We’re moving!

What!!!! You’re moving??? Whyyyy??!! Your house is amazing!!!!!

The common response from friends and family. Yes, it’s true! We’re selling the Keller Farmhouse.

We purchased this property in 2013 and spent a year turning a 1937 home into what is now the Keller Farmhouse. To this day, it is still one of the most stressful and daunting projects I’ve taken on, but I love the outcome. I spent an entire year carefully mapping out every single detail, ensuring it was timeless and classic but unique to our family. It’s a gorgeous home that will always have a huge piece of my heart.

Over the past four years, I’ve built so much of my business around our farmhouse. I’ve hosted numerous parties here, wrote a cookbook here, created countless blog posts and product shoots and I’ll never forget building a storefront sitting at the island in my kitchen, making sure Jenny Cookies Bake Shop would share many of the same aesthetics of the Keller Farmhouse kitchen.

My kids have celebrated first days of school, Christmas mornings, snow days and plenty of lazy Saturdays here. We raised three baby goats, more cats than I can count and even a few bunnies and ducks along the way. Ally perfected her overhand volleyball serve on the walls of our detached garage and Hudson bought us a few new windows strengthening his baseball arm. It’s been a memorable four years that I know our kids will always hold dear.

We can’t forget Dan in this scenario. Whether I like to think so or not, Dan bought this home for me. He knew I could turn this piece of property into the farmhouse of my dreams with a little blood, sweat and tears (and possibly extending my original budget, times two, maybe three…). It may never have been his dream to renovate an old farmhouse but I think he has grown pretty fond of it.

We love this property. We have five gorgeous acres filled with everything nature could offer. The most beautiful trees, a breathtaking view of Mt Pilchuck, trails, a pond, birds chirping… there’s not much more you could ask for. It’s absolutely stunning. And to be completely honest, there is a huge part of us that is sad to leave. We’ve made a lot of special memories here.

I love the idea of grown kids coming home from college to the same home they were born in. It sounds like a movie or a great book. But that just isn’t us. Dan and I are constantly growing, evolving, learning and expanding our potential. We work hard, we set goals and we constantly strive to achieve them. We are ready to close this chapter and start a new one.

We are headed a little further south to take on a new project I’m so excited about. I can’t wait to share more with you. Stay tuned…

Jenny Cookies x I am Baker Cake Workshop

7 / 6 / 177 / 6 / 17

Is there anything better than a gorgeous Pacific Northwest evening, a vintage farmhouse setting, buttercream cakes and new friends?! Last week my friend Amanda of I am Baker flew to Seattle to host a Cake Decorating Workshop with me. My goal was to create a laid back setting at my farmhouse where guests would feel comfortable, relaxed and ready to tackle basic cake decorating.

My friend Cara of Wander Curated Event Rentals had exactly what we needed to set the stage. Her inventory is stuffed full of vintage treasures, perfect for creating a cake decorating night at the farm!

We paired mismatched chairs with farmhouse tables and used an awesome barnwood bar as our teaching table.

Cara styled a gorgeous lounge area with a velvet tufted sofa, cane chairs and an assortment of handmade vintage kilim pillows. It was so beautiful, I’d like one of each for my home!

For refreshments, we offered guests prosecco punch and fresh strawberry lemonade.

I can’t have a party without dessert. We offered guests our popular buttercream garden flower cookies from Jenny Cookies Bake Shop and personalized pie cookies to that commemorated the evening.

Lemon cream cheese cupcakes were also served and complimented our lemonade bar perfectly!

To ensure each guest had all the proper tools, we set a table setting for each guest with all of my favorite Wilton cake decorating supplies. From turn tables, decorating tips, cake boards to angled spatulas, we had more than enough.

Lianne of LB Calligraphy personalized each place setting with a gorgeous name tag for every guest.

As guests arrived they found their place setting and enjoyed a beverage as Amanda and I finished our set up.

We spent the evening sharing our favorite tips and tricks for stacking a cake, filling cakes, crumb coating and simple ways to decorate the sides and tops.

