Julia is back with the 61st Cookie Connection Challenge (the eleventh in her new-ish Watch-Learn-Create series), and it’s once again hosted by the wonderful Manu Pezzopane who has an uncanny way of asking featured guests all the right questions at just the right times! Speaking of featured guests . . . the guest for this challenge is award-winning cookie artist Noelle Le-Lê Phan Viên Hy, and she’s going to eliminate (forever!) any fears you may have about piping and painting portrait cookies. In her kickoff video tutorial for this challenge, Noelle shows how to create a charming chibi character, paying particular attention to painting the hair and eyes, which are often the most difficult features to master. Noelle’s thoughtful choice to render a chibi makes this video lesson all the more approachable, particularly for beginners. Piping and painting a chibi-style portrait is arguably easier than piping and painting a regular portrait, because chibis have relatively few facial details, and drawing them cutely doesn’t require precise feature placement and proportions. Plus, Noelle provides three chibi templates in her resource list (which comes with the tutorial) that can be used as cookie-cutting and piping guides, as well as plenty of tips for transferring images, especially without use of a projector. After a brief intro, the bulk of Noelle’s demo focuses on her layered piping methods using two different icing consistencies, and how she paints hair and eye highlights/lowlights to add lifelike depth and dimension.

At the end of the video tutorial, Noelle and Manu encourage viewers to create chibi portraits of their own for Challenge #61 using Noelle’s methods and any one (or all!) of her three chibi templates as guides.

As with all of Cookie Connection’s Watch-Learn-Create challenges, entrants to Challenge #61 have the rare opportunity to expand their cookie skills with one of the industry’s best, but they also get the chance to win incredible prizes! In this case, Julia is giving away one free tutorial from her “Guest Series” of past challenge tutorials. And the lucky winner gets to pick exactly which one s/he wants!

More about this challenge guest: Noelle Le-Lê Phan Viên Hy (aka Cookies by Hy) is a Vietnamese cookie artist and international cookie decorating instructor specializing in royal icing and realistic dimensional cookie art. With a passion for edible storytelling, Noelle brings cookies to life through intricate designs that blend creativity, precision, and emotion. Her work has been recognized for its innovation and craftsmanship with multiple international awards, including, most recently, Cookie Artist of the Year Finalist in the 2024 D’licious Magazine Awards. As an instructor, Noelle has had the honor of teaching in the United Kingdom and the United States, and sharing her techniques and vision with artists and enthusiasts around the world. Noelle’s classes are not just about decorating cookies, but also about inspiring others to find joy and meaning in their creative journeys. To explore Noelle’s portfolio and to follow her life as a cookie artist, please visit her Instagram and Facebook pages.

For the challenge rules and more information about how to join the fun, click on the “LEARN MORE” button, and you’ll be taken to the Cookie Connection challenge kickoff post. If you’d like to learn from Noelle’s kickoff tutorial without entering the challenge, that’s fine too. Though Manu, Julia, and Noelle would certainly love it if you entered, you can skip directly to Noelle’s video listing on this site to purchase the tutorial. Please note that this tutorial is only $5 while the challenge is running, but its price goes up after the challenge closes on January 11, 2026.