Friday Favorites

Over the past year of decorating, I have come to find what DOES and what DOESN'T work for me.  And I have my "favorites"...things that I just can't live without!  I thought I would share these with you in a new series of posts called "FRIDAY FAVORITES".  Every Friday, I will post one of my favorite things, be it a tip, tool or technique...or all of the above!  So, here we go!  :)

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I have two really good cookie sheets.  They are super sturdy, never warp and don't rust.  Since I'm starting my cookie business, I wanted to buy more.  But, I can't for the life of me remember where I got them and there are no markings on them, so I don't know the name brand.  So, the past week or so, I have been searching for something else that will suffice.  I found this pan and thought I would give it a try...

This pan is by USA Pan, sold at Bed Bath and Beyond as well as Amazon and other online retailers. It's called a Jelly Roll Pan.  I LOVE this pan!  This pan is a half sheet size (13"x18"), non-stick (it has a silicon coating ON the pan), it's super sturdy, AND it's made in the USA!   It is quite expensive at $19.99 per pan, but if you have a coupon for Bed Bath and Beyond, you can get it for around $16.  BUT, because it has the silicon coating, you don't need to spend money on a separate silicon liner!  So, really you are SAVING money!  I don't know if you can tell in the picture but the pan has these little ridges on them.  Apparently, that is to allow for more even heat distribution which would make for more even baking.  And I believe it!  The cookies I've baked with this pan have been some of the best cookies I have ever made!  For some reason, the cookies actually turn out larger than with my old pans with the silicon liner.  And because of the silicon coating, they do NOT burn.  They were perfect!  Anyway, I would highly recommend it.  In fact, I think I am going to scrounge up another coupon so I can buy a second one!

And just because I can't wait til next week, HERE is one of my favorite tips from The Bearfoot Baker on how to flatten your cookies for easier decorating!  LOVE it!

Until next week...

Jodi 

A Grate Cookie Tool

Lately, I've been having a problem with spreading...my cookies spreading, that is!  I've tried chilling the cutous, raising my oven temperature, even decreasing my baking powder.  Usually, ONE of these things works.  But lately, I don't know if it's because of the weather or what, but my cookies tend to spread.  And it can vary from cookie to cookie on the same sheet.  Strange.  It seems to be most noticeable on square cookies...just what I was baking. This is how they came out...

Wonky.  The edges were not crisp and clean but rather the opposite, angling out at the bottom, and very inconsistent.  My solution...

My trusty cheese grater.  I used the side of the grater, you know, the one you NEVER use.  I think it's for grating Parmesan cheese.  Anyhow, I had read about this before from Sweetopia..."How To...Fix Cookie Edges...".  She uses a microplane rasp zester to "file" down the rough edges.  Now, I didn't have one of these little tools (although I really, really want one), but I have this ginormous cheese grater that literally NEVER gets used.  It's one of those tools that you are SUPPOSED to have and you never get rid of because you just KNOW that as soon as you do, you will want to take up making homemade pizza and the store is out of pre-shredded cheese and all they have are the large block kind.  Phew!  The point is, you NOW have something you CAN use it for.  Pull it out of the cabinet and with cookie in one hand and grater in the other, go for it...grate your cookie!  Just take it easy...if your cookies are on the soft side and you use a heavy hand, the cookie could break.  Be gentle and let the grater do the work.  You will be surprised how much you can take off in such a short amount of time.  And this is what you end up with...

Nice crisp, even edges.  My slightly OCD mind likes this a lot better.  Now, I did go a "little" overboard and you can start to see the interior of the cookie.  You don't have to go this far.  The second from the top looks a little better. 

So, that's my latest tip.  I hope it helps.  Now you have no excuse for wonky edges.  :) 

Before and after

The Best of Both Worlds!

Easter of 2011, I made my very first decorated sugar cookies.  And they looked like this...