It’s always a good reminder that with most things, including cake decorating, practice makes perfect. I try to have that attitude when I try new things because sometimes you aren’t good at them right way and it’s super frustrating. The great thing about cakes is, they’ll always taste good!

I’ve taught dozens and dozens of cookie decorating workshops over the past ten years but this was my first cake teaching experience! It was probably a little rocky but everyone was so patient and seemed to have a wonderful time. If all else failed, we were surrounded with a cheerful group of ladies, a peaceful property, buckets of buttercream icing and, wine.

Because the cake workshop sold out in less than 24 hours, I wanted to offer a lucky winner an opportunity to win some of my favorite Wilton tools we used throughout the workshop along with a copy of my cookbook Eat More Dessert and a few Jenny Cookies Bake Shop goodies.

Enter to win below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Photography by Kelly Clare

Graduation Party | Brunch and Terrarium Making

6 / 20 / 176 / 22 / 17

Graduation is the perfect excuse to host a special brunch for your grad!

My assistant Hailey recently graduated from University of Washington with a business degree. Over the past couple of years, Hailey has interned with Jenny Cookies and has been a large help in our growth. She has been responsible for numerous tasks and operations from parties and workshops to the opening of Jenny Cookies Bake Shop. We are so proud of this huge accomplishment!

To celebrate Hailey, we invited a few of her closest friends over for a morning of terrarium making and a light brunch with these watercolor invites from Minted.

We kept the food and drinks fairly simple with scones, fresh fruit, donuts, yogurt parfaits and mimosas…because, dessert. Our cake mimicked the invite design with a touch of buttercream succulents.

After brunch we made terrariums! They’re simple to make with a few basic supplies:

To make a terrarium, follow these simple steps:

Fill your container with a layer of gravel or small rocks. The rocks are for drainage purposes only. Essentially a place for excess water to go if you should happen to over water your terrarium.

2. Add a spoonful of charcoal to the rocks. The charcoal will help eliminate any bacteria in your terrarium.

3. Add dirt! Cactus soil is best for growing succulents and cacti.

4. Plant cactus and succulents inside the terrarium. Take into account the size of your globe or vessel and the size of your plant. You’ll want to consider how much room it will be able to grow. If you choose small plants, you may be able to plant multiple. If you choose a large plant, it’s wise to stick with one so it has room to expand.

5. Once the succulents are buried in the dirt, add decorative moss, rocks and sand to your terrarium to add character.

6. Once your terrarium is complete, spritz the plants with a few squirts of water. Store plant in a sunlit spot and water every 7-14 days.

After terrarium making we enjoyed cookies and cake!

We sent guests home with personalized Minted notebooks tied in twine with a sprig of greenery and their own terrariums!

To plan your own grad brunch with terrarium making, head to Minted.com for your invites and grad announcements. They have the best assortment of unique stationary designed by independent artists you won’t find anywhere else!

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Photography by Kelly Clare

THIS IS A SPONSORED POST. JENNY COOKIES HAS RECEIVED PAYMENT, TRADE AND/OR PRODUCTS FROM MINTED IN EXCHANGE FOR PROMOTING, HOWEVER ALL OPINIONS STATED ARE MY OWN AND I ONLY PROMOTE PRODUCTS/COMPANIES I LOVE.

Mother’s Day

5 / 7 / 17

Mother’s Day is just around the corner! Treat mom to something special from Jenny Cookies Bake Shop. We have a variety of gorgeous desserts that will blow mom’s mind (available to order online within 72 hours HERE).

Buttercream Flower Crown Cake

Blush Pink Petal Cake

Avocado Gradient Cake

Watercolor Succulent Drip Cake

Gold Foiled Succulent Garden Cake

Magical MAX Cake

Buttercream Garden Flower Cookies If you forget to place an order, we will have a limited number of desserts available in store Tues-Saturday! 12420 20th St NE, Lake Stevens WA 98258

Head to our Facebook page for a chance to win a Magical MAX cake or a dozen Buttercream Garden Flower Cookies for a special mom!

