Little Baby Jesus Cookies

     Since I'm just starting to dip my toe into this cookie thing I haven't been doing much Christmas baking.  In fact the only Christmas cookies I did this year were some Christmas minis to go along with a party gift.  They were just basic Christmas shapes but I wanted them to be a little special.  So I thought what I really need is a little baby Jesus. Don't we all :)

I was so happy with how well they turned out!  Here's what you need to make them yourself;
a jelly bean cookie cutter - or something close
peach colored flood icing in a thick consistency
white flood icing in a thick consistency
various piping colors for the details

I'm sure someone must make a jelly bean cookie cutter but I don't own one. Instead I used half a plastic jelly bean from Easter and it worked just fine.  You could also use a moon cutter or a half circle and trim the edges a bit.

Start by outlining and filing the face with the thick peach flood icing.  Let that set up a little bit while you are working on other things.  Come back and fill the rest with white.  Let dry for several hours or overnight.  Add the ears, eyelids and nose in flesh.  Pipe "swaddling" lines in white.

For extra impact add a little hair and a halo.  Now, I think the halo is essential for this desgin because it's a symbol we link instantly with Jesus from art history.  If you're making a lot of Christmas cookies you probably have yellow anyway, but if you don't have yellow I think it's worth mixing just for these cookies.

Don't let your Holiday get so busy you forget the true Reason for the Season.

Here's wishing you a Merry and Joyful Christmas!

Chubby Santa Bellies

I must say I love the Santa-Belly design trend.  It's so simple and instantly recognizable.  Put a belt on an ornament, a snow globe, a dog sweater, and Viola!  Instant jolly.

I made some Christmas mini cookies last week as part of a gift and I knew I wanted to include the Santa belly.  But I also wanted to add some dimension so the cookies would be "chubby".  I've seen dimension done with cookies using fondant, and while I like a thin layer of fondant as icing well enough, I'm not crazy about using it as thick pieces. So...

...instead I used a sugar cookie truffle to form the belly.  You could use cake balls too I'm sure, but I had sugar cookies on hand already!
    I dipped it all in a thick red flood icing and let it dry before finishing it off with the details. It worked pretty well.  Until the red icing overflowed the sides while they were drying.  So I had to trim off the excess and they didn't look "perfect" but they were still cute and tasty! 

Christmas Cafe Lattes

I've written an update to this post that shows another way to make these cookies
and an easy gift card bag topper!

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      I love just about everything about coffee.  I love the smell and all the shiny accessories.  I LOVE all the cups and saucers. About the only thing I don't love about coffee is the taste. Heh.  I can get on board with a cup of coffee and a cookie though.  And coffee cup shaped cookies; even better!

These are really simple to make.  To cut a tall cup you can use any cupcake cutter and then cut the sides a little longer with a knife.    To cut a latte with a lid, trim the tiny point off the top. 
If you have mini cutters you can use them to gently impress the shape into the dough before the cookie is baked.  You'll have an easy guide to follow for piping!

winter girls

I'm not one of those who has a huge collection of cookie cutters, but I seem to have more snowmen than any other shape.  Probably because they come in all the sets for Christmas.  And how cute is it that if you turn a snowman cookie cutter upside down you have a sweet little girl cutter!

 This one is my favorite, I love the little pigtails!

I used mostly piping and flooding icing for these except for a little thicker "flood" for the bangs to give them dimension.

 I guess this is my first real blog post so thanks for stopping by!  I had so much fun making the little girls, I hope you enjoy them too.

Doxie Cookies