I decorated these using a recipe for "Sugar Cookie Icing" that followed the sugar cookie recipe I use from my high altitude baking book.  I used a spoon to spoon the icing on the cookie and move it around into position.  I actually don't remember how I drew on the dots and the lines.  I think I might have purchased Wilton bottles from Walmart.  I really don't remember.  Anyhow, I posted these on Facebook and my friend "Lola" commented, "nice piping and nice flooding".  I said, "nice WHAT?".  She proceeded to explain Royal Icing and how flooding was filling in the cookie.  I had no clue what she was talking about.  I had never heard of "flooding" or even the words "Royal Icing".  Google to the rescue!  So began my adventure into the world of cookies.  And the rest is history!

The one and only?

It's funny how I didn't even know what Royal Icing was back then, much less that there were all sorts of ways to make it and that there were other options like glaze.  I only recently discovered glaze and for so long thought the ONLY way to make Royal Icing was with meringue powder.  There is so much information out there when you first get started, it can be pretty overwhelming.  You kind of just fall into the "popular" way of doing things, choosing your recipe or technique by who has the prettiest cookie pictures.  (At least that's what I did!)  There wasn't any need to look further, because I didn't know any better.  I just did what I was told.  But NOW, I know better!  And so a year into my cookie adventure, I decided it was time to see what I have been missing.  What is it about glaze that makes glaze lovers think glaze is the ONLY way to go?  If meringue powder is the culprit behind the "funky" taste that glaze lovers claim is the reason they don't use Royal Icing, is there something you could use instead?  Well, I was going to find out.  Google to the rescue...again!

First up...glaze! (A recap)

In my last post, I gave you my impressions of glaze.  It was not hard to use as some people claim.  I least I didn't find it to be difficult.  As a loyal Royal Icing user up to this point, I found it to be no easier nor was it more difficult to use.  It was just different.  There's a learning curve as with anything new and different.  You can't expect to just change mediums and master it after the first try.  I completely FAILED the first time I used it.  Well, during my latest glaze test, I discovered that I quite liked the experience.  In fact, I had so much fun, I didn't want to stop.  Then came the taste test, the true test.   I wanted to compare three types of icing...RI (which I had always used), corn syrup glaze and a milk-based glaze (ala Sugar Therapy).  They all tasted good!  In fact, after the first bite, I really couldn't tell a difference.  But on the second and third bites, I was starting to taste a little something in each one that made them unique.  And after giving my husband a blind taste test, it was clear which was the favorite.  Our favorite was the milk-based glaze.  And the reason was a simple one.  It was sweet but it was a mild sweet.  There was no overwhelming punch of sweetness as there was with the corn syrup glaze.  We found that the sweetness was the same during the whole bite.  It was just mellow and it complemented the cookie nicely.  (I am not saying that the corn syrup glaze was in any way inferior, we just preferred it when combined with my sugar cookie).  The RI was good, but the milk-based glaze was better.  And so, I found MY glaze.  Thanks, Sugar Therapy!  (click HERE for the recipe) (**NOTE:  I added approximately 1 additional pound of sugar after mixing the initial ingredients.  I like a thick consistency that I can later thin out as I desire.)

And now it's Royal's turn...