How to Make Mini Flower Cakes

5 / 1 / 179 / 20 / 17

Happy May! Mother’s Day is just around the corner and I’ve got the perfect recipe to whip up for the special Mom in your life: Mini Flower Cakes! They’re pretty simple to put together and can be replicated in a variety of colors or cake flavors. To save time, I made mine using a doctored vanilla cake mix, but you can use the cake recipe or flavor of your choice.

Mini Flower Cakes

You will need:
• (2) 9×13 Baking pans
• Circle cookie cutter
• Disposable decorating bags
• Wilton 1M decorating tip
• Wilton 2D decorating tip
• Wilton 18 decorating tip
• Wilton 2A decorating tip
• Wilton 104 decorating tip
• Wilton color right coloring system
• Cookie Spatula

Ingredients:
1 box Duncan Hines French Vanilla Cake Mix
1 (3.4 oz) box French Vanilla Jell-O Pudding mix, dry
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
4 large eggs
1 batch Buttercream Icing

Buttercream Icing:
• 2 cups margarine
• 2 cups Crisco
• 4lbs powdered sugar
• 4 tsp clear vanilla
• 6 tbsp milk

1. Combine the margarine and Crisco in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium until smooth, about 2 minutes.

2. Add half of the powdered sugar and mix on low speed about 2 minutes or until mixture is creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add remaining powdered sugar, vanilla and milk, and beat until frosting is creamy and fluffy about 2 minutes.

Baking and Assembling the Mini Cakes
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 9×13 pans with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat the cake mix, pudding mix, water, oil and eggs on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. Scrape sides of the bowl and mix again until all the ingredients are incorporated.

3. Pour 1/2 the batter inside each of the prepared pans.

4. Bake cakes for 15-17 minutes each, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

5. Remove pans from the oven and place on wire cooling racks for 25-30 minutes to cool. Run a knife around the edges of the cakes, flip the pans over and gently extract the cakes. Let cool completely before decorating.

6. Make buttercream frosting while waiting for cakes to cool.

7. Color frosting in shades of your choice. Fill each decorating bag with icing, fitted with the variety of spring flower decorating tips.

8. After cakes have cooled, using circle cookie cutter cut 12 circles from each cake (or more depending on the size of your circle cutter).

9. Using the filled decorating bag fitted with a Wilton 2A tip, ice the tops of 6 cake circles.

10. As each circle is covered in icing, top with a cake circle. Repeat until you have stacked three cake circles on each.

11. To decorate the last and top of each mini cake, use a decorating bag fitted with a 1M tip. Holding your bag upright with the tip placed near the edge of the circle, begin squeezing the bag while applying equal pressure and swirling around in a clockwise motion, swirl around to create a rose.

12. Using decorating bag fitted with Wilton 104 tip and holding the wider side of the tip closer to the base of the cake top, draw a squiggly ruffle about an inch long next to the rose. Draw a second squiggled ruffle to layer over the first.

13. Using decorating bag fitted with a Wilton 2D tip holding your bag upright, squeeze bag and twist your wrist as you create a dot resembling a hydrangea. Dot 3 or 4 hydrangea petals on the cake.

14. Finish mini cakes using your bag fitted with a Wilton 18 star tip. Holding your bag upright, squeeze icing using even pressure as you pull up to create a raised star. Fill in any holes in your cake tops with raised stars.

15. Using a flat cookie spatula, move mini cakes to desired serving tray or pedestal.

The best part about these mini flower cakes is you can color the icing to coordinate any event or party! Display them on a beautiful raised cake pedestal or serve as individual desserts at a dinner party. Your guests will love them!

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Photos by Kelly Clare Photography

Original project made for Jo-Ann Creative Spark blog in partnership with Jo-Ann Craft and Fabric Stores.

Jenny Cookies Spring DIY Terrarium Workshops

4 / 24 / 174 / 25 / 17

I’m thrilled to be hosting FIVE Jenny Cookies Terrarium DIY Workshops this May in Washington AND California!

