Text: Beata Juřičková
How did I get into baking cookies? I don’t really know. I just enjoy it. I’ve enjoyed cooking and baking since I was a kid. I liked to be in the kitchen when my grandmother was baking, and I was looking forward to Christmas and the cookies baking that goes with it.
As an adult, baking still held me and over time it’s become a great hobby and realxation for me. The smaller the cookie is, the better. That’s the way I like it. I like to play with it. So I don’t bake cakes or cupcakes or pies, I bake cookies only. I got the original recipes from my grandmother, that was my first source. Later there were my mother’s recipes, then came the internet, newspapers and women’s magazines. Or I try it myself, improvising. Of course, I don’t even taste the a piece during Christmas anymore, because I’ve smelled it all the time, but my husband and daughter are the main tasters. My daughter Barbara is seven years old, but she has been helping me from the beginning. She has her own dough and she plays with it. But I guide her, I don’t want to frustrate her or drive her out of the kitchen. When I bake and she wants to help, I don’t stop her, but she helps me more with the decorating.
Over time, the number of baked cookies increased. One friend wanted some, then another … I added a new kind, decorated, tested, orders were piling up. The best advertising is that someone comes, tastes it, says they want it and recommends you further. All my baking preparations start in November. I bake after work and on weekends. My husband accepts it, especially when he knows it makes me happy. I don’t have time for Christmas markets. I just need to go somewhere in January, not at Christmas when everywhere is crowded. And my favourite kinds? It’s all the ones that are light and vanilla taste or these which contain cinnamon, marzipan and caramel.
Baking Christmas cookies is still a hobby of mine. It’s relaxing. If it were my job, I wouldn’t enjoy it. I’m already looking forward to next year. I’m looking for new inspiration and ideas on how to improve baking and make it the way, that the joy and enthusiasm can be passed to the others.
