This holiday baking season, we step into the oven-warmed, sugar-dusted kitchen of Danielle Reeber.
This article first appeared in Traverse Northern Michigan. Find this story and more when you explore our magazine library. Want Traverse delivered to your door or inbox monthly? View our print subscription and digital subscription options.
To many, Danielle Reeber is known simply as The Cookie Lady. It’s an accurate title. Her booth at the Interlochen Farmers Market teems with dozens of intricately decorated confections: Dainty sugar plum fairies, playful kittens, space-bound rockets. Danielle’s imagination, and her impressive collection of cookie cutters, know no bounds.
How impressive? The latest cutter count was upward of 1,000, but it’s a number that constantly grows thanks to Danielle’s 3D printer and her mechanical engineer son who creates custom cookie cutters for special orders.
Photo by Tim Hussey
A former physical education and health teacher, Danielle hasn’t always worn an apron. After school layoffs and a health diagnosis, Danielle and her husband, Paul, kept their chins up and moved from Oregon to Michigan with high school–aged triplets in tow.
When the kids went off to college, Danielle wanted to send care packages for Valentine’s Day. So, she baked a batch of cookies. And then another. And another.
She kept experimenting, honing her recipes and doing blind taste tests with family and friends. A few months later, she started selling at the farmers market and attended CookieCon, the largest gathering of cookie artists in the world.
Nearly four years and thousands of bakes later, Danielle has created some truly beautiful bites. She uses edible ink markers and a projector for hand-drawn fonts and finishing details; obsesses over shades of icing and discusses color theory with her daughter, a Parsons School of Design grad; and dabbles in painting with gel food colors that are mixed with a few drops of vodka to create a watercolor-like medium. She has rarely, perhaps never, recreated the same exact design.
Photo by Tim Hussey
For this story, Danielle shared a platter of Northwoods-inspired holiday cookies. As someone who has tried to wield a bag of icing at home (and been quickly humbled by the resulting mess), I’m in awe of her textured evergreen boughs, delicate snowflakes and the tiny polka-dot curtains hanging in a retro camper.
And I’m in awe of her quiet courage. To give herself permission to try something new; to move cross-country; to rethink her career; to create even when insecurities creep in; to keep moving forward—one batch of cookies at a time.
Photo by Tim Hussey
Holiday Cookie How-To
Danielle recommends online recipes by fellow cookiers Lila Loa and Arty McGoo. She turns to The Cookie Countess for supplies like culinary stencils and meringue powder. Etsy and Ann Clark have a fabulous selection of cookie cutters.
Vanilla Sugar Cookie by Lila Loa
- 1 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 1⁄2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Cream the butter and both sugars together in a large bowl. If you have any brown sugar lumps, you should crush them up or pull them out. They will make dents in your baked cookies.
- Add eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
- Add the salt and baking powder and mix again.
- Altitude and humidity affect the amount of flour you need. Start with 3 1⁄2 cups. You may need to add additional flour 1/2 cup at a time (no more than 4 cups total) until the dough is no longer sticky, and pulls away from the side of the mixing bowl.
- If you want to roll out and bake your cookies right away, add another 1/2 cup of flour so it will be thick enough to transfer from your counter to your baking sheet. If you’re going to chill the dough over-night and bake the next day, your dough is ready to go in the fridge.
- Bake at 350°F. If you roll dough to 1⁄4-inch thick, bake cookies for about 7 minutes. If you roll to 3/8-inch thick, bake for about 10–12 minutes.
Photo by Tim Hussey
The Icing on Top
The key to achieving the cookies of our Pinterest dreams is royal icing, which uses egg whites or meringue powder to achieve a smooth finish. This is Danielle’s go-to recipe.
Royal Icing Recipe
To frost 2–3 dozen cookies, depending on size
- 2 pounds powdered sugar
- 5 Tablespoons meringue powder
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice (or flavoring of your choice)
- 2 Tablespoons corn syrup
- Food coloring gel, optional
- 1/2 cup warm water
Directions
- In a large mixing bowl, add powdered sugar and meringue powder. Mix together with a whisk.
- Add flavoring of your choice, corn syrup and food coloring gel. Mix on low to medium speed for about 3 minutes. Don’t over mix. It should be smooth and shiny. Tip: To achieve a bright white icing, you’ll need to add white food coloring gel.
- Add water a little at a time to thin down to desired consistency. This is a personal preference and depends on what you’re using the icing for (thinner for flooding or thicker for piping). Tip: A spray bottle is helpful for adding small amounts of water at a time. I think it’s easier to add a little more water instead of adding more powdered sugar to thicken your icing back up.
Start Decorating
While there are tons of cookie decorating tools out there, you really just need a couple of tipless piping bags for icing. First, outline the edge of your cookie with your thicker, piping icing to create a border. Then, using the same color icing, “flood” the cookie—you’re simply filling in the area you outlined to give the cookie a smooth finish. Let the icing set for a few minutes so it firms up, and then pipe your details. Tip: Have two icing bags per color, so you can have a thin icing for flooding and a thick icing for piping.