This year for my birthday Nara asked me if I wanted to do anything special like go to a theme park or visit someplace in particular. We both had a lot going on at the time, so I wanted to just have a simple outing that we both could enjoy quietly in Seoul~ so why not something crafty!?
Korea has many online coupon sites (similar to Groupon in the USA) that have all kinds of fun specials!
Nara had fun when we decorated pepero for pepero day, so one night while surfing around the Korean coupon sites for an activity to do I came across a cookie decorating session package with a cute cafe called Mom’s Cookie 맘스쿠키~ Perfect!! This looked like a cute and fun time!
Mom’s Cookie is a modest sized cafe located in the Gyodae 교대 area of Seoul (one stop before Gangnam Station) that has been baking homemade cookies since 2009! Just below the cafe is where the bakery is located that whips up fresh cookies daily~
Although they have the cafe, the main business for Mom’s Cookie is their online store! They actually have a large cookie online shop that you can order all sorts of freshly prepared sets for holidays, weddings, birthdays, custom branding for company events, etc. These can come decorated by hand in the bakery on standard cookie biscuits or in freshly baked flavors like Pumpkin Pistachio, Amande Au Chocolat, Redberry, and Earl Grey ~ all arranged in fancy boxes ready for gifting!
“Thank you set” for the girl who wants to give a domestic hand-made gift, but lacks the oven or time!
Korea is all about giving gifts for any and every occasion, and since ovens are not common in Korean kitchens I can see how the Mom’s Cookie online store is so popular!
Korea has lots of cake decorating cafes, but this was the first cookie deco activity we have come across so far
The cookie decorating option they offer at the cafe is an extra thing they do based on appointments~ so if you want to give cookie gifts but actually decorate them yourself (or just have fun playing with cookies) they are happy to accommodate you! Please note that while some deco cafes in Korea are walk-in friendly, this place does require booking 3-4 days ahead of time for this activity!
The physical location of Mom’s Cookie Cafe is a bit more modest in selection vs the online store acting mainly as a place to buy a few choices of smaller pre-packed cookie gifts, beverages, or coffee along with accommodating custom cookie decoration appointments like ours!
The posted menu covers pretty much all the basics found in Korean cafes. Coffee, iced tea, fresh fruit juice etc. Specialty drinks include Vanilla latte, Cafe Mocha, White Cafe Mocha, Caramel Mocha, and more. Please note the menu here is all in Korean, however since it is a cafe most of the items are konglish so it is very easy if you are able to read hangul.
Outside they had some good set menu deals on Coffee + Cookie, Waffle, Brownie, or Honey bread.
When we arrived it was very busy with afternoon crowds grabbing a coffee to chat (lots of ladies and office guys) but around 1pm-4pm it got nice and quiet so we had the whole place to ourselves to just chat and decorate without anyone bothering us ^^ as you can see by the seating, this place is great for couples to chat!
After arriving we checked in with the owner to get what we needed for our cookie crafting session! Since we had made an appointment (which is required so they can accommodate you and bake the cookies fresh) they had a table set aside for us in the corner, ready to go!
Since we were hungry and would be decorating a while we also ordered some drinks and a few of the individual gift set cookies to nibble on! Nara got an iced milk coffee and I grabbed a yuja juice~ one of my favorite Korean fruity flavors ^^
Cheers~Lets make some pretty cookies! Nara needed a bit of caffeine to wake up haha
Each cookie decorating “kit” they provide you with for your session includes 10 cookies in assorted shapes, plastic gloves, wet wipes, toothpicks, wax paper to work on, inspiration photos, and a few packets of assorted royal icing in random colors. Each cookie came individually wrapped and the texture and thickness was perfect for decorating/ gifting~
Naturally the examples they provided were really cute! Ah what to do~ what to do….
In our box they loaned us two finished examples of deco cookies so we could see how the icing dried
After a bit of brainstorming we set to work and trimmed the tips off the icing bags! The cafe warns you to not trim too much because since the icing comes pre packed if you want another you will have to buy another, so we started off with a small opening~
Deco Cookie Time! I never have much luck with icing so I went very slowly haha
The icing was a sugary kind with a lemon taste and piped out very smoothly for most colors! This allowed us to make tiny details easily…well most of the time haha. We found it was not liquid enough (or perhaps warm enough) to spread as a glaze all over the cookie easily though!
