My Baking Journey

How Baking Became My Language of Love

I was 22 years old when a 70-year-old landlord in Denver, Iowa, handed me a copy of The Mrs. Fields Cookie Book. I didn’t know it then, but that small, generous gesture would start me on the path of becoming a baker.

Being on a tight budget, I baked some of those cookie recipes to give to family members for Christmas that year. I loved discovering that baking was part creativity, part chemistry, and very much about following a formula. I started out with a Sunbeam stand mixer and a couple of Pillsbury doughboy glass measuring cups. I did not yet know about parchment paper, cookie scoops, cooling racks, or convection ovens.

When I moved back to Wisconsin, I was able to subscribe to Martha Stewart Living magazine and try out the Cookie of the Month recipe featured in the back of each issue. Her recipes never disappointed. I also tried to catch the Martha Stewart Living television show on the weekends to pick up the tips she shared.

I baked cookies to give as gifts, and baked cookies to serve as fellowship treats at church. I worked two jobs, so most of my baking was done in the quiet, peaceful hours of 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.

I found it challenging to track down friends to deliver tins of cookies at Christmas time, so I started inviting friends to bring an empty tin to our home and fill it with whatever cookies they wanted. That became my favorite tradition.

In 2002, my best friend told my husband that he needed to get me a KitchenAid mixer, and that they were on sale at Kohl’s that weekend. It was the best Christmas gift I’ve ever received. The KitchenAid was more powerful and efficient than the little Sunbeam mixer I had. And its cobalt blue color brought me joy. Over the past 23 years, I estimate that it has mixed over 5,000 batches of cookies, quietly witnessing birthdays, Christmases, late nights, and the steady rhythm of a life built around sharing.

Not long after becoming a mom, I was delighted when Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook was published, although I stuck to the cookie section of that cookbook. I was even more excited when Martha Stewart’s Cookies recipe book was published with 175 cookie recipes. By then, my daughter would spend at least a few minutes helping me with each recipe.

By my thirties I started baking with my mom. She would sometimes tell me that I had chosen complicated recipes, but she was a good sport about it. She would offer to finish icing cookies or cutting bar cookies while I was at work, and would sometimes recruit my dad to help out.

As you can imagine, the memories made with three generations baking together are priceless. Even when my daughter’s contribution was limited to cracking a single egg, we were creating something joyful—surrounded by the familiar aromas of butter, vanilla, almond, and cinnamon.

Now, the smell of baking cookies will always carry me back to those moments: hands working together, laughter in the kitchen, love baked into every batch.

When I started Twelve Moons Baking, I didn’t set out to build something new as much as continue something old. The values that shaped my baking from the beginning—care, generosity, and joy—are the same ones that guide every batch I make today.

My mom used to say that the Christmas cookie party I hosted was what she imagined heaven to be like: a diverse gathering of people full of joy and love. I think she was right. That is what makes baking so special, and it’s why I continue to bake today: to create something simple and meaningful, meant to be shared.

Twelve Moons Baking grew out of these same moments and memories…of late nights, well-worn cookbooks, and the simple joy of sharing something homemade with others.

My mom and daughter making cut-out cookies, years ago.