Cookies for New Year's Day

Happy New Year!

I'm blogging about cookies today (sorry no cakes or flowers), because they were requested by a good friend for an annual New Year's Day party yesterday, and I thought they might be a nice change for a post.

Every year we meet up with a group of friends at our host's beautiful home in Santa Luz, and start the year off with a 10 mile workout. The invitation is pretty vague...run, walk, bike, crawl, push a baby stroller, with or without a dog...all modes are welcome...the point is just to show up and enjoy a wonderful and healthy morning. The workout is followed by homemade chili and fixings, and a lot of good laughter shared on the patio in the warm sun.

Let me be honest in admitting I was scrambling to get these finished on time. Poor time management, surprise visits from friends, puttering around the house (aka procrastination), working on sugar flowers and plans for the New Year...all caught up with me as New Year's Eve approached, and I found myself having to bake and decorate on the same day, which is not ideal for my creativity. Practicality took over, and I ended up using just a couple of different cutters with the hope that sheer volume of the same cookie might still result in a pretty presentation.

Sugar cookie dough:



One of my favorite holiday cutters:



Sheets of baked cookies:





Cooling:



Stacks of cooled cookies:



Snowflake cookies piped with royal icing and sprinkled with sparkling sugar:



Once all the cookies were decorated and drying, I carefully planned my time for the following morning to group them all onto a platter and snap a photo to post here. That scheme quickly fell apart when the alarm didn't go off as planned, and we were scrambling to get out the door. There was no time for a photo-op once we arrived at our destination, so I decided I would take some pictures once I returned from the walk. A great idea until the cookies were found by earlier finishers and half-devoured before I could even reach for my camera (which is the point, right?).

So...while I was hoping for a nice photo of the completed platter of cookies...I was left with several stragglers at home that didn't make the cut *smile*:



But with goals for good health on track, I am now happily focusing on what 2010 will bring with regards to Petalsweet Cakes. More cakes and flowers? Yes, in a way. Changes and anything new? You bet (she says excitedly)! More coming soon...thanks so much for stopping by!