Now, I knew from the beginning that I wasn't going to turn my back on Royal Icing all together.  I loved the glaze...working with it AND eating it.  But, I wanted to be able to master both mediums.  Knowing that not everyone is a fan of Royal Icing, I simply wanted my customers to have glaze as a choice.  But, what if I could find a royal icing recipe that didn't turn people off, one that didn't have the chemical taste that people thought was so offensive?  So, I started looking into the various ways of making Royal Icing.  My cookie friend, Daily Cookie, wrote a post the other night about how SHE makes her RI and I was quite intrigued.  She uses egg whites, lime and powdered sugar...and that's it!  She makes her icing very thick and then uses water to thin it down to the consistency that she wants.  NO meringue powder.  WHAT???  How was this possible?  Well, it turns out that meringue powder IS dried egg whites...combined with a number of ingredients: Corn Starch, Sugar, Vegetable Gum Arabic (Emulsifier), Calcium Sulfate, Citric Acid, Cream of Tartar, Silicone Dioxide (anti-caking agent), and artificial flavors.  WHOA!!!  That's a lot of extra ingredients!  This surprised me.  I hadn't really looked at the ingredients.  Now I REALLY wanted to find an alternative to meringue powder.  I like the fact that making homemade cookies, you know exactly what you are getting...flour, sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla, salt, baking powder, cream of tartar.  No hidden ingredients.  I even use UNbleached flour because I don't like the thought of BLEACH being in my food.  Why would I be ok with all these extra additives in my icing?  Well, there IS another way...egg whites.  

An egg-cellent alternative!

Some people may be afraid to use egg whites because there is a substantial risk for getting salmonella, and afraid they should be.  I wasn't too excited about using raw egg whites either.  There are options, though.  For one, you could pasteurize your own eggs!  Yes, that's right!  You CAN pasteurize your own eggs.  I found this link that tells you how.  (*After posting, it was brought to my attention that you can also just pasteurize the whites of the eggs.  Please see the bottom of this post for that process.)  Another option is to purchase liquid egg whites.  These are simply egg whites that have already been pasteurized.  Just measure out the equivalent amount to the number of egg whites that your recipe calls for.  Mix them with a little lemon or lime juice (or cream of tartar) and add enough powdered sugar to reach your desired consistency (a detailed recipe with instructions will follow).   I used Martha Stewart's Royal Icing recipe as a base.  It is VERY similar to the recipe that Georgeanne of LilaLoa uses.  Georgeanne uses yet another alternative to meringue powder...powdered egg whites.  Powdered egg whites are available online and some grocery stores.  Unfortunately, I have yet to find it in my local grocery stores.  I need to do a little more research on that.  For powdered eggs, you need to add water to them to reconstitute them first, and then you can work them into your recipe just as you would the liquid form.  

Final thoughts...

The one thing I noticed about the process of making Royal Icing using egg whites was that it was SO quick!  Some recipes call for mixing all the ingredients together and that's it.  No whipping, just mixing on low speed until you reach the desired consistency.  Others have you whip the egg whites first, whipping them until they reach stiff peaks.  Then you add the sugar.  Well, I tried both ways.  Of course, the recipe that does not require whipping takes less time, but overall whipping the egg whites took no time at all.  Maybe 10 minutes. Keep in mind, this was the first time I made this type of Royal Icing.  I could probably speed that time up a little in the future.  The result for both was a VERY creamy icing.  And very sweet.  But not corn syrupy sweet as with the glaze.  I mean it IS straight powdered sugar...it's gonna be SWEET.  But one of these methods gave me superior results.  (Again, this is the first time I used either of these recipes, so it's possible that both produce excellent Royal Icing.  I just preferred one over the other.)  The Martha Stewart/LilaLoa method was my favorite of the two.  I found this method produced SUPER creamy and thick RI.  It was so easy to mix colors and so easy to pipe.  The best thing...I had absolutely NO bubbles.  NONE!!!  How can that be?  Well, I think it's because you whip the eggs whites first, and then when you add the sugar, you do so on such a low speed, you don't incorporate air into the final product.  It could also be that I use quite a gentle hand when mixing the color and obtaining flood consistency.  Instead of stirring, I use more of a folding action.  The surface of the icing had a nice sheen on it.  Not shiny, like glaze, but satiny.  I was surprised that the sheen was there because I didn't use any corn syrup, which some cookiers add to royal icing or glaze to get a shinier product.  Not the case, perhaps because of the egg whites.  Here is a picture of my test cookie.  This was not completely dry all the way through, but the top WAS dry.  It looks wet though! 

