Karen Taylor is the creative type who, if she sees something, she wants to try and create it herself. She’s painted in oil and acrylics, refurbished furniture and always been a hobby baker. When a friend showed her some photos of high-end painted cookies, it just seemed like a natural melding of all Karen loved. Love and Cookies was born.
“Making decorated sugar cookies satisfies my creative outlet because it brings all of those elements together into one beautiful cookie,” shares Karen. “So, I went down the decorated cookie rabbit hole—it’s a very big hole! I would look at cookie photos, reels, tutorials, online cookie classes, basically everything and anything that had to do with custom cookies.”
Then she discovered Cookie Con—a sugar cooking decorating conference held annually. “Let me just say that if you’re into decorating cookies, this conference is like going to Disney World,” Karen says. “I learned so much about cookie decorating, marketing, social media, packaging, etc. I was so inspired when I came home, I decided to give it a try and it just took off from there.”
Custom Decorated Cookies in Olympia
Karen’s company, Love and Cookies, started March 2022. Before COVID, she was a dog agility instructor and competitor, but when everything shut down, she realized she didn’t really miss the competitive world. Instead, she decided to focus her energy on something sweet.
It’s not just the sugar that Karen loves, though. “I’m really interested in the science especially when it comes to sourdough bread,” she says. “I find baking so relaxing. I love how baked goods make my kitchen smell. It always reminds me of when my kids were little and I baked them treats for school.”
Her cookies are—for the most part—classic vanilla sugar cookies. She says she can make other flavors, but that is by far her most popular. As for Karen, she prefers chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies herself!
She uses a lot of different techniques to create truly unique cookies for whatever occasion you have. Bridal shower, birthday, baby shower, graduation, anniversary, real estate open house—whatever the occasion, it’s better with custom cookies!
“I love adding texture to my cookies by using embossed parchment paper,” Karen shares. “I also hand paint with food coloring and draw using food-safe markers. One of my favorite techniques and one that I teach in my cookie decorating classes is called wet on wet. That’s when you make designs on your cookies when the bottom icing is wet and I use different colored icing right on top of it to make a design. It’s so versatile and quick. It’s perfect for making flowers, hearts, polka dots and background designs.”
Something you don’t often see from cottage bakers, Karen owns an edible printer, so she can put photos on your cookies! “It’s perfect for corporate orders because I can print the company’s logo directly on the cookies,” she explains. “They are great for baby showers, weddings or graduation parties!”
Karen does have gluten-free options as well.
Cookie Decorating Classes in Olympia
Aside from her custom cookie business in Olympia, Karen also offers cookie decorating classes. She loves helping others learn how to create beautiful, edible art.
Her classes are designed for beginners—you don’t need to know a lot about baking to be successful. “Whether you’ve decorated before or never decorated cookies, you will come away from my classes with a better understanding of icing consistencies and different techniques to make beautiful decorated cookies on your own,” she says.
Can’t make it to class? She sells Do It Yourself Take Home Cookie Decorating Kits that comes with all the materials from her class as well as step-by-step instructions.
“I love the smiles on my students’ faces when they are decorating,” Karen shares. “They all start out feeling intimidated about the process, but by the end of class they are so impressed with how their cookies turned out. Everyone is taking pictures of their cookies to put on social media to show their family and friends how good they turned out.”
To order custom-decorated cookies from Love and Cookies, message her on Facebook. She says to reach out at least three weeks before you need them, as she does fill up. You can find upcoming cookie decorating classes on Eventbrite.
