Showing off their cookie decorations || Monica Sager People chose to decorate in a variety of colors || Monica Sager Spiders and webs were decorated || Monica Sager The group learned how to flood cookies || Monica Sager The cookies were both spiders and webs || Monica Sager Piping icing into a spider || Monica Sager Emmy Grebenstein instructs the group || Monica Sager The cookies pre-icing || Monia Sager The attendees were able to chose a their own colors || Monica Sager The group had some stencils to trace first. || Monica Sager People mixed their icing || Monica Sager Making green spiders || Monica Sager The group sat together at Mexicali for the event || Monica Sager Emily Grebenstein instructs attendees on decorating their cookies || Monica Sager Attendees learned two different piping methods || Monica Sager They used a toothpick to make the lines within the webs || Monica Sager Decorating took a lot of attention || Monica Sager Emily Grebenstein gives attendees some white dye for their icing || Monica Sager The cookies were flooded with a base layer and then dried for the second layer || Monica Sager
Nearly 20 people gathered at Mexicali on Monday night for a cookie decorating workshop hosted by the Swampscott Recreation Department and Sweet Emmy’s.
“Swampscott has been so welcoming to me and Sweet Emmy’s,” said Emily Grebenstein, the owner of Sweet Emmy’s. “I was really thrilled to partner with the Swampscott Recreation Department for this and hope this is the start of an ongoing relationship.”
During the class, participants learned two icing techniques, flooding and wet-on-wet. The latter involves applying a base layer of icing, adding circles on top and using a toothpick to drag through the design to create a blended effect.
Each attendee decorated six cookies, three spiders and three webs, and chose their own icing colors.
Grebenstein, who began baking and decorating cookies during COVID-19 isolation, said the three iterations of each design gave participants a chance to see their own improvement in a short time.
“It was a fun girls’ night,” Grebenstein said.
Grebenstein, who takes local orders only, creates a wide variety of cookie designs. As seen on her Instagram, @sweet.emmys, her creations range from Halloween candy corn and cauldrons to engagement rings, hearts, rainbows, turtles, and even tiny owls.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Grebenstein said.
