ABOUT

Welcome! My name is Claudia, and I have always had a creative side. My hands love to be busy. Long ago - back in 1995, to be exact - I piped royal icing onto a sugar cookie for the first time, and I was hooked. Sadly, I rarely had time to make them. Patience and time is absolutely necessary when working with royal icing, and as a grad school student, I simply didn't have enough time.  

 

Once I began working as a speech-language pathologist, I found a little extra time to bake and ice cookies...in the evenings. Just a little. I would stand in my kitchen with my earbuds in, listening to music, and ice away into the wee hours of the night to finish cookies for my family or coworkers. My husband, Kevin, always looked forward to eating the ones that didn't make the cut. Time seemed to be even more scarce once our boys were born, BUT their birthdays became a grand excuse to add two more occasions to the baking calendar. (I have the cutest photo of my younger son enjoying a choo-choo cookie on his first birthday. Adorable! Well, HE was, the cookie was not. I was still a total rookie.) Over the years, after hundreds of hours of practice, my skills improved. It wasn't until early 2014, though, that I decided to resign from the hospital and outpatient clinic and take a giant leap of faith. My third baby, Sugar Happy Cookies, was born that spring.

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MUCH has changed since then. For one thing, I now listen to audiobooks, news, or podcasts instead of music when icing. I no longer stand the whole time. Thousands of hours have been spent working on orders and researching fun products and techniques, and I have invested in more cookie tools and equipment than I ever thought necessary. I try to keep regular business hours to keep our family schedule as "normal" as possible, however, during extremely busy seasons, you may find me working into the wee hours. (In the Cookie World, this is referred to as #teamnosleep.)

I may have started this business alone, but Sugar Happy Cookies could not have grown as much as it has without some incredibly supportive people. Kevin is now along for the ride. With his natural talent in the area of cooking and baking (is there anything this man can't do well?!), he mixes, rolls, cuts, and bakes when he gets home from work. Our two sons take care of laundry and dishes, and they do it without grumbling...most of the time. My dear parents ask if I need any supplies when they are out and about, and they proudly share our story or our business cards with everyone they meet. Wonderful friends ("Research & Development Assistants") share our info on social media, and two of them in particular keep us company while we work on large orders (pre-COVID, that is!)

There is always plenty to learn about the ins and outs of running a business, but learning should never stop, should it? I happily learn something new with every single order. I enjoy working with my customers and having the chance to create something special for their celebrations. It truly is an honor. Here's one thing I didn't expect: New friendships with other cookie decorators. There is a whole Cookie Community out there, and I have been lucky enough to meet many new friends, both locally and at the 2015 and 2017 CookieCons in Salt Lake City.  

 

​When Kevin and I aren't baking, decorating, answering emails, ordering supplies, etc., we are enjoying time with our sons or mentoring and cheering on their robotics team...highly time-consuming for most of every year, but oh so much fun! It's exciting to see so many highly successful and hard working teens, coaches, and mentors do what they love. Our future is in good hands. We will always be proud of having both a middle school AND high school State Championship WIN in the 2018-2019 school year! (Go, Miners! Go, GEMS!)

We bake under Michigan's Cottage Food Law, and all cookies are created in our lovely little kitchen in the Village of Milford. Please peek around this site and imagine all of the wonderful occasions that could be made even more special with delicious sugar cookies created with much love and a very strong attention to detail. 

❤ Claudia 

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