Nara dove right in as well and was a lot less paranoid about messing up so I just stopped to watch him a lot of the time.
Nara got a bit creative with the last two cake shaped cookies lol!
And after a long time hanging around the cafe we finally finished all 20 cookies!! Here are the results!
Can you tell which ones Nara made and which ones I made? ♥
The icing dried very quickly, so after just a few minutes they were safe to pack up! Mom’s Cookie was kind enough to provide us with individual bags for each cookie~
They also provided us with adorable gifting boxes! So thoughtful, I know we just did this for a Birthday activity but this would be a *perfect* place to visit for making little gifts if you do not have a proper oven and want something with that handmade touch! Never underestimate the value of a handmade AND nicely wrapped gift in Korea!
We had a big family dinner coming up with all of Nara’s cousins (he has a TON of them) so since we had so many cookies we decided to box them nicely to give as gifts.
재미있었어요!
What a fun afternoon, thank you Mom’s Cookie 맘스쿠키! This was a great way to spend my Birthday, sometimes something simple ends up being way more fun in the end ♥ We are kind of getting addicted to decorating things, so expect us to visit more places in the future!
Directions & Deco Info for Mom’s Cookie Cafe in Seoul
서울시 서초구 서초동 1658-23
Hours: 9:30am ~ 10:00pm
Weekends: 12:00-10pm
Mom’s Cookie ~ Website/Online Shop
Cookie Decorating Session (buy through the store to RSVP)
To order a decorating session with Cafe Mom’s Cookie you can not just walk-in (which is typical with other deco cafes for cake and such) you have to order online and schedule a session at the cafe ahead of time~ generally about 3-4 days! Because of that sadly it is a little tricky if you do not speak Korean fluently, so if you would like to take part in this as well you will need to have a native speaker help you out by calling or using the online order form HERE.
The cost is currently 25,000원 per order which gets you 10 blank cookies with the icing and some bags/boxes packaging for gifting if you ask. Last I checked, you can select from the standard shape set (what we had) which is a random assortment of shapes like bears, hearts, cakes, and circles OR a seasonal set like Valentines/Christmas depending on what time of the year it is. Mom’s Cookie often has deals going on the Korean coupon sites like “We make price” so if you are savvy make sure you check their blog for a deal before ordering like we did!
I think with the coupon they had going we only paid 15,000원 per person ~ great deal!
If you are coming by the Seoul Metro, Mom’s Cookie can be easily reached by taking the Green Line #2OR the Orange Line #3 to Gyodae Station, AKA “Seoul University of Education Station” as it is often listed in English. These two lines meet at the same station, so you can take either to reach this stop, HOWEVER please note that if you are using the #2 Green Line this is the Seoul University Station that is one stop before Gangnam, NOT the one farther down the line between Bongcheon and Nakdeongdae.
♥ ♥ ♥
It is a bit confusing since two stations on the #2 line have “Seoul University” in the name when being announced in English, so just make note you are exiting at the right one!
Depending on which line you choose, you can use Exit#5 on the Green line or Exit#13 on the Orange line. The stations are connected so you can also arrive on the green line, but simply walk underground till you arrive at the Orange Exit #13 if you wish since that is a straight walk to the cafe! Both are fairly straightforward though, so either path should be simple to follow!
If you are walking from Exit #5 you will hit this 3rd road (and 2nd 4 way street I believe) and take a Left. If you are coming from Exit# 13you are already on the correct road so just keep walking straight for a ways! The road is small and feels a little residential, but just keep on walking.
Finally you should see a sign on your left with a picture of a cookie and “Cafe” in English! You are almost there!
With its colorful sign in English,Cafe Mom’s Cookie ♥ 커피 맘스쿠키 should be easy to spot on your left and will be hard to pass by!
Sailor Cookie Moon!!
If anyone knows any other cookie decorating cafes that are more walk-in friendly for foreigners please do let me know! I know online RSVP and ordering is hard/impossible for most foreigners~ but If you can speak Korean fluently or have a spouse/friend that can help you an afternoon decorating cookies at 커피 맘스쿠키 is a wonderful date or children’s activity! I am so glad Nara and I went and did this ^^
Which cookie was your favorite in this post? Have you ever been to a cookie deco cafe before or something similar? Have you tried decorating cookies like this before? Know of any other fun deco cafes we should visit in Korea? Comment below and share!