Organized by host Manu Pezzopane, this 60th Cookie Connection Challenge (the tenth in my new-ish Watch-Learn-Create series) focuses on how to pipe picture-perfect basketweave. And its featured guest is none other than the master of finely piped details herself – Noriko Forster aka Cookie Crumbs by mintlemonade, who is making her second appearance as a Cookie Connection challenge guest! (She first appeared in Challenge #56, all about ruffle borders.) In this challenge’s kickoff video, Noriko demonstrates four stunning variations of basketweave, ranging from a simple single-strand style to more complex double-strand and tapered varieties. Along the way, she also shares invaluable tips about optimum icing consistency, creating piping guidelines, piping speed, and more – all to ensure you achieve flawless results with her techniques. At the conclusion of the demo, Noriko and challenge host Manu Pezzopane encourage viewers to create cookies of their own for Challenge #60 by replicating Noriko’s basketweave styles and/or by creating new styles inspired by what they’ve learned.

As with all of Cookie Connection’s Watch-Learn-Create challenges, entrants to Challenge #60 have the rare opportunity to expand their cookie skills with one of the industry’s best, but they also get the chance to win phenomenal prizes! In this case, Noriko is giving away the English-version of her popular flower-piping tutorial. If you win, you’ll finally get the chance to learn how she makes all of the tiny floral embellishments that she routinely uses on her cookies, including her baskets in this challenge.

More about this challenge guest: Known the world over for her meticulous piping and picture-perfect icing – not to mention her ultra-sophisticated color choices – Noriko Forster needs little introduction. She started her cookie art journey in 2012 when she happened upon a cookie decorating book in a shop in her hometown of Tokyo, Japan. She was so intrigued that she decided she would cover a store-bought cake with cookies for her elder daughter’s birthday to make the cake extra special for her. She did just that, and the rest is history. By 2016, Noriko was teaching six cookie decorating classes per month, all while raising two girls and working as a book editor. By 2023, her cookies had been featured twice in a calendar produced by a famous Japanese cosmetics company, three times in Cookie Connection‘s coveted banner spot, and countless times in that same community’s Saturday Spotlights and challenges. Today, Noriko is arguably one of Japan’s finest cookie decorating instructors, having taught an estimated 1,000 students through her series of in-person, hands-on classes, and innumerable others through her online video tutorials.

For the challenge rules and additional information about how to join the fun, please visit the official Cookie Connection challenge intro post written by host Manu Pezzopane. The challenge closes on September 21, 2025, so you have plenty of time to enter. Of course, if you’d prefer to simply view Noriko’s video lesson without entering the challenge, that’s fine too! Just click here, and you’ll be taken to the “TUTORIALS: Guest Series” section of this site where you can purchase it for a nominal fee. However, don’t delay in getting the video if you’re interested. While the challenge is running (again, through September 21, 2025), the tutorial is only $5 with the code accessed on the video listing page, but, once the challenge is over, pricing reverts to $30.

Regardless of whether you enter Noriko’s challenge, I know you’ll be mesmerized by watching her pipe her tiny masterpieces, which is why I wholeheartedly encourage you to check out her kickoff video. Of course, Manu, Noriko, and I would be even more thrilled if you rise to this basketweave challenge and create an entry of your own. You might even win Noriko’s amazing prize, which would surely be a phenomenal thing!

UPDATE, September 21, 2025: This challenge has closed, but you can still learn from Noriko’s incredible challenge video by purchasing it in this site’s “Guest Series” section under “TUTORIALS”. You’re also sure to be impressed by the challenge entrants’ many beautifully piped baskets and other basketweave-adorned cookies, which you can see in the recap post on Cookie Connection written by host Manu Pezzopane. I encourage you to take a moment to browse this post. My hope is that it will inspire you to both level up your own basketweave skills and enter our next challenge! Speaking of which . . . that challenge will likely post to Cookie Connection in October. Its topic is one that cookiers regularly cite as their biggest Achilles’ heel when decorating, yet our guest makes it easy with her crystal-clear step-by-step approach! Stay tuned!