Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1313443
110 When you first see the beautiful cookies from Sweet Cheeks by Renee, two thoughts might occur to you right away: "Wow, those look amazing!" and "How did she do that?" PHOTOGRAPHS BY GARY TARDIFF The first thought is obvious. Renee Terry 's intricately hand-decorated sugar cookies are miniature works of art so exquisite it's hard to believe that they 're made of f lour, sugar, and eggs. Terry has an answer for the second thought, too: Online cookie-decorating classes that have kept devotees across the country— and even other countries—creating mini masterpieces in the comfort of their kitchens while the pandemic rages on outside. Terry, who bakes from her home in Amesbury, wanted to offer online classes for a long time but had always been too busy with custom cookie orders to make it happen. Her popularity is easy to understand. She creates custom-made cookie sets for special occasions, using details from the event itself—such as the invitation, theme, or color scheme—to create cookies that are decorated with the artistic eye and hand of a master. There are watercolor-esque florals that look like they could be painted on a piece of dainty china and textures that recall embroidery, macrame, and antique lace. There are flowers and leaves that are so detailed you'd swear they were just picked outside, and butterflies and bees that might take flight at any moment. Her Instagram page serves as an artist's portfolio of jaw-dropping creation, each one more fantastic than the next. Terry's cookie success was almost immediate: She was working at a local cake shop when, on a whim, she decided to decorate some gingerbread men into characters from the TV show "Sons of Anarchy." She snapped some photos and shared them online. "I posted them to Twitter, and they blew up there. They went viral," she says. "The cast and crew were Tweeting them." That moment helped to spark Terry's interest in cookies, but it also made her realize something else: She wanted to be in business for herself. So, in June 2015, a few months after her son was born, she launched Sweet Cheeks by Renee. Renee Terry has been offering online cookie decorating classes.