artist spotlight

Art You Can Eat

Not all works of art come from a pencil or paintbrush

When Carrie Evans isn’t busy teaching math to middle schoolers in Columbus City Schools, she spends her time decorating homemade sugar cookies in her Pickerington home.

“I’ve always been kind of artistic and creative,” Evans says. “It balances out my analytical and mathematical side.”

At first, Evans decorated cookies for social events as a creative outlet. When a friend told Evans her cookies were good enough to sell, Evans figured she had nothing to lose. So, in 2015, Carrie’s Cookies was born.

“I just do this out of my house,” Evans says. “So sometimes it feels weird calling it a business, but it has made me money and the cookies look good. Ultimately, it’s been something fun to do on the side.”

She says her interest in creating art you can eat started as a child, when she and her mom, who worked as a cake decorator at Kroger before Evans was born, would decorate cakes together at home.

Instead of paintbrushes, pencils or paper, Evans’ art tools include piping bags, cookie cutters and sprinkles. And although she’s never received formal training, Evans has developed a wide range of decorating techniques through YouTube videos and a class she took at a small bakery in Powell. Having a creative eye, however, gives Carrie’s Cookies its own unique flair.

“I do think it’s an art in terms of it being a way to express yourself and be creative,” Evans says. “Not everybody can do it because it does take a lot of patience and practice.”

Evans’ process starts at the beginning of the week. First, she bakes cookies from scratch on Monday or Tuesday. Then, she pipes the background layer of icing onto the cookie and lets it sit for a day to harden and solidify before adding more decoration on top.

After the bottom layer has settled, she begins to decorate. With thinly piped outlines and watercolor-like ombre painted on the frosting or expertly placed sprinkles, each cookie design is carefully thought out and executed. The details vary from order to order, some clients asking for words or letters piped onto their cookies, some wanting specific images drawn on the cookies, while others give Evans the artistic liberty to create a work of art inside a theme.

“It depends on the situation,” Evans says. “If somebody has an invitation and they want to mimic colors or certain designs, I’ll replicate those. Sometimes they say, ‘Be creative and come up with whatever.’”

Evans and her husband, AJ

Part of the artistic process includes preparing the raw materials. Evans paints with royal icing, which is a mixture of egg whites, powdered sugar, vanilla and cream of tartar, and getting the correct consistency can be tricky.

She adjusts the ratio of each ingredient to manipulate the fluidity of the icing depending on the type of design she plans to create. A more liquid icing is better for filling in the areas between outlines while a sturdier icing works best for drawing outlines and creating texture.

But cookies aren’t just a feast for the eyes. Evans has to think about how they taste, too.

“Most of my flavor I keep consistent because the designs are ultimately what’s changing,” she says. “I keep everything pretty basic. The cookies are a shortbread, which I think gives a little more of a buttery flavor that balances with the sugary frosting.”

Evans says Pickerington has been a supportive community for her growing business. She grew up here before moving to Hilliard after graduating from The Ohio State University. Ultimately, Evans and her husband, AJ Evans, wanted to come back to Pickerington to plant their roots, and the couple welcomed their first child, a baby boy, in May.

Evans’ business has reconnected her with classmates and old friends as well as other cookie decorators in the area. The community is so kind, in fact, that bakers often refer work to one another rather than compete.

“Everybody seems to be supportive of each other,” Evans says. “If I get an order and I can’t fulfill it, I can always message (another local decorator) and say, ‘Hey, I have this. Can you pick it up?’”

One of the ways Evans says she felt connected to the Pickerington community was during the Adopt a Pickerington Central 2020 Senior program for 2020 graduates who weren’t able to have an in-person commencement. She made 14 dozen cookies with college colors, logos and students’ names to help them celebrate in a year without a normal ceremony or graduation parties.

“If somebody can get a batch of cookies and it makes their day a little better, that’s always great for me,” Evans says. “I love when people look at the cookies and I can see they’re excited about them or maybe that they’re celebrating. Being able to bring a personal touch to their celebrations and seeing their joy is definitely the best part for me.”

Nora McKeown is an editorial assistant. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.

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