The best thing about this icing was that there were NO BUBBLES!!!  This quilted cookie had not a single bubble to pop!  I LOVE that!  Usually, my flood has so many bubbles, you can still see spots when the icing is dry from where I did all the popping.  I will NOT miss that little step.  And I don't see any craters!  This cookie has been sitting here for a good two hours and nothing.  I did not put it under a fan, I didn't use a heat gun.  And no craters.  I have no idea how either of these things...lack of bubbles and craters...is even possible.  Anyone have any guesses?  

So, there you have it...my favorite Royal Icing without using meringue powder!  It WAS superior to using meringue powder and I don't think that I will go back.  Now, I still have to figure out how economical it is, but even if it's not as cost efficient as using meringue powder, I think it's worth it not having all those extra additives in it.  At least for me, it is.  

I am happy that I have a choice now.  A choice to offer my customers when I start selling.  I used to think you were either a Royal Icing person or a glaze person.  But, I am now BOTH!  I have found the best of BOTH worlds.  And I like it!  

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Royal Icing

*recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Royal Icing recipe and LilaLoa's Royal Icing recipe.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup liquid egg whites (equivalent to the whites from 2 eggs)

4 to 4 ½ cups sifted confectioners’ sugar, or more to thicken icing

1 teaspoon lemon or lime juice

Directions:

Add liquid egg whites and lemon or lime juice to the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat the whites until stiff. Add sugar 1 cup at a time until you reach your desired consistency. If icing is too thick, add more egg whites; if it is too thin, add more sugar. The icing may be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

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Cooking Egg Whites for Use in Recipes
(From IncredibleEgg.org)

Cooking egg whites before use in all recipes is recommended for full safety. The following method can be used with any number of whites and works for chilled desserts as well as Seven-Minute Frosting, Royal Icing and other frosting recipes calling for raw egg whites.

In a heavy saucepan, the top of a double boiler or a metal bowl placed over water in a saucepan, stir together the egg whites and sugar from the recipe (at least 2 tablespoons sugar per white), water (1 teaspoon per white) and cream of tartar (1/8 teaspoon per each 2 whites). Cook over low heat or simmering water, beating constantly with a portable mixer at low speed, until the whites reach 160° F. Pour into a large bowl. Beat on high speed until the whites stand in soft peaks. Proceed with the recipe.

My Thoughts on Glaze

Up to this point, I have been a pretty loyal royal icing user.  It wasn't by choice, it was because it was all I knew.  I only recently became aware that there was another option...glaze.  Now, most glaze users will say that it is the ONLY thing they will use.  And most RI users will say they will ONLY use RI.  There are a few that are able to combine the two, but for the most part, it's either the one or the other.  The one thing that the two types of icing have in common?  Both users can find the other medium to be hard to work with.

I'd been intrigued by glaze for some time, thinking that it was something that I must be missing out on.  To be honest, the first time I tried it, I failed miserably.  I decided that I was one of those loyal RI users.  Glaze was just too hard to work with!  But, since that failed attempt, I have been determined to master glaze!  How awesome would that be if I was able to work in BOTH mediums...successfully?!  Ohhh, the options!  So, last week, I gave glaze another chance.  I first re-tried Pam's recipe from Cookie Crazie.  It was a success this time!  Then, a Facebook fan, introduced me to a milk-based glaze from Toba Garrett. (Here is a link to the best version of the recipe I have found.)  I tried that recipe just a couple of days ago.  And I really liked that one.  Today, I tried a third glaze recipe, a second milk-based glaze, from a cookier I found on Cake Central...Sugar Therapy.  And after using this glaze*, I was hooked!  Hooked on glaze!  I really, REALLY loved it...so much so that I am actually rethinking using my RI for most of my work and switching to glaze being my main medium.  And the reasons why are as follows:  

My Thoughts on Glaze:  

1.  It is SUPER easy and SUPER cheap to make. The only ingredients in glaze are powdered sugar, milk (if you choose milk-based), light corn syrup, and flavorings (usually vanilla or almond or a combination of the two).  There is no meringue powder which, RI users will agree, can be quite expensive.  You simply combine the ingredients, mix for a minute or two and you are DONE!  Divide the icing into bowls for coloring, add coloring, add water to thin it out if needed and you are ready to decorate!  As for the coloring, you hardly have to use any food coloring.  I used just a single drop of Americolor Sky Blue and got this deep shade:

Less coloring also means less money AND less of the "off" taste you can get with RI.  Double bonus!

