Christmas Cookies

So I decided I would make homemade presents for friends this Christmas.  And that meant baking something.  So, after thinking for some time about what I wanted to make, I settled on piped sugar cookies.  I made a batch of chocolate ones and a batch of vanilla ones, giving my friends a little sample of both flavors.  You know, so they don’t have to choose.  (That can be a very daunting decision for some people!)  I also decided on peppermint frosting, since plain ‘ole vanilla wasn’t cutting it.  (Starbucks peppermint mochas probably had something to do with it.)

Anyway, when all was said and done, I had made about 70 cookies.  And that meant I had to pipe 70 cookies.  (Well, maybe not quite that many because Eric and I ate some naked ones–just to make sure they tasted great.  Official taste-testers are very important.)

So here are the chocolate snowflake cookies.

And here are the vanilla cookies, with a little variety.

The vanilla ones took more time only because I flooded each cookie and then had to wait 2 hours for it to dry before I put the fondant decorations and piping on.  And then I had to wait overnight before I could stack and package them. 

But I think they turned out pretty good, considering I only had an evening to decorate them.  (Babies require lots of time, and I found only when they sleep can I actually get something done.)

I found this cute package from Martha Stewart (she is my favorite!).  They look so professional.

The kit came with stickers and paper and ribbon.  Martha thought of everything.

Thanks friends for letting me spoil you this year.  You mean so much to me and this is a little token of my love and appreciation.  Merry Christmas!