February 14th

Valentine's Day has come and gone for another year...how did you spend it??

Our family stayed in for dinner (we had gone out on the weekend as a treat and I'll get my favourite 'Carrabbas' dinner in a few weeks when we're close to one!)

Little Miss and I did make the sugar cookies for her class. I let her decorate them and help put them into the little cello bags and even tied and curled the ribbon!  She did a pretty good job for a 5 year old!

Recipe

Like my fancy countertop?? The house we bought was still decorated in the 60's from when it was built...I am planning to paint it until we have the reno done...just haven't gotten it done yet!  Have any of you painted your countertop??

Back to cookies...I like this recipe, it doesn't have to be refrigerated and is forgiving...just like she says...which is good for me because I haven't worked with this kind of dough very much.

Decorating for her class

I also use Sweet Sugarbelle's royal icing recipe. It has been working well for me...I did however learn that having fresh meringue powder is important. It made all the difference! Using the older meringue powder made my icing granular...so buy some fresh!

Little Miss is learning some great hand eye coordination by doing the icing herself...she is learning to control the flow of the icing and stay 'in the lines'...I do keep reminding her that she has only done this a couple of times, so the only way she can get better is to keep trying and doing her best.(My little pep talk for her) I am surprised that she had the will and patience to sit there to do 24 cookies! I think she would have stayed to do more except it was bedtime.

I then continued to work on 'my bunch' of cookies that are a little more intricate. I'm still working on design and technique and I probably enjoy it because it's 'me' time!  Plus I like to eat them give them away to friends and family...they are not Hubby's favourite type of cookie (so sad).

Finished cookies

If you are looking for tips and techniques, visit these blogs, they are a wealth of information!

http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/blog
http://sweetopia.net

You can also view my Pinterest board 'Cookies' to get some inspiration of your own!!