here is the official Sweet Handmade Olympic Cookie Countdown!

Today it is 16 days until the start of the Olympics and today we are celebrating the Olympic sport of curling.  Curling has only been an official Olympic event since 1998 but has been a part of the Canadian sporting culture since as early as 1807!!  The events will be taking place at the "Ice Cube" and the curling will take place from February 10 - 21!

Curling Cookies

Heather's family loves curling and her boys are pretty sensational.  She wanted to celebrate her sons' team success with cookies, so I created these cookies for them.  One of the things that I really love about this profession is the amount of learning it requires.  In order to do these cookies justice, I found out about all about the sport of curling, despite the fact that I have never played it.  The circular target, represented here in cookie form, is called the house and the goal of the sport is to slide the polished granite stones, called the "rocks", towards the house.  Curling is game of strategy, aided by the skill of the curler sliding the stone in a curve and the sweepers using their brooms to alter the state of the ice in front of the stone.  This strategy and skill has earned curling the nickname "Chess on Ice".  

Well, these cookies certainly brought them some luck, because after winning the Regional Gore Mutual Schoolboy curling challenge, they went on to place 2nd in the provincials in Haliburton!  Read the full story here!

Congratulations Ian, Tyler, Connor and Jordan!