2. It is NOT harder to use than RI.  Yes, it can be quite difficult to mix.  Get those arm muscles ready. And you will not want to use your dainty bowl scrapers or rubber spatulas.  You need some serious hardware (just a really strong stirring utensil) to work with glaze.  That is about the hardest part of the whole process.  Once the icing is divided and you begin working it, it becomes easier to stir.  Especially as you add water to thin it out.  I think you really need to treat glaze just like you would your RI.  Yes, it is "different", but I would not say harder to work with or even inferior to RI.  Just different.  BUT, you should not treat it differently.  If you use a 10 second RI, you will want to use a 10 second glaze.  If you are like me, and you prefer to use a thick piping icing and a really thin (5 second or less) flood icing, then you should make your glaze piping icing equally as thick and your flood icing equally as thin.  I prefer using a two consistency method because the piping icing really creates that dam that holds the flood icing in.  And even if you wait a minute or two, the flood icing WILL merge with the thicker piping icing.  You won't see a seam like you would with RI.  As I piped my outline, I may have had to squeeze the bag just a little harder, but it created a smooth and consistent line that was easily positionable.  Unlike RI, it IS harder to connect the ends of the outline.  You may end up with a point where the two meet, but you can easily tap that down with your finger or even later with a dampened brush.  The flood icing acted exactly the same as RI.  I like mine quite a bit thinner, so it can just spread out on its own and fill in the holes.  While the glaze tends to start drying right away, you still have plenty of time to work with it and not have the "correction" marks you would if you tried to fix your RI.  (How many of us have put our finger in the icing or the outline and tried to fix it with RI?  With glaze, you just tap it a little, kinda like clay, using a little water on a brush if needed...and it's GONE!)  

3.  It dries SUPER shiny. I was using an awful lot of corn syrup in my RI, trying to get more sheen on my cookies.  RI can be quite dull in appearance.  Some people like it, some people don't.  It's nothing a little disco dust or luster dust can't fix!  But, if you want a really super shiny surface, you have to go with glaze.  Even after drying for HOURS, the surface literally looked like it was still wet!  In this picture, you can actually see a bit of a reflection of my kopykake! (This icing was made using Cookie Crazie's recipe.)

Now, I have to admit that one reason I never tried glaze before, was because I didn't like the look of it.  Most glazed cookies I have seen have a "milky" sheen, a translucency that I don't particularly care for.  To ME, it just looked unappetizing.  (I am not saying that they ARE unappetizing, because I never actually TRIED glaze before.  And I am sure it is delicious!  It's just a personal preference.)  I always thought this "milky" appearance was due to milk being used in the glaze.  Well, it turns out that the opposite is actually true!  The milk-based glazes are actually opaque, more solid in color.  The glazes that don't use milk are the ones that appear to be translucent.  I understand that adding some white icing coloring to the glaze could solve that though.  Again, it's just a personal preference.  It does NOT mean that it is inferior or anything other than just a different "type" of icing.  Understanding this difference, the glaze without milk will appear to have more shine than the ones that use milk.  (That has been my observation, you may have had another experience.)  In this close-up shot of my blue butterfly cookie made with Sugar Therapy's milk-based glaze, you can see there is no translucent appearance and the shine is not quite as shiny as the pink one above.  

