One more!

During my last batch of cookies :), I started running low on dark green icing, so I switched up the colors and really liked the outcome.

This is it...I promise...no more package cookies for the rest of the year!

More Christmas baking...

The second batch needed dots...

I don't know why, but I love seeing them all stacked together like this.

Today I tried a new way to apply the sanding sugar and I really love it! (Thank you, Martha!) When I first started making cookies, it used to really bother me that when I put sparkling sugar on a cookie, it would dent the icing. The trick is to put it on dry, not wet icing!

Up until now, I've heated up a little corn syrup (light) and brushed the area I wanted to sand with a small paintbrush. This works great, but it's sticky and when you're making 200 cookies, going back and forth to the microwave to reheat corn syrup is a drag.

Here's the new way...mix a little meringue powder with water. Brush this onto the area to be sanded. It flows better, isn't sticky and dries really well. A few more hints:

• Use a child's size paint brush. You can trim the bristles if they are fanning out too much.
• Be sure the cookies are dry before starting, otherwise the sugar will stick to and dent the wet icing. I always let them dry overnight.
• Pour some sparkling sugar or sanding sugar into the cap or a small ramekin. Once your cookie has been brushed with the mixture, sprinkle the sugar on top, holding it over a basket-style coffee filter. Shake off the excess over the coffee filter as well. This excess can easily be emptied back into the cap/ramekin.
• Sanding sugar is a smaller grain that sparkling sugar...both are really pretty, but I think sanding sugar has more sparkle. I never wanted to use it because "sparkling sugar" just sounds prettier!

Seeing red

Red icing is probably the most difficult to make. I love AmeriColor's Super Red gel paste coloring! It doesn't take as much to get a nice red and doesn't have the off-taste like some others (Wilton).

All icing will darken over time and while drying, but it is especially true with red. Try to make your red icing at least a day in advance, cover with plastic wrap, pressing down onto the icing, cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before using and just give it a stir.

When making red, aim for a little lighter than you'd like on your final product. Believe it or not, the icing above turned into a perfect, bright red on my cookies. If the icing is a true, deep red before it goes on the cookies, it can turn extremely dark once dry...close to black. (If your icing is too dark, stir in some white.)

Red icing can also change in high humidity. If it's humid and you notice your cookies getting splotchy once dried, don't panic. The icing will eventually even out in color.

Sparkly Christmas Presents

The picture doesn't do justice to the sanding sugar...it is so sparkly! I've always used "sparkling sugar", but could only find red "sanding sugar" and I love it! It's smaller than sparkling sugar and really reflects the light.

The cookies are in green, white and mint, but the mint color didn't show up in my pictures. More on how to make these later....

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Here's a peek at a little Christmas baking...

...waiting for sparkling sugar tomorrow morning....

Oh, deer!

To make this sweet little deer:

1. In dark brown icing, outline the deer with a #2 tip. Be sure to close off the tail separate from the body. (Spectrum Chocolate Brown)
2. Using the same icing and tip, pipe hooves using a back & forth motion.
3. Change the tip to a #3 and pipe antlers.
4. Thin a lighter color brown to the consistency of thick syrup. Cover with a damp towel and let sit for several minutes. Run a rubber spatula through the icing to pop any bubbles that formed on the top. Pour into a squeeze bottle. Fill in deer body and ear. (Spectrum Chocolate Brown)
5. Using the method above, thin white icing and add dots to the deer body while the brown icing is still wet.
6. Use the same thinned icing to fill in the tail.
7. After drying for an hour or more, use a #1 tip and black icing to add a nose and eye to the deer. (Spectrum Super Black)

Scenes from a bakery supply store

I know this has nothing to do with cookie decorating, but I couldn't resist posting a picture of the "MEN" drawer at the bakery supply store. :)