300 Hand-Decorated Sugar Cookies for Boux Avenue’s Liverpool ONE Store Launch (…and Another 300 for Manchester Arndale!)

At the start of 2025, we spotted some exciting news: Boux Avenue were opening their permanent Liverpool ONE store later in the year. We’ve always loved collaborating with brands and PR companies on launch events, usually through logo or branded cupcakes, so we reached out with a proposal and a few ideas.

Their team loved the concept, but instead of cupcakes, they asked for something even more fun: hand-decorated sugar cookies, shaped like the female form and finished with delicate lingerie-inspired icing. Stylish, playful, and very on-brand. We were immediately sold on the idea!

We produced some samples and shipped them to their head office in London. Once the design was approved and the date confirmed, the real work began.

Designing a Cookie That Was Anything but Basic

Looking back now, the design was… elaborate. Each cookie took around eight minutes to decorate, not including making the dough, cutting the shapes, baking, cooling, packaging, labelling, or hand-tying the ribbon on top. These were not “quick bakes”; these were mini pieces of edible art.

And as a small business with limited kitchen space, one oven, and no industrial equipment, this was going to take some serious planning. A military operation, really.

The good news? Cookie dough freezes beautifully. Once all the dough was prepared, we rolled it to the exact thickness, cut every one of the 300 shapes, and froze them until they were fully solid. We always bake our cookies from frozen, it helps them keep their crisp, clean shape. We worked in batches, baking tray after tray until the full order was complete.

We couldn’t even tell you how long the baking alone took. Long enough that we stopped counting.

40 Hours of Decorating, and That’s Just the Icing

The decorating process was the most time-consuming. All in, it took around 40 hours, and every bit of that time was meticulous work.The icing design had multiple layers, each of which had to fully dry before the next could go on. The final detailing involved using a tiny paintbrush and water to manipulate the icing into soft, lace-like textures.

We’ve definitely been eyeing up those edible ink printers that can spray designs directly onto cookies or macarons, but at nearly £3,000, the investment is still a little way off. So for now, our steady hands and paintbrushes will do the job, and honestly? The results are worth the effort.

The Packaging Marathon

Once decorated, each cookie was individually packaged, placed carefully into cellophane bags, heat-sealed, labelled with ingredients and allergens, and finished with a ribbon tied by hand. All in, the order took somewhere between 60–70 hours of work.

Every single cookie was handled with intention. Handmade, decorated, and packaged with care and purpose. That’s what it means to order from a small business: you receive something truly bespoke, made by people who pour passion and precision into every detail. Quality you can feel before you even taste it.

Round Two: Manchester Arndale (Another 300!)

A few months later, Boux Avenue reached out, this time for their Manchester Arndale store opening. The brief initially included branded macarons, and, admittedly, we got a bit excited and bought a mini edible printer in anticipation.

But due to allergy concerns (macarons being almond-based), we pivoted back to sugar cookies. And honestly? We were ready for them this time.

Thanks to everything we learned during the Liverpool ONE project, what originally took over 60 hours was streamlined to around 50 hours total. A little faster, a little smoother, and just as beautifully detailed.

Two major store launches.

Six hundred cookies.

Hundreds of tiny ribbons.

And countless hours ... but we wouldn’t have it any other way.