We’re turning the quintessential Valentine’s Day candy into a must-make dessert with this Giant Conversation Heart Cookie Cake. Enjoy!
A giant conversation heart cookie cake?! That doesn’t taste
like off-brand, expired chalk with a hint of cherry cold medicine?! That’s
actually made of cookie dough and filled with festive candy?!
Yes, that’s what we’re doing today.
Although, you don’t need to do it all today. Or even in one
day. I didn’t. I made the cookies and frosting one day, decorated it the next,
delivered it to my mom the day after.
But, I highly, highly recommend doing it for
Valentine’s Day. For someone you love. Maybe for your mom? Because if she’s even
half as obsessed with cookie cakes as Melba is, she’ll go bonkers for this!
These cookies may not look like much but let me tell you…
They were a pain in the ass labor of love.
Perspective. It makes all the difference. These cookies, for instance, could be seen as simple, passable, unimportant nothings compared to the more festooned Christmas cookies.
Or! They can be seen as complex, distinctive, and intriguing.
Toasted sugar is just regular ol’ sugar that’s been toasted. That’s it! Very simple. It’s as easy as, well…pie! The toasting process comes from making pie. Lots of pie. Like, seriously, a lot of pies.
He reminded me of someone that irked and irritated me, someone who left a sour taste in my mouth. But, that someone wasn’t Nick. He was kind and smart and hardworking and fun. He had a story to tell, a new life he was adjusting to. It took a few weeks of short responses, snarky comments, and serious side eye to realize that.
Lucky for me, Nick turned out to be immensely generous and forgiving. Once I got over my own baggage and realized how ridiculous I had been acting and how fantastic he was, a real friendship formed. Nick is a maker too – a gifted wood worker and talented craftsman. His appetite for knowledge only surpassed by his staggering work ethic. The research and effort he puts in to honing his craft and building a business inspires and impresses me. I didn’t know any of this when we first met – what with being too busy having my head up my own ass to bother learning.
But, I got the chance to learn so much earlier this year, on my visit back to SC in January. One brisk afternoon I went out to his farm – saw his shop, met his dogs, fed some goats. We sat and had coffee (more on that to come), diving deep into discussion. He showed me the projects he was working on, namely one he had dubbed #spoonsforgoons2018 wherein he tasked himself with carving a new spoon every week for the entire year. Each one different, unique, intended for a family member or friend with a specific purpose in mind. An iced tea spoon for his girlfriend, a serving spoon for me, a cookie dough spoon for a former neighbor in Jersey.
It was this spoon that tugged hardest at my heartstrings.
