Thursday, December 9, 2010

Try New Adventures Thursday: The Christmas Cookie Decorating Edition


Growing up, my family celebrated Christmas a little differently every year. To this day we have very few "set in stone" traditions, aside from the scrumptious late-morning breakfast my dad cooks up on Christmas morning.

But somewhere we skipped Christmas cookies altogether.

No more!

Yesterday I embarked on a Christmas cookie baking/decorating project, inspired by none other than the fabulous Bake at 350 and Tidy Mom (those ladies make some serious cookies!).

I decided that chocolate was the route to go (honestly, when is chocolate not the route to go?) and baked up some of Tidy Mom's Chocolate Cutout Cookies. After a trip to Wal-Mart for cookie cutters (I didn't even own cookie cutters! Shocking.).

I discovered that the cookies baked better when they were rolled pretty thin (1/4 inch?).

All ready for the oven.
Next up, the icing. I planned on making Bridget's Royal Icing, but alas, no meringue powder on hand! It's not something I typically have oodles of in my kitchen.

So, plan B. I found this fun-looking Glace Icing at Our Best Bites and gave it a whirl. It was easy to put together, and I added some color to a few small bowls.

The cookie decorating station
You should have seen me. I was like a little girl, letting out periodic squeals and calling my husband over every two seconds to see my latest accomplishment.

My icing was not quite thick enough and did not stay on very nicely at first, until I discovered that spreading it over the cookie with a toothpick worked best for me.


One of my favorites...my lady with the pearl necklace!
I must admit, my first batch came out a bit disheveled looking:

IMG_9122
Splotchy stocking, Gaping-Mouthed Gingerbread Man, and Black-Eyed Frosty.

The blue snowman even has what Bridget would call unsightly pits. (Oh dear! Oh my!) He tasted just fine, so I've forgiven myself for that particular calamity. :)

The best part was putting Squishy to bed and having two girlfriends over to help me tuck these cookies away. I lit candles, and we drank hot tea, dined on cookies, and chatted. Ah, good times.
________

Your turn! Share the new adventures you've had recently by linking up your blog post below. Link back to Alicia's Homemaking in your post. :) If you're not sure what this Try New Adventures Thursday stuff is about, get the down low here.


Share/Bookmark

10 comments:

  1. These look awesome, I don't know why you claim they are disheveled! You wanna see disheveled? You should see my hair right now! eeeek! Have a great one, and these cookies are adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  2. haha loved this! I made gingerbread men last weekend and decorated them - it went much better this time around (my first decorating attempts were kind of sad). Just a tip, if you want a royal icing type of icing, but don't have any extra ingredients, amanda at I am Baker has a great icing recipe with just powdered sugar, lemon juice, corn syrup and milk. That's what I use! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love it Alicia!!! so fun wasn't it!! and they turned out adorable!!!!
    Thanks for the shout out too!♥

    ReplyDelete
  4. Feels like christmas is near!
    Love Amelie

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great job on your first time!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yay!!! they look great! And even unsightly pits TASTE good! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. You make me laugh Alicia ... thanks!
    I saved the image of your fav cookie. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Way to go girl! I was read Bridget's tutorial on PW's site last night. It looks so fun. I bought some meringue powder a few weeks ago, just so I could try it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm jealous that I'm not one of the girlfriends who helped you eat these. :(

    ReplyDelete

I love your comments. :) I know your time is precious, so I appreciate the time you spend reading and giving feedback.

Please be respectful of others and kind with your words.