Cookies!

Early last week I baked several dozen cookies of various types. Today I finally got around to decorating them. I put on the Christmas playlist on my iPod and happily worked for most of the afternoon. I had packaged most of them up before I realized I had forgotten to take a picture.

I used a simple Royal Icing recipe using only 1 cup of icing sugar and 2 tablespoons of milk. I had trouble getting a true red as the dye I had was more of a cerise colour. However I added a drop or two of yellow and it improved the colour (note the round cookies with 'red' icing.

Skip likes sprinkles so I didn't skimp on them. I also flavoured some of the white icing with peppermint which I used on all of the star and flower cookies.

Next time I make round cookies, I'll cut a small circle out of the centre and make them into wreaths.

That reminds me, I forgot to use my holly leaf cutter. My mom and I first used it in 1961 - her first Christmas as my mom. I thought of her a lot today. Our first Christmas together (she had just married my dad earlier that month) , she was trying to think of an activity we (my older sister and brother and I) could do together. So she got us making  and decorating Christmas cookies. Even brother George (who was diabetic) iced cookies - he just didn't lick his fingers. I'm sure that day we had Christmas music going on in the background as well. Such fond memories of that first Christmas together.

Geri, Mabel and Valerie - Christmas 1961

 That's one more thing off my checklist.