Blog: Julia M. Usher

Need one of Julia’s foolproof recipes? Some stunning cookie decorating ideas? Or a quick fix on Julia’s latest news and events? Well then, you’re in the right place! Here, you can stay up-to-the-minute current on everything that’s happening in Julia’s kitchen and studio – and in that always-churning mind of hers! IMPORTANT: Julia is still formatting blog entries prior to 2021 to conform to the new site layout. Please don’t be surprised if some back entries look a little wacky, and please be patient as she edits them over time.
Julia M. Usher

How to Make Simple Wafer Paper Flowers

Wafer paper flowers have become all the rage in cake decorating. And it’s no surprise, really! Lightweight (lighter than gumpaste), delicate, and often quite easy to shape, they make gorgeous, life-like embellishments, wired and unwired on cakes – and even

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Julia M. Usher

Advanced 3-D Cookie Box Construction

Now that you’ve got basic 3-D cookie box construction down pat – assuming you looked at my earlier video 😉 – I’m upping the ante with a couple of slightly more advanced cookie box assembly techniques. In this video, I share all my

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Julia M. Usher

How to Assemble 3-D Cookie Boxes

Cookie boxes make great edible gifts – especially when filled with more cookies! In this video, I show how to assemble already decorated cookies into perfectly fitting 3-D boxes using the mitering technique. I also discuss how to apply decorative seams

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Julia M. Usher

Elegant Edible Place Cards

Another video in the party crafting spirit, this tutorial shares how to make an elegant place card using frosting sheets, a little royal icing, and your favorite chargers. The card itself is edible, and unlike popular blackboard paints sometimes used for similar

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Julia M. Usher

Vintage Perfume Bottle Place Cards

I love to entertain DIY-style as much as I like to bake and decorate, so it was high time I uploaded a party crafting video! Here, I show how to quickly make a quasi-edible place card, perfect for your Valentine’s Day

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Julia M. Usher

How to Mold and Gild Cookie Dough

Not every cookie needs to be decorated with royal icing in order to stand out! In this video, I show how to emboss cookie dough using silicone molds to create very cool textured effects. I go further to gild them

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Julia M. Usher

How to Pipe a Royal Icing Needlepoint Pattern

Wondering how I piped the insanely detailed needlepoint patterns on my stuff-able stocking cookies posted recently for Christmas (video here)? Well, you’re in luck! In this video, I reveal all of the details needed for needlepoint icing work, including the

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Julia M. Usher

How to Dip and Decorate Contoured Cookies

In this video, I show how I decorated the surfaces of my 3-D Christmas globe ornaments (assembled in this earlier video), but the same techniques can apply to almost any rounded cookie shape. First, I explain the differences between dipping in

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Julia M. Usher

My Top 10 Holiday Table-Setting Tips

Still recovering from Christmas? Weary of party after same-old party? On the verge of drafting a New Year’s resolution vowing never to entertain again? Hold on – don’t be rash! I know all too well the consequences of holiday party-planning

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Julia M. Usher

Perfect Pâte á Choux (aka Cream Puffs)

Adapted from the pâte á choux recipe in Madeleine Kamman’s The Making of a Cook, this basic formulation can be used with both sweet and savory fillings simply by tweaking the salt content a bit. Though there are different schools of thought about the ingredients that yield the maximum puff, I subscribe to

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Julia M. Usher

Horseradish Mousse

A casual dollop of this zippy accompaniment does wonders atop smoked fish or roasted or grilled meat. (Its three tablespoons of horseradish pack a punch, so you won’t need much!) But it also “cleans up” well when piped into fancier

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Julia M. Usher

Edible Papers 101

Wafer paper . . . frosting sheets . . . edible images . . . yeah, the array of edible papers used for cookie and cake decorating can be mind-boggling! But stay tuned! In this video, I aim to demystify

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Julia M. Usher

How to Stencil Cookies with Royal Icing

Limited video release from my Ultimate Cookies Decorating Series on DVD! Because of the large quantity of requests I’ve received for basic cookie stenciling tips, I’ve released Lesson 10 (basic cookie stenciling) from my DVD series to YouTube for the world to

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Julia M. Usher

Rhubarb-Ginger Compote

Vacation is for keeping it simple with easy and versatile dishes – especially when you spend your work week decorating lavish treats as I do. After a strictly enforced four-day hiatus from cooking during a recent holiday in Maine, I

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