There鈥檚 something ceremonial about decorating cookies. Embellishing, bejeweling, poring over, what is not only perishable, but humble in its essence 鈥 unlike its equally short-lived, but more ostentatious relative, cake 鈥 must be a labor of love for the artisan behind the work. (Or perhaps perverse, depending on your perspective.)
For Heather Anne Leavitt, owner and one of two designers at Sweet Heather Anne bakery in Ann Arbor, it鈥檚 a culinary craft. Leavitt, who identifies more as an artist than a baker, is drawn to the idea of 鈥渇eeding others鈥 through her art and it鈥檚 one of the reasons she chose dough as her medium, as opposed to clay or paint.
Even to Leavitt however, a decorated cookie takes that idea to an extreme. 鈥淚 think with cookies there鈥檚 the opportunity to make them so beautiful,鈥 she says. 鈥淏ut when you get into that much labor, it鈥檚 hard to price them. On a cake you make a logo one time, but on cookies it鈥檚 300 鈥 that鈥檚 why we don鈥檛 make them very often.鈥
She spent two days designing the beautiful textile-inspired brown-sugar cookies with maple royal icing pictured. And they were devoured soon after.
920 N. Main St., Ann Arbor; 734-913-2025; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Closed Mon.
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