Cardoshinsky Confections brings sweet treats to the Hill Country

“They call me the cookie lady,” said Julia Cardoshinsky.

She’s the mastermind and primary decorator of Cardoshinsky Confections, a sweet shop at 204 Cully Drive, Suite 300 in Kerrville.

Cardoshinsky has been a Hill Country girl all her life. Born in Fredericksburg, she grew up in Comfort, graduated from Comfort High School and the summer after graduation, she found herself at James Avery Craftsman, where she was employed for 23 years.

“At the end of it all, it seemed like I did a little bit of everything,” she said.

Cardoshinsky started as a bench technician and eventually found herself as head of a department as a section leader at the jewelry company.

“I learned a lot,” she said. “A lot of knowledge was given to me through experience.”

In 2020, she opened Cardoshinsky Confections with her husband, Vince, who helps her bake each morning.

“Never could I have imagined that I would be in the cookie business or even own my own business,” Cardoshinsky said. “Then, I started to see that it could be possible.”

While Cardoshinsky might be known for her cookies, she bakes and sells everything from cake pops, lemon bars, brownies, cupcakes and dog treats and fills special orders for any type of celebratory occasion.

“While holidays bring in the most sales at the store, we often get orders for those special life occasions like baby showers, weddings and birthdays,” she said. “You can have a cookie for any time.”

Cardoshinsky has been baking sweets a lot longer than she’s been running the store.

“I was always into baking, especially for my three boys and other family members,” she said. “Then, when my father passed away, it became a way to work through my grief.”

While still employed at James Avery Craftsman, Cardoshinsky was baking and selling the cookies from her home.

“I made three different types of cookies, posted them on Facebook, and it took off,” she said.

The business started to grow even more, and when the cookies started to take over her house, Cardoshinsky and her husband took a leap of faith.

“I was still employed at Avery’s, so I was working two jobs,” she said. “I had to make the tough decision to leave Avery’s and the financial security it provided.”

Cardoshinky had a plan and a drive to learn with this new business venture.

“Once I left Avery’s, I also had the time to develop the technique and skills for decorating the sugar cookies. Social media like YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest are very helpful when it comes to learning new techniques,” Cardoshinsky said. “Every holiday, every event has its own meaning, its own designs. I try to keep up with the cookie world, because there’s always new designs coming out and new ideas.”

Cardoshinsky has also taken inspiration from what she learned during her time at James Avery.

“Working there, I learned about inventory, quality control, different process techniques from start to finish, to help streamline them, how to improve the existing process, communication and leadership,” she said. “It’s natural for me to look at a cookie and see a process and to plan it out like I was taught at James Avery.”

Cardoshinsky will have personalized Peep-inspired sugar cookies for Easter, among other designs.

“I love all the colors of Easter. There’s so much you can do with them,” she said.

Carrot cake will be on the menu as well, which is sold by the slice. If a customer desires an entire cake for any kind of celebration, one can be special ordered.

“We’ll make a cake, and then we sell it by the slice, so people have the opportunity to taste it,” Cardoshinsky said. “We also do Italian cream cake and a ‘Strawberry Delight,’ which is a chocolate cake with strawberry buttercream.”

Cardoshinksy Confections also hosts cookie decorating workshops around major holidays, giving the community an opportunity to step into the cookie world themselves.

“We started those last year, and it’s been super fun,” she said. “People get a chance to sit down, learn techniques and try it out. I don’t think you have to have a special skill or gift to decorate cookies. You just need patience and practice.”

All the items at Cardoshinky Confections are made in-house at the shop.

For a custom order, the only item that has a minimum are the decorated sugar cookies.

“We ask that people order an amount of one dozen or two dozen,” Cardoshinsky said. “The process to get them ready for the customer takes some time, as everything is done by hand, whether it’s writing with an edible ink pen or writing with our royal icing on the decorated sugar cookies.”

The sugar cookies are baked, a base color of royal icing that is also made in-house is piped on the cookie, then it needs some time to set before a design can be added to complete the cookie.

The royal icing used to decorate the sugar cookies is a hard icing made from softly beaten egg whites, powdered sugar and sometimes lemon or lime juice. Bakers often use it to decorate sweets such as cookies, wedding cakes and gingerbread houses. Glycerine is used to prevent the icing from setting too hard.

Cardoshinsky enjoys the connection the sweets in her shop help form with her customers as well.

“It’s just for a few minutes that we get to encounter that time with people, and I know them more through the cookies they order. We have a brownie guy and chocolate chip people, and our lemon bars are very popular,” Cardoshinsky said. “I enjoy my cookie world, because it’s filled with color, joy and sweetness. I want people to feel a little bit of the joy that I feel in making them.”

Cardoshinsky Confections is at 204 Cully Drive, Suite 300. It is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday. To learn more, call 830-315-9885, or visit the business on Facebook and Instagram @cardoshinskyconfections.

This article was originally published in the April 2025 edition of Hill Country Culture Magazine.