Experienced or not, people of all ages come together to mix sugar with imagination, creating designs on the clean slates of the fresh-baked cookies.

“I want them (people) to enjoy the cookie-decorating process and feel like, no matter what their cookie decorations look like, I just want them to have fun doing it,” Matzke said.

People can come to the workshop expecting all materials provided, with little to no preparation needed. The part of baking the cookies and gathering ingredients is eliminated so ornamenting is all that’s left.

“It is a good start, because we have it all ready for you, and you just get to do the fun part,” Matzke said.

News Photo by Meakalia Previch-Liu Workshop attendees gather around recently at Art in the Loft to practice putting icing on snowflake and Christmas tree-shaped sugar cookies.

Matzke, a full-time student studying business and marketing at Alpena Community College, juggles both her academics and her Cookies by Hannah business. Her cookie venture intertwines with her career goals, and has helped her learn the ins and outs of how to run a successful company.

The holiday season is very popular and garners some of Matzke’s biggest sales and pre-orders, as she sold 60 dozen homemade cookies in December 2018. Matzke has been working with Art in the Loft for a little over a year as a place to hold her workshops for the public.

Making cookies was something her family did growing up, but nothing at the scale of what she so meticulously creates today. Matzke said she most enjoys the entire process of creating a cookie from scratch. Her favorite part is embellishing the cookies using multiple colors of royal icing and watching her designs come to life.

HOLIDAY FUN

Art in the Loft Education Coordinator Amanda Kuznicki said cookie decorating is a holiday tradition.

News Photo by Meakalia Previch-Liu Beginners and experienced cookie decorators are welcomed to Cookies by Hannah workshops at Art in the Loft every month. Seen here are attendees practicing different decorating techniques using piping bags and sprinkles at a recent workshop.

“You see people doing cookie exchanges, 12 days of cookies, that kind of thing,” she said. “It’s cookie season, and it’s on their brain.”

A tradition in her own family, Kuznicki said she crafts all sorts of cookies every year with relatives in Posen, but knows how “sugar cookies are definitely a staple.” She said she loves seeing people at the workshops participate in the cookie tradition.

“They give people confidence and introduce people to Art in the Loft in a way that is different than just viewing art,” she said. “They can come up and make cookies and feel proud, and art, of course, is one of the best therapies around.”

Barbara Sumerix, a Cookies by Hannah attendee, said it was her first time coming to a cookie-decorating workshop, but she’s no stranger to Hannah’s delicious work.

“I’ve always wanted to learn how to decorate cakes, so this came up and we got invited by friends, and it was perfect,” Sumerix said. “Hannah does amazing work. I hope to learn how to decorate cookies so they look like a real cookie.”

News Photo by Meakalia Previch-Liu Cookies by Hannah workshop attendees were guided step-by-step on how to tackle the cookie-decorating process during a recent workshop at Art in the Loft. Hannah Matzke supplied workshop attendees with a variety of sprinkles, her homemade royal icing, and Christmas-themed sugar cookies.

Workshops at Art in the Loft with Cookies by Hannah are $35 for ages 13 and up, and $25 for 5 and up. To see when the next workshop is scheduled, go to artintheloft.org.

Meakalia Previch-Liu can be reached at 989-358-5680, mprevich-liu@thealpenanews.com.

News Photo by Meakalia Previch-Liu Colorful decorated Christmas cookies made by Hannah Matzke. The Cookies by Hannah owner had pre-made cookies embellished with her homemade royal icing ready for workshop attendees to use recently at a cookie-decorating workshop at Art in the Loft.

News Photo by Meakalia Previch-Liu Hannah Matzke, owner of Cookies by Hannah, shows workshop attendees how to frost Christmas stocking-shaped cookies using a piping bag recently at Art in the Loft. The holidays are one of Matzke’s busiest times of the year for both cookie sales and school.