4. Glaze has a soft bite. A lot of people don't like RI because of its hard texture after it dries.  RI will dry rock hard to the touch, which makes it super for stacking and shipping.  Glaze will also dry hard to the touch (the timing depends on how thick you make your flood and how much corn syrup is in your recipe), but unlike RI, it is soft when you bite into it.  It has more of a gel quality to it.  There is no chalkiness that some people can get with RI and it is not crunchy like RI can be.  (Again, this does not mean ALL RI is crunchy or chalky...but it can happen depending on the recipe and the way it is handled during the processing.)  

5.  The taste is..."somewhat" better than RI.  Now, I only say "somewhat" because it really depends on the RI recipe and how much food coloring had to be used to get the color.  You DO have to use more food coloring with RI, THAT was one noticeable difference between the two.  I only had to use ONE drop of coloring for the blue cookies above and I would have had to use closer to 1/2 teaspoon to get the same color with RI.  That alone will help prevent the "off" taste.  The meringue powder can be the other culprit when it comes to RI, but I use LOTS of vanilla extract in my RI and I use a LOT of corn syrup, so these added sugary flavorings tend to mask that chemically taste so many don't like.  That being said, my own taste test (myself and my husband) found that it is somewhat more pleasant tasting.  It didn't seem overwhelmingly better.  But, again, taste is subjective...the degree of "better" will depend on what your experience has been with RI.  

***

And that's it!  Overall, I really liked...LOVED...using glaze!  But ONLY after treating it just the same as I would my RI.  It is quite different, but shouldn't be thought of as inferior.  It's simply another option to dress up your cookies.  An option that I look forward to using more!  So, those of you loyal RI users who tried glaze and had trouble with it, I encourage you to give it another shot.  But remember to use it just like you would your RI.  It may take some practice.  After all, it has taken me nearly a year to get the consistency and techniques down that I now use for my RI.  You may like it, you may not.  I for one, am excited at the possibilities!  While I haven't crossed over to the "Dark Side" completely, I am enjoying the best of both worlds!  My final rating...A+!  

I would LOVE to hear your experiences with glaze!  And if you have some additional information or if I have something completely WRONG, please let me know.  I am not the authority on the subject. I am just sharing my observations.  :)  

***

*NOTE: I added approximately 1 pound of powdered sugar to this recipe to get to a thick consistency, which I prefer for my piping icing.  I divided this thick icing into bowls, colored it and THEN thinned it out as needed.  

What's in a name?

Last week, (was it JUST last week?) I changed the look of my blog and actually came up with a logo for my cookie business!  Here it is in case you haven't seen it.

Well, I made this the profile picture on my FB page.  Seems logical, right?  Maybe not...as someone posted this comment on the picture..."Why?".  Stumped by this one word question, I tried to get more info.  What was the "why?" for?  Well, I didn't get a reply.  I don't know if they were confused by my changing my profile pic from just one of my cookies or were they confused as to why I choose this particular logo.  I still have no idea.  But, going on the assumption that perhaps they thought I should have picked something more "Alice in Wonderland" related, I have decided that I would explain my choice.  Even though I shouldn't have to!  

You see, a year ago when I first entertained just the IDEA of selling my cookies, I spent HOURS trying to come up with a name for a business.  Every time I would come up with THE PERFECT name, it turned out someone else already had it.  Name after name, everything seemed to be taken.  I finally came up with a name and had that for a little while.  I never actually started a business or Facebook page with it.  I just had a little blog.  When it looked like selling my cookies might actually be a REAL business, I decided that I needed a better name.  Again, after HOURS and HOURS of trying to come up with a name, I finally came up with "Wonderland Sweet Shop"!  I was SO excited that it wasn't taken!!!  So, I snagged it, started a new blog, started a FB page and I was ready to go.  So I thought.  When I was ready to start "selling" (this is before I found out it was illegal without a Cottage Food Bill in our state), I thought it would be a good idea to secure a domain name for my future website.  This is where the snag happened.  You see, it turned out the domain name "www.wonderlandsweetshop.com" was TAKEN!!!!!  NOOOOOO!!!!!  It turns out there is a bakery in California named Wonderland Bakery and they owned the domain name. So unfair, but what was I to do?  We even tried to contact them to see if they would let me have the domain name, but we did not get any response.  There was also some concern that they would think we were infringing on some kind of copyright they might have to the name and product it represented.

