Page 6 of They Love Me Knot (Starsfalls Omegaverse #2)

Daphne

I n the morning, I’m still thinking about those cookies.

I dreamed about them most of the night too, except for the one dream where a bear wearing a cowboy hat was chasing me through a forest. But then I found the peony cookies in a cave, and the bear and I sat down to eat them together.

So I guess even that dream was about cookies in the end.

I’ve already looked up the hours for Flourist several times this morning, hoping they’ll be updated to say the bakery is open on Sundays. So far, no luck. Every time I refresh the page, it still shows they’re closed on weekends.

Their website says their desserts can be purchased at some of the cafes around town, but when I checked them yesterday, everyone had already sold out of Flourist’s goods. The workers said they sell out early, and on the weekends they’re out by midday on Saturday.

I still tried again this morning, but no luck. No more cookies until Monday.

I sigh mournfully. I discovered the best-smelling desserts in the universe, and to balance things out for my great discovery, the universe makes me wait two days to get any more.

I even considered going back to Maisie’s bonding to see if I could sneak one more cookie. If I brought a gift for them, surely they wouldn’t mind if I crashed their reception.

I’m not quite that food-crazed, so I didn’t. But I heavily considered it.

Heavily.

I sip my elderflower iced oat milk latte with vanilla bean cold foam and eat the pistachio and saffron croissant I bought at Quickie Coffee when I checked there for Flourist’s desserts. It’s a great croissant, but it can’t compare to the cookies.

Except when I think about it, I’m not sure the cookies tasted that much better than the other great cookies I’ve had. It’s the scent that sticks in my mind the most. They were the best smelling cookies ever , no contest, and smell is a big part of eating, so that makes them the best.

In between eating and checking to see if the Flourist’s hours have updated, I browse recipes for gourmet floral cookies.

I figured I should start small at the beginning of my baking journey, so I’m going to try to recreate the cookies rather than the cake.

I didn’t try the cake from Flourist, but it had that same peony scent.

I can use the cookies to figure out the right ingredients to produce that smell, and then I’ll move on to my cake baking and eating.

It's nice to have a hobby outside of work. Now that I have this fascination with baking, it’s practically all I can think about. Plus, I can still use my plant knowledge for my new hobby. Most of Flourist’s desserts featured flowers, herbs, or fruit, and that’s the kind of food I want to make.

I bookmark a few cookie recipes to test out today. I’ve done some basic baking in the past, so I’m not starting my baking journey from scratch (hah). I have a stand mixer and plenty of bowls and cookie trays, so I have the equipment.

Now I just need to choose which recipes I’m going to try today, and then I’ll go to the store and stop by Queen of Hearts for any ingredients I’m missing.

Trying to recreate the cookies should get my mind off the fact that I can’t eat the most perfect cookies again until tomorrow.

Either that, or I’ll be driven mad as I work in my lab, I mean kitchen, trying to recreate that scent until eventually I fall into a faint from the overstimulation of my senses.

Whatever happens, it’ll be an entertaining way to spend a Sunday.

I choose some basic recipes that focus on adding flavor to the dough itself rather than mixing in additions. After checking my pantry, I chug the last of my coffee and head out the door.

While I’m out, I might as well stop at one of the cafes just to see if they have a secret stash of Flourist’s cookies that they’d be willing to sell. I could offer to thank them with a nice bouquet from Queen of Hearts. I can also pick up another coffee while I’m there.

If I’m going to be baking all day, I’ll need the caffeine.

I wipe the flour off my face after pouring out another few hundred grams. I think I only smeared more of it around though. I’m pretty covered in flour at this point.

I’ve baked three batches of cookies, and have dough chilling in the fridge and freezer.

All the dough smelled good, and the baked cookies taste good, but they’re nothing like the ones from Flourist. Even the lemon verbena and black tea shortbread recipe I made wasn’t anywhere close to as good as the ones from the bakery.

Sure, it was good , but after having Flourist’s cookies, I know it could be better.

I sniff the dough I’m mixing with rose and peony infused sugar. It has a faint floral scent, but it’s not the same as Flourist’s desserts.

I’m starting to think that my baking journey is going to be a short one.

If I buy a bunch of cookies from Flourist once they’re open, I’ll probably have a better chance of recreating them if I eat them while I bake.

Although if I’m going to do that, I could just stock up on their desserts during the week.

That way I’ll have some for the weekend too, and I’ll never run out.

Then I don’t need to bother trying to recreate the perfect cookies.

I could ask Flourist about their special ingredients, but I’m sure they wouldn’t share their recipes.

Maybe I should shift my baking journey to some other type of food, like pies or croissants.

I calm my stirring, loosening my grip on the wooden spoon.

It’s been a rough road, from the first high of smelling those cookies, to realizing I can’t hope to recreate the recipe of a professional baker, and finally realizing that I don’t have to walk this road.

I can take another fork and become a great pie mistress.

Now, what am I going to do with all these cookies? I look at my counters, covered in dozens and dozens of cookies. Maybe I should have halved some of the recipes.

There’s only one thing to do, really.

I have to eat them all.

I take a deep breath as I prepare to slay this beast and then bite .

I could bring some cookies into work tomorrow too. I’m not sure why anyone would want to eat these when Flourist is open, but I might as well offer them to Anicka and Poppy.

But I don’t want my coworkers to feel obligated to eat a bunch of second-rate cookies, so I’ll eat as many as I can today.

For them.