Rosie's Bake Shoppe champions art, one cookie at a time

Winding a long and deeply forested trail from Fruitland to Cape Girardeau is one of my favorite drives, Highway 177. Now I have more than scenery to send me down that road. At 7564 Hwy. 177 in Cape Girardeau lies a string of small, interesting buildings, and the cutest of the bunch is Rosie's Bake Shoppe.

Before driving to Rosie's, an obligatory internet search was required. On Rosie's Facebook page were incredible, aesthetically pleasing baked goods -- cookies in the shape of backpacks and dinosaurs, towering cakes of artsy perfection. If it was made of sugar, it seemed this bake shop could turn it into a work of art.

The building that contains Rosie's is an adorable log cabin. Small and cozy, there is still room for tables and chairs inside. Lit with some pretty neat mood lighting that hearkens back to the candlelit inns of old, the inside of Rosie's is all warm wood and a lovely display case for the baked goods. And the baked goods were just as flawless as the online pictures had led me to believe. I could tell that every cookie was approached with an eye for perfection, every chocolate chip placed just so, every fold of parchment around the muffins done with care. Rosie's Bake Shoppe is something special.

I picked a modest selection of baked goods so I could take them with me and try at home for a late breakfast, but I was brought to a screeching halt just short of the door. There, hanging from a string and held up with tiny wooden clothespins, was a small sampling of delicate, lovely watercolors. I instantly spotted one that I had to have, and I looked at it closely, noticing all of the ways the water had bled the paints onto the paper, the curls and swirls of barely controllable color combinations and the careful brushstrokes that delicately painted in a few pine trees. I looked for a moment, already asking myself if I really needed it and where I would put it. I decided on a spot in my home and unclipped it from the line.

"These are fantastic. Who is the artist?" I asked Rosie's owner, April Zumudio. "That's me," she said smiling, and then suddenly all of the wonderful, perfect baked goods made sense. Rosie's did not just feature baked goods. It featured art, everywhere and in multiple senses, taste as well as sight. I left feeling like I had solved a wonderful mystery.

A chocolate chip and stuffed-with-butter-cookie chocolate chip cookies from Rosie's, hefty and soft and full of different sugary profiles.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

A chocolate chip and stuffed-with-butter-cookie chocolate chip cookies from Rosie's, hefty and soft and full of different sugary profiles.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

So now I knew that the baked goods were pretty, and I had a moody little watercolor to frame and place in my home, but how did everything taste? I grabbed a knife and cut a sample from each beautiful item. I started with a good ol' chocolate chip cookie, much larger than I would like to eat in one sitting. Full of at least two kinds of chocolate, milk chocolate and its darker cousin, this cookie was so soft. Doughy without being gummy, it was just the way I like a cookie, sweet and floury and full of buttery goodness. I followed up with another chocolate chip-based cookie, this one stuffed with a butter cookie inside and topped with a Lotus Biscoff cookie. The Lotus cookie tasted like a graham cracker crust to me, very similar, and where the butter cookie was baked inside was gooey without being messy, rich and so decadent.

But my favorite item was the blueberry muffin. With a little bit of crispy sugar on the top, the inside was moist and laden with blueberries, refreshing and fruity sweet. Unwrapping the parchment and taking that first bite will be something I will think about until I am able to purchase another one. It was that good.

Rosie's Bake Shoppe's baked goods were exactly as tasty as their impeccable appearance made me believe they would be.

Rosie's Bake Shoppe has transitioned to its fall hours now. To visit, you'll have to go between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., Friday through Sunday. If you're feeling artsy yourself, Rosie's offers cookie decorating classes regularly that you can sign up for via a link on Facebook. Of course, with that attention to detail, Rosie's also does custom cookies and cakes. You can have a delicious piece of edible art be your centerpiece at your next party or event, or just a small, intricate watercolor that touches your heart. Whatever you choose, enrich your life with more art.

You won't regret it.

Rosie's Bake Shoppe, adorable on the outside and baked good bliss on the inside.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

Rosie's Bake Shoppe, adorable on the outside and baked good bliss on the inside.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair