Each Build Site is Unique

When planning an edible building, I always strive to make it as simple and easy to create as possible, so that anyone, regardless of skill level, can achieve a successful final product. I make sure to consider that most amateur bakers, for example, might not have the wide array of tools that I've amassed over the years. The goal is to create a design that can be made using very basic tools - a mixer, an oven, a few cookie sheets, and an implement to remove cutouts from windows and doors. Additional tools are recommended only for future consideration.

Cupid's Cookie Cottage, baked and ready for assembly!

I recently visited with my parents in New Jersey for the weekend, and with Valentine's Day just around the corner, my mom and I decided to bake Cupid's Cookie Cottage. My mom had attempted to make it once before, and wanted to understand what had gone wrong.

Mom's just-baked Cupid's Cookie Cottage walls & roofs

All of her cookie house pieces turned out perfectly, yet her house wouldn't stay together, and she was left with a pile of broken (but delicious!) walls and roofs. I suspected that the royal icing might not have been thick enough, and suggested we try again together.

Mom mixing her royal icing, using a hand mixer

In my own kitchens, I use a KitchenAid stand mixer for most baking projects. They make quick work of thick cookie doughs and icings, and I have to admit I've taken for granted how much faster and easier they've made the cookie-house-making process. I never struggle to achieve the right consistency, and can quickly move from mixing the icing to constructing a house.

In my mom's kitchen, she prefers to use a hand mixer. In creating my recipes and designs, I assumed that most bakers would be the same way, and factored in a bit of extra time as a result. With full confidence, we baked our heart-themed walls and roofs, then began mixing our royal icing. What I didn't expect was just how long it would take me to achieve the right thickness this way. With my stand mixer, I can get to the right consistency somewhere within 5-10 minutes. With the hand mixer, 10 minutes in, I was still looking at a runny icing that would certainly not hold a house together. It ultimately took another 5-10 minutes before we had something we could work with. My arm was numb, and I realized I needed to take into account the additional effort required for this method.

With the right icing thickness, my mom had no trouble at all erecting and decorating her cookie cottage. She said, "If I had only known I had to keep mixing the icing until it got that thick, my last one wouldn't have fallen apart." It got me thinking - each build site is different. The tools people use are different. People improvise. People rely on habits over instructions. It was a hugely important lesson for me to learn. To know that a hand mixer takes longer, for example, is one thing. To fully understand what it's like to use one, however, and to provide the appropriate support and instruction, is quite another.

Once she had the right icing consistency, my mom had no trouble at all with Cupid's Cookie Cottage!

Armed with a new appreciation for the uniqueness of our building sites, I can focus on providing notes and insights that will be useful to other builders. But one thing is for sure - I am more certain than ever that you CAN build an impressive and tasty cookie house, quickly, regardless of your kitchen or the tools available to you. If you try and stumble, don't despair, and DON'T give up. There's not much you can't achieve with just a wooden spoon and an oven, and I'm here to help. If you ever find yourself stuck, builder backup is just an email away.

Mom, looking proud (and pretty!) with her completed Cupid's Cookie Cottage

I highly recommend making one of these with your own mom. You'll feel like a kid doing something fun after school again, if only for an afternoon... Wishing a happy Valentine's Day to all the moms out there, especially mine! xoxo

I can't wait to see what you build!

<3 Patrick