Christmas and some cookies

Okay… finally, the post from last weekend. My camera never did wake up by the way. But I did manage to get all the photos off using a friend’s card reader. Yay! Unfortunately, no built in card readers on my printer or computer… Boo!

And, I would have posted this last night, but I spent the evening at Pioneer Woman’s ^[1] book signing in Atlanta. Fun! Fun! More on that soon. Thankfully, I did have a working camera with me for that. A brand new Canon Digital Rebel XSi ^[2] that I borrowed. It’s nice having generous friends. But, I kinda wish I hadn’t started using it. I might not be able to give it back. Bigger screen, More megapixels. And I’ve convinced myself the photo quality is far superior. It is. I know it is. Maybe my camera will be unfixable. Is that a word?

Anyway, here’s the goods or goodies from last weekend.

It’s coming up on Christmas, so I wanted to make some decorated sugar cookies. But I didn’t really want to make traditional Christmas shapes. So instead, I used a cute little cupcake cutter I recently bought. I also went with a less than traditional color scheme and chocolate sugar cookies to help make the colors pop.

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I love sugar cookies. Too bad I love them more than they love me. I’m still trying to perfect my piping. I will not give up. I will have non-lumpy lines one day.

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These were two of the better ones.

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These … not so much. But squint and they’ll look better.

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See …… Okay, I’m kidding. I kid. These are the good ones. Well, the better ones anyway.

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It helps to plan ahead when you work with royal icing. Draw out the colors you want for borders and the colors you want to fill with in advance.

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The cookie recipe is from the book, Cookie Craft ^[9]. Get a copy if you have any desire to learn how to make these kind of decorated cookies. It’s jam-packed with tips and tricks.

Or maybe you’ll win this.

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Yes, the original Cookie Craft ^[9] came out with a mini Cookie Craft Christmas ^[11] book.

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Also with recipes, ideas, and tips. It’s very cute. And small, which you know I like.

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You’ll also get this cute 2-piece cupcake cookie cutter set. Love it!

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And some cupcake stencils. You can use these on cookies, too.

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A cupcake-shaped cake tester. This totally unnecessary utensil was too cute to pass up.

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And so were these mini spatulas. I bought all the goodies (except for the cookie book I picked up at the bookstore) from Crate & Barrel ^[17] if you want to look them up. I like finding cute things. Hope you like them, too.

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And it all comes stuffed in a sparkly stocking.

Enter to win it all.

• Just leave a comment on this post and tell me what you want this Christmas. Big or small. Silly or Serious. Let’s share.
• Me first… I want to spend time with all my family. Laughing. Hugging. Eating. And I want to take lots of pictures of them with my brand new, big, shiny camera. Yeah, that sounds good.
• Deadline to enter is Wednesday, December 9 at 7:00 pm ET.TIME’S UP!
• Winner selected at random ^[19] and announced sometime Wednesday evening on this post.

Good luck.

Winner.
We have a winner. And it’s a high number this time.

#5935 – YAY CAROLINE! Hope you like the stocking full of stuff and hope you get that immersion blender, too.
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And everyone else that entered. Thank you for sharing your Christmas wishes. I’ve smiled and cried multiple times reading through them. Some really important ones out there. I hope you get them granted. Hugs to you all.