I first made this set of Black History Month Cookies to celebrate Black women in 2021. I was a bit late in posting, so it spilled over into Women’s History Month (which worked quite well given the content of the posts).
This set of Black History Month cookies is dedicated to Black women worldwide, to your brilliant beauty and your tremendous contributions to history. The cookies in this set highlight the grace and versatility of Black women’s hair, featuring a variety of textures and styles from bantu knots, to locs to afros, to straight hair, to braids & twists (it was so hard to limit myself to the styles, skin tones & hair colors you see here!) The caption of each reel will celebrate the trailblazing Black women of today & yesterday, each post being grouped by industry.
Black History Month Cookies
If you’d prefer to see the complete set asap, check out these two videos on YouTube:
The full set in a sped-up version (15 mins)
The full set in a real-time tutorial with a voiceover by me (2 hours)
The rest of this post explains some more of the background on this set. To access the original posts from 2021 (so you can watch the video and read the captions), click on the link before each photo and you will be brought to the post on Instagram!
Click here for the twists video
Now, before I begin with the background, I wanted to start with a few shouts here (they’re mentioned later as well):
I want to thank the people who helped me make this set what it is. Firstly, to Nadia at @kinkyculturecookieco whose Black Girl Magic set from last summer inspired me to create my own set.
Click here for the bantu knots video
Thank you to Liyou & Brook of @yomi.designs for supplying the cutters! A Black-owned cookie cutter shop based in upstate NY, Liyou & Brook are a nurse & engineer (respectively) by day and an Etsy shap owner on nights and weekends. They enjoy creating custom, unique, educational, entertaining and decorative products inspired by their African heritage and culture. I’m thrilled to have designed 4 new cutters with them!
Click here for the low afro video
Big shoutout to @reneemoniquedesserts! I spent a lot of time researching on my own, but I also exchanged numerous messages, questions & ideas with Renée. Renée has always loved to bake & started cake/cookie decorating Christmas 2018. She’s from the suburbs of Chicago & has a 12 year old yorkie that keeps her company in the kitchen during late night baking sessions. Thank you, Renée!
What did I want to represent with this set of cookies?
When I originally shared the set, with over 20 different designs I wanted to feature both Black women’s outer beauty with the different hairstyles and textures represented, but also Black women’s inner beauty which is where I researched and shared information about incredible Black women from today and yesterday, which I shared in the caption of each reel.
Click here for the afro puff video
Click here for the headwrap video
Why is this my favorite set of cookies?
This set of cookies right here is hands down my favorite set that I’ve ever made both because I’m proud of the skill and technique used to execute these designs and the amount of research and effort from my part that went into the set, but even more so because of the impact these cookies have had.
Click here for the loc bun video
Click here for the side braid video
Why don’t I reshare this set very often?
If you’ve followed me for awhile you know that I love resharing old sets, but this is one that I rarely ever reshare because it truly deserves so much time and attention and love when it’s shared because without that the intention and impact can be taken out of context very easily and quite understandably since I’m not a member of the community represented in these cookies.
Click here for the braids video
Click here for the headwrap video
How did I approach researching and designing the set?
Now in terms of the making of this set… With the counsel of two beautiful Black women who I both consider colleagues in the cookie world and friends (shoutout to Nadia and Reneé!), I spent many many hours researching Black women in history for the captions and Black hairstyles and textures for the cookies.
Click here for twisted frohawk video
I also worked with a Black owned cookie cutter company Yomi Market to source the cookie cutters and actually design a few new ones myself (the Bantu knots cutter is my personal favorite that I designed).
Click here for curly bob video
Why Black History Month cookies?
I made this set in February 2021 because I not only wanted to share about the tremendous contributions of Black women, but I also wanted to use my specific niche in cookie decorating to help provide representation in a place no one was expecting. To be seen in a way that you never knew to ask for.
Click here for afro puff video
What resources do I have for this set?
I have a tutorial video on YouTube that walks through in real time how I made each of these cookies. And yes that tutorial is free to the public. I want any cookier with access to YouTube to know how to execute locs, braids, twists, fros and 4c hair texture with royal icing. Because I believe that every little girl and woman should be able to go to their local cookier and ask them to make cookies that look like them.
Click here for short afro video
Do I have a class for this set?
Now I get asked all the time if I have a class on this set of cookies and the answer is no. At this time I have my two free videos on YouTube — there is the real time tutorial and a sped up version. at some point I do plan to have more detailed descriptions of how I made each cookie up on my blog…. but to be honest it’s a lot of cookies and I’m very behind on blog so no promises on timing 😉
Why you should read the comments
If you haven’t already I’d recommend heading over to my YouTube to check out the comments on this video (just search for popular videos—it’s my highest viewed video). The impact this set has had on women around the world is something I really struggle to put into words, so I’d like you to read the words from the women themselves 🙂
To answer the three most common follow-up questions:
1 – No, I do not sell these cookies. But Nadia (NYC) and Reneé (Chicago) do in their local markets!
2 – The cookie cutters are from Yomi Market on Etsy.
3 – No, I do not have a class on this set. Just the YouTube videos I mentioned at the top of this email:
The full set in a sped-up version (15 mins)
The full set in a real-time tutorial with a voiceover by me (2 hours)
At one point, Nadia had an online class… not sure if she still does!
Click here for afro puff/pineapple video
If you’d rather watch the video on Instagram…
Here is the full set video on Instagram!
Other posts you might be interested in:
- What Is Royal Icing: A Beginner’s Guide
- My Royal Icing Recipe
- My Cookie Recipe
- How to store royal icing (more detailed instructions)
- Troubleshooting Royal Icing: Common Problems While Cookie Decorating
- All of my favorite cookie decorating supplies
- Left-Handed Cookie Decorating
- Cookie Decorating Practice Sheets