So, as to not get into a fight with an established bakery, I decided to just change my name.  With help from a friend, I came up with Wonderland Cookie Company!  Cookies had ended up being the focus of the business anyway, so it made sense.  I QUICKLY snagged the domain name as I was not going to go through THAT again!  And luckily, since I had fewer than 100 fans on my FB page, I was able to change it with no problem.  All set.  I had a name and a Facebook page to match and I had the domain name secured.  Phew!  

It's a year later and I still had no official logo or theme because I couldn't officially sell anyway.  Not having a Cottage Food Law, it was illegal and I expected that it would take some time before it would take affect IF it even passed.  I thought I would have until the Fall, at least!  Well, it was not the case, as the bill was just signed into Law this passed Thursday!  AND it took affect IMMEDIATELY once it was signed.  I just HAD to get a logo...fast!

Now, on to the logo issue.  You see, I don't have a lot of money.  Not even enough money to hire someone to design a logo or website for me.  I have some skills with design (self taught) and I can fiddle with HTML code a little.  So, I decided to just do it myself.  I scoured...and I mean SCOURED...images online to find something that would fit "Wonderland Cookie Company".  Sure, I could have just picked an Alice in Wonderland theme, but there were two problems with that.  For one, it's really hard to find a good A in W picture that hasn't been used EVERYWHERE!  And how would I turn that into a logo?  Do I use the Cheshire Cat or the Mad Hatter or Alice?  Hm.  Second problem, there was ALREADY a "Wonderland Bakery" that used the theme of Alice in Wonderland.  The owner's name is even Allyson!  Get it...Allyson in Wonderland???  Yes, she actually uses that on her website. Her name is trademarked!  Soooo, I really felt it best to move away from Alice in Wonderland theme and instead use the word "wonderland" to mean "whimsical".  

Now, if you have EVER tried to name a business and then try to come up with a logo for a business, you will know that it is NOT easy.  It is so hard to come up with something original and then turn your name into something visual.  Again, I searched and searched images on Google and I kept coming back to butterflies.  I just LOVE butterflies!  To me, they are the most beautiful insects there could be.  MY wonderland would definitely include tons of butterflies!  I tried SO many backgrounds for my blog...whimsical, colorful, bold...but nothing really spoke to me.  I tried PINK, GREEN, PURPLE.  I tried combinations of pink/brown, pink/green, but they were all color combinations that I had seen before.  And so many that I tried were just too CUTE.  I didn't want cutesy.  I wanted something different, something more contemporary.  MY wonderland was a cheery place where butterflies floated around me and the sky was crisp and the grass bright green!!!  Voila!  The PERFECT image came to me!  I tried it out and I kept coming back to it.  That was IT!  I finally settled on this image...

To ME, this image was everything I wanted!  It represented ME...and MY "Wonderland"!  It has butterflies, it has flowers, the colors are contemporary...it's cheery!  It's a little whimsical but not CUTE.  A good balance.  It's who I am and what I represent.  So, it should be what my company represents, right?  Also, I live in Colorado and the skies here are so blue and in the Spring, the trees and the grass are so green.  So, the green and the blue represent to ME, the blue of the sky and the green of the grass.  

All in all, it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, I like it!  It's what I wanted.  It really IS very hard to pick a name and a logo for a business.  And no one has the right to question that.  I am excited.  I have already picked out boxes and labels, business cards, tissue paper and ribbon.  A package from Wonderland Cookie Company is going to be so beautiful, you will NOT think of Alice in Wonderland.  You will think of ME...and THAT is what I wanted!