The fracturable nature of cookies

Packaging. Last week I sent out several shipments of butterfly cookies to beloved friends near and far. I was hoping that my bag-and-shrink-wrap method would do me proud. I was only a little disappointed. The most surprising result came from a family member living approximately 40 miles away. She was kind enough to take pictures of the cookies as soon as they came out of the box. Broken! I was perplexed.

I had received positive reports of no breakage from as far as 300 miles away. I had to ponder. Was the mail carrier juggling her packages? With that said, I'm not going to bite my nails over every package sent, (although it is within my nature) I simply can't. After looking over ship policies from other sellers, they too have had breakage. I also need to say that I hate, hate, HATE royal icing that dries rock-hard and tastes like pure sugar. My cookies are soft and cake-like, and my icing is flavored with buttercream and is not as hard as the aforementioned. A cookie should taste good, and not just look pretty. This may contribute to the fragility problem.

I do believe that the butterflies I sent have an extra delicate shape. And I'm so proud that so many made it to their destinations unscathed! I do have one more experiment for these little babies. I have decided to try out a new boxing and wrapping technique. I've found a box company that sells individual cookie favor boxes and they are sending me a few samples! This would be extra nice for people planning on giving them as wedding or shower favors.