This 55th Cookie Connection Challenge, organized by host Manu Pezzopane, centered around dimensional mixed media cookies and featured the very talented Carmen Urbano of Inspirations by Carmen Urbano. Born in Mexico and currently residing in San Diego, California, USA, Carmen is an award-winning cookie artist and international instructor who is recognized widely for helping to popularize dimensional royal icing and mixed media in the USA and Mexico.

In her kickoff demo for this challenge, Carmen demonstrated how to add depth and dimension to cookies using multiple elements, including textured royal icing, molded fondant, edible lace, sugar beads, and various dusts. She also provided useful tips for planning mixed media cookies and making and storing embellishments in advance.

For this challenge, which closed in January 2024, entrants were asked to draw on Carmen’s techniques to create a mixed media cookie (or cookies) of their own designs. In addition to the learning that came with this task, entrants had the opportunity to win one of three randomly drawn prizes, including free access to a past Cookie Connection Challenge video and Carmen’s cutters used in the demo! Entrants went all out with their entries, adding dimension with myriad mediums to wildly different cookie designs! To see what they made, check out the challenge recap on Cookie Connection.

Though this challenge is over, please remember: the learning is not! To view Carmen’s video lesson, click on the “LEARN MORE” button, and you’ll be taken to the “TUTORIALS: GUEST SERIES” section of this site where you can purchase it for a nominal fee.