Join us for a terrarium building workshop filled with treats and succulent inspiration. Each attendee will create their very own terrarium to take home and enjoy throughout the spring season. Delicious desserts and refreshments will be provided.

Support Susan G. Komen® and the American Heart Association by getting crafty!! Donate $25-$30 for a ticket and enjoy treats made by Jenny Cookies Bake Shop, DIY activity and a goodie bag with select offers and treats from mall retailers. 100% of the ticket price benefits Susan G Komen and the American Cancer Society.

Northgate Mall
Thursday May 11th at 6pm
Click HERE for tickets

Tacoma Mall
Saturday May 13th at 1pm
Click HERE for tickets

The Shops at Mission Viejo
Saturday May 20th at 10am
Click HERE for tickets

Del Amo Fashion Center
Friday May 19th at 2pm
Click HERE for tickets

Brea Mall
Saturday May 20th at 3pm
Click HERE for tickets

DIY Rainbow Surprise Cake

3 / 9 / 179 / 20 / 17

Skip the green beer this St Patrick’s Day and treat your friends and family to a rainbow surprise cake! Underneath clouds of ruffled buttercream icing hides a gold treasure.

You can use your favorite white or vanilla cake recipe, or save a little time with a doctored cake recipe. I’ve listed mine below!

What you’ll need:
• (6) 8” cake pans OR (2) Wilton Easy Layers pan sets
• Wilton Color Right System
• Disposable Decorating Bags
• Cake Turn Table
• Cake Cooling Racks
• (6) 1A Decorating Tips
• Large Star Decorating Tip
• Angled Cake Spatula
• Small round cookie cutter
• 8” cake board
• Gold Sprinkles (available in-stores)
• Gold Sanding Sugar (available in-stores)
• Gold Pearls
• Wilton Bake Easy Spray
• Dritz Ezy-Hem Gauge

Rainbow Cake:
• (3) boxes vanilla cake mix
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup oil
• 2 boxes Vanilla Instant pudding
• 12 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 8-inch baking pans with cooking spray or grease and flour the pans, tapping out excess flour. Set the prepared pans aside.

2. Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the cake mix, pudding, mix, water, oil and eggs on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix again until all the ingredients are incorporated.

3. Pour equal amounts of batter into 6 cereal sized bowls. Using Wilton Color Right system, color each bowl a color of the rainbow.

4. Pour batter into prepared pans, filling each approximately 3/4 full.

5. Place pans in the preheated oven. Bake cakes for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Depending on the size of the oven, you may need to bake this cake in two batches.

6. Remove the pans from the oven and place on wire cooling racks for 25-30 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the cakes, flip the pans over and gently extract the cakes. Return the cakes to the wire racks and finish cooling completely.

7. While the cakes are cooling, make a batch of buttercream frosting. Reserve 1/2 of the frosting into a separate bowl for filling and crumb coat. Separate remaining frosting into 6 bowls. Using Wilton Color Right System, color each bowl of frosting a color of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple).

Buttercream Icing:
• 2 cups margarine
• 2 cups Crisco
• 4lbs powdered sugar
• 4 tsp clear vanilla
• 6 tbsp milk

Directions:
1. Combine the margarine and Crisco in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Assembling the Cake:

1. Using a serrated knife, remove crowns of each cake. With a small, round cookie cutter, remove one circle center from the middle of each cake. Repeat with each cake layer.

Place an 8” cake board onto a cake turntable. Place the purple cake layer on board. Spread a thin layer of icing on top of cake using an angled cake spatula. Stack blue layer on top. Spread a thin layer of icing across the top of the blue cake. Repeat steps with green, yellow, orange and red layers. After final layer is stacked, pour gold sprinkle mixture (made up of gold sanding sugar, crystals, and pearls) into the hole in the center of the cake.

