this weekend was my sister-in-laws baby shower! my job, as per usual, was to supply the baked goods. and i was more than happy to do so. i have been spending some time recently clicking through some of the amazing food and cooking blogs out there. one in particular that i'm a sold follower of is bridgets, at bake at 350. she makes the most unbelievable cookies. i'm so jealous of her skills. i spotted these and knew i had to give them a try::

turns out i have the piping skills of an untrained chimp. seriously people, this stuff is hard. i had no control over the icing. but i loved this way of cookie decorating. normally i use a simple icing that i can paint on and let dry (really just confectioners sugar, a little lemon extract and enough milk to reach the right consistency). but royal icing is where its at. i've worked with it before but never learned how to outline and flood. which, by the way, bridget teaches you in one of her many 'you tube' tutorials! she has another site (university of cookie) thats devoted to them! at 1am i finally decided to use a toothpick to do the eyes and mouth. here was one of my first attempts at the eyes::

at that time of night it was all i could see. do you see it? c'mon. look at those eyes, now look at this::

see what i mean? at any rate, taken out of context the cookies were a success. luckily no one at the shower had seen bridgets version. phew::

so here's another thing to add to my culinary class wishlist:: piping 101. for now i'll have to keep practicing, i don't think the kids will complain, they ate all of my mistakes......so yes, lots of cookie eating this weekend.