Eden Prairie woman creates joy, one sweet bite at a time

One look at Nikki Cloutier’s cookies and her warm smile makes it clear how she could turn family tradition into a cheerful business. 

The COVID-19 pandemic already had the Eden Prairie resident thinking about a life change. When she made cookies for a nephew’s celebration, family members encouraged her to start her own business. So in 2023, after investing time in planning, she started Cookie Cheer by Cloutier, a home bakery where she creates cookies for special events. 

“It’s given me that creative outlet that I desperately need in life, and to be able to take my event background and still connect it to someone else’s event makes it all the more special.”

The move allowed her to have more time with family and to invest in her artistic side, but the change was far from sudden. Much of her life seemed to have been preparing her for this change. Her grandma was an artist and passed down that talent. For years, this manifested in an annual family tradition of decorating gingerbread houses.

In her career in hospitality and event planning, she helped create memorable occasions, while also picking up valuable business skills. Community connections she’d built, including through an Eden Prairie mom’s group, helped with networking. For new baking skills, the vast YouTube community was critical. 

Starting and running a new venture takes patience and persistence. 

“Every day is a different day of learning new things, learning from my mistakes or what I call happy accidents. I like to share those happy accidents with friends – they’re happy to take them off my plate, literally. I don’t want to see those go to waste.”

One area that requires persistence is recipe perfecting – it takes a lot of testing to get just the right frosting color and consistency for each type of cookie. 

“I altered a couple different recipes, both with the cookie dough and the icing. The preparation of the icing is very painful and extremely time-consuming to get the right structure and consistencies. … It can take hours just to prep the icing.”

Her advice to other aspiring business owners? Invest time in a deep self-inventory. “Do that self-inventory of what do you want to get out of this and what is your spark and passion.” 

Frosting is only one part of the recipe – decorations require a steady hand. Nikki enjoys doing most of her cookies freehand, but she’s been practicing with a new tool, a small countertop projector that gives her greater consistency, and with which she can upload images to trace onto cookies. 

“I take a lot of pride in the work that I do and to see the joy and surprise and delight from my customers when they see the cookies for the first time just warms my heart.”

While her cookies bring joy to the tasters, patience and persistence has paid off in many moments of personal joy, too. Connecting with customers sparks joy in brainstorming how each batch can meld perfectly with their party themes and visions. 

Two events that brought particular joy to Nikki were crafting cookies for a girl’s puppy-themed birthday and creating cowboy-themed cookies for a boots-and-bubbly bridal celebration.

But nothing topped the experience of last year’s Minnesota State Fair entry. Each year, the fair releases a theme for one of its cookie categories. In 2024, the theme was hats. Nikki felt inspired by what draws crowds to the fair each year – the experiences they have there that morph into must-see-and-do lists for fairgoers.

What resulted was a series of bucket-hat cookies that showcased bucket-list activities at the fair. In just four cookies, she captured it all – the food, the rides, the animals and the important list of activities. Nikki came away with the fifth-place ribbon. 

“The talent is unbelievable, I was so impressed with all the submissions,” she said. “To be able to see the variety and the hard work and the love that people put into baking and perfecting their creations is something special. … It made me feel proud to be a Minnesotan and I feel more invested as a fairgoer. So I’m planning to enter the contest this year.”

Besides this summer’s fair, what’s next for Cookie Cheer? Nikki has many dreams for the future, including a search for a partner to help her create a website. On the baking side, she dreams of owning a dehydrator to speed up the drying process, and a 3D printer so she can make her own cookie cutters. 

No matter what comes next, she looks forward to bringing a taste of happiness to each customer’s event. “Each order is a huge opportunity, and I’m so grateful for that.”

Have an upcoming event that needs cookies? Contact Nikki through her Facebook page, Cookie Cheer by Cloutier, or her email: ccbycloutier@gmail.com. 

Editor’s note: This article is part of a new series highlighting home bakeries in Eden Prairie. To suggest a bakery, email editor@eplocalnews.org.