3. Use angled cake spatula to cover the cake completely with a very thin layer of white frosting (or crumb coat) to help reduce the amount of crumbs in the final coat of icing. Set the cake aside for 20 minutes to “crust”.

4. Fill 6 Wilton decorating bags each fitted with a 1A decorating tip with rainbow colored frostings. Fill 1 bag fitted with a tip with white icing.

5. Starting with the purple icing bag held in a horizontal position, begin applying purple icing around bottom of the cake with even pressure while turning cake table with opposite hand. Repeat layer with blue icing and continue through remaining rainbow colors.

Using a Dritz Hem Gauge (my favorite cake smoothing tool), begin to scrape the side of the cake as you rotate the turntable. Scrape excess frosting off and repeat until cake is smooth.

Decorate the top of the cake with white icing bag fitted with the large star tip. Swirl circular motions around the top of the cake to create a cloud look. Continue until the entire top surface of the cake is covered.

Since the cake is supported with a cake board base, you can move the cake to any pedestal or cake stand of your choice! Place cake on something special for cutting and prepare your guests for a fun surprise of gold in the middle. Happy St Patrick’s Day!

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THIS IS A SPONSORED POST. JENNY COOKIES HAS RECEIVED PAYMENT, TRADE AND/OR PRODUCTS FROM JO-ANN FABRIC AND CRAFT STORES IN EXCHANGE FOR PROMOTING, HOWEVER ALL OPINIONS STATED ARE MY OWN AND I ONLY PROMOTE PRODUCTS/COMPANIES I LOVE.

Photography by Kelly Clare Photography

Jenny Cookies Bake Shop Renovation

2 / 23 / 177 / 18 / 17

I feel good about life at 36. I’ve been to college, birthed two children, owned a successful coffee business, written a book, renovated a farmhouse, worked with some of my favorite brands, had hard conversations, lost friendships, gained friendships, survived 13 years of marriage (ha), baked more cookies than I could ever count and finally opened a bake shop.

The opening of Jenny Cookies Bake Shop is at the very top of my proudest accomplishments list. It was single handedly the most difficult thing I’ve done. Yes, I’ve been baking for 11 years. No surprise there. But opening a brick and mortar business from start to finish was one of the most daunting tasks I’ve ever taken on.

In January of 2016 we found an existing cupcake shop seven miles from our house that was interested in selling. The owner was looking to condense her multi location business into one location. Perfect for us. The Lake Stevens space was small and off the beaten path, but just the right spot to take custom orders and finally say yes to huge corporate orders I’d been turning down for years. We had a deal.

For several months I continued working on blog projects, partnerships and seasonal campaigns with brands while keeping up with our life at the Keller Farmhouse. Two kids, three goats, four cats and five acres can keep ya busy! We finally got started on our bake shop remodel in May. And when I say started, I think we tore a tv off the wall. It was a slow process.

My sister’s fiance Andrew (of Eylander Tile) took on the many hats of renovating a bake shop. He went from custom tile to architect, designer, builder, tiler, electrician, painter, you name it, he did it. The only thing in our entire shop he didn’t install were the marble countertops. Everything else, Andrew. He is the most talented and creative artist I know.

The shop transformation took a little longer than I had anticipated. We had originally hoped to open by Aquafest, the town’s annual summer celebration. I laugh just thinking about being open by the end of July. I think we had gutted the floor by July. Then came August. Didn’t happen. September was out because of back-to-school and then October flew by. In early November I said we have to open in December.

I spent November working day and night, sleeping from 3am-5am. Sure, there were a million things going on leading up to this month, but nothing like the month of November. Hiring, ordering, recipe testing, stocking, planning, marketing, shopping, organizing, scheduling, forecasting…my to-do list was basically until eternity. I won’t complain about how little I slept, how frustrating things could be or how many times I said “This is insane for one person to take on!!!” I’ll just say this. It was a lot of work and it continues to be a lot of work, but I’m really proud of Jenny Cookies Bake Shop.

My favorite part of any project is the transformation. I love a good before and after.

What do you think?

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Photography by Solie Designs