Wow.....it's been a month since I posted last. I guess that's evidence of a very busy holiday season, having the flu with a couple weeks of recovery, and needing a break from decorating cookies after so many attempts in December. :-)

Yesterday I did a practice run of winter cookies I want to make for our choir retreat next week. It was fun to experiment and not worry about "perfect" cookies to give to others. And of course, my family loves my experiments......lots more for them to eat. hee hee (A couple of weeks ago, I baked cookies thinking I could decorate them after having had the flu the prior week. I woke up the next day still recovering and exhausted and knew there was NO way I could stand on my feet for hours and decorate cookies. Guess who got to eat 40+ plain cookies.......same said family. :-))))

I've been searching and searching for a better icing to pipe the ornamental stuff on top of the cookie. I think I've found it! It is called Sweet Annie's Cookie Icing and it is amazing to work with. I'm not fond of how hard royal icing gets.....this one's much softer, but still has that wonderful consistency of royal. I've posted the link for the recipe on the side bar.

I used the "hair/grass" tip to make the cool pom-poms and fringe on the hats and mittens. That was my favorite part. They look so real and 3D. :-))))

OK.....so I'm finally in the decorating groove for 2009. Happy New Year everyone!