So I have a kindergartener. She goes to a public charter school here in Washington, DC. I’ll spare you all the charter school talk, since I’ve waxed on about it before. (To read more about the charter school system in Washington DC, click HERE and HERE.) These pencil cookies are for all the superfantabulous teachers and staff at her school, Inspired Teaching.

If you don’t have a kindergartener yourself, or if you don’t know any, I’ll tell you a little bit about what it means to be in kindergarten. It means you talk all the time. You talk all the time because you know everything. Often, having this expansive knowledge means you must correct the grown-ups around you an awful lot. You also think the world revolves around you, so you must be heard the second a thought enters your brain, no matter what is occurring around you. If the grown up you are interrupting asks you to be patient, you explain, loudly, that you can’t because the thought actually WILL leave your brain if you don’t get it out right then. As a kindergartener, you can do much more for yourself, and you know the general rules of life, but sometimes these rules are hard to follow and your toddler past still sneaks up on you in the form of whines, tantrums and arguments. In fact, arguments are relatively common for a kindergartener, be it with other kindergarteners or with siblings, friends or any grown-up. And as a kindergartener, your logic is outstanding, if only to you, so this gives you much ammunition for arguing. As a kindergartener, you also must move frequently throughout the day. This can mean jumping, running, somersaults, dancing or any similar physical activity. Often, this must be done on busy city sidewalks or during quiet time, but safety and appropriateness cause very little inner conflict for the kindergartener.

Imagine spending seven hours a day with 20 kindergarteners.

This is why we have a week of teacher appreciation. Because teachers are spending thirty-five some hours a week with our children. And they are stunningly patient and deft at handling their little (I mean big) egos. And all while teaching them stuff.

Teachers are awesome.

They deserve more than a few pencil cookies, but this is what I cooked up for the staff at my daughter’s school this week.

to make pencil cookie favors…

you will need:*

cookie dough

royal icing

pencil or crayon cookie cutter

food coloring

disposable decorating bags

couplers

decorating tips, sizes 3, 4 and 5

rubber bands

*Find the decorating bags, couplers and tips at the craft store. For food coloring, I suggest Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Egg Yellow, Chocolate Brown, Super Black and Electric Pink used here), found in specialty stores or online. For tips on finding cookie cutters, click HERE. This is the cutter I used.

step one: bake your cookies. Prepare cookie dough, chill, roll out, cut out the pencils, bake according to the recipe and let cool completely.

step two: prepare your icing. Prepare royal icing according to the recipe. Divide and tint your colors, yellow, pink, gray, black, and tan. You’ll need the most of yellow. Prepare decorating bags with couplers and tips, fill with each color and close tightly with rubber bands.

step three: decorate your cookies. For general cookie decorating instructions, click HERE.Use a 3 tip to pipe the black point. Then use a 3 tip to pipe the tan part of the pencil. Pipe and fill the eraser with a 4 tip. Pipe lines of gray with a size 4 tip. And pipe lines back and forth in yellow using a size 4 or 5 tip. Let the cookies dry overnight before packaging.

To package the cookies…

You will need:*

cellophane favor bags

ribbon

this label printable

these circle labels or white, letter-size photo paper or cardstock

Print this printable onto the circle labels or just print onto paper and cut out tags. Place the cookies in a cello bag, close with ribbon and either stick the label on the bag or use a hole punch to attach the tag to the ribbon.

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Followers may notice my recent obsession with these portrait cookies. I started with this gift for my niece. The next year I made these favors for her art-themed birthday party. And now, portrait cookies for my mom for Mother’s Day.

This is my mom.

This is my brother and his family.

This is my sister and her family.

And this is me and my family.

Seriously, the likenesses are, ahem, uncanny. No really. It’s as if I studied the fine art of portraiture.

Gift-buying in my family is never easy. We all have way too much clutter and need very few things. That’s why I always turn to cookies. They can be personalized and they never leave clutter. Only crumbs (hahahaha…. groan).

Here are some favorites of Mother’s Day past:

all about mom Mother’s Day cookies

preppy cookies

over-the-rim cookies for mom’s tea

And of course, there are plenty of flower-themed ideas. Felt flower cupcake toppers, gerbera daisy cookie pops, carnation cookie pops, bite-size daisy cookies, how to make a flower cookie arrangement, springtime marshmallows.

 to make Mother’s Day family portrait cookies… I cut out rectangle cookies with my cookie dough. Bake and let cool completely. Then I prepared my royal icing and tinted it white and gold with Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Bright White and Egg Yellow). I prepared a disposable decorating bag with coupler and tip, size “4″. I filled the bag with the gold icing and closed with a rubber band. I piped rectangles on the cookies, leaving a border. Then, I switched the tip to size “3″ and piped the frame part. After the gold set a bit, I thinned the white icing to flooding consistency, filled an empty decorating bag, snipped the tip and piped to fill the frames. Let the cookies dry super duper well, overnight.  And then I drew with the portraits with edible writers.  For basic cookie decorating how-tos click HERE. For tips on buying and using edible writers, click HERE.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!

I rarely sew. When I do, the results tend to be comical. Picture uneven hems, knots where there shouldn’t be knots, and thread stuck in the sewing machine. But a few stitches I can handle. And, I just re-took up needlepoint, which I find much more manageable than creating fashion or awe-inspiring home decor.

These stitched yarn monogram cupcake toppers are well within my range of do-able, because they are that easy to make. Use these to personalize cupcakes or to spell out a message. Or to write whatever your heart desires.

to make yarn monogram cupcake toppers…

you will need:

yarn

tapestry or embroidery needle

cardstock with a good thickness

white mailing labels

scissors

pencil

lollipop sticks

 cupcakes

what to do:

First, cut the cardstock to the size topper you want. I made rectangles 1 1/2 inches by 2 inches. Lightly sketch a letter in pencil. Thread the tapestry needle with the yarn and sew on the paper to cover the pencil. TIP: It helps to poke holes along the letter first where you want to sew. When the letter is finished, cut a piece of mailing label to cover the ends and attach the lollipop stick on the back. Stick in a cupcake and serve.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!

This whole kids-drawing-on-cookies thing is not new to this blog. My daughter first make her own cookie art HERE when she was just a wee lass of two. And I gave my niece these framed cookies and a set of markers for her 7th birthday. Well, I adapted that same idea for her 8th birthday, celebrated at a kid’s art studio (did they have those when I was a kid? because I would’ve loved that).

And drawing on food is old hat around here, of course. For tips on choosing and buying edible writers, click HERE.

To make these, I used a small rectangle cutter to cut out the cookies with my cookie dough. Then I prepared my royal icing and tinted it white and gold with Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Bright White and Egg Yellow). Then, I prepared a disposable decorating bag with couplers and tip, size “4″. I filled the bag with the gold and closed with a rubber band. I piped rectangles on the cookies, leaving a border. Then, I switched the tip to size “3″ and piped the frame part. After the gold set a bit, I thinned the white icing to flooding consistency, filled an empty decorating bag, snipped the tip and piped to fill the frames. Let the cookies dry super duper well, overnight.    (For basic cookie decorating how-tos click HERE.) To package, place a cookie in a cello bag, tie with ribbon and attach an edible writer to the ribbon.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!

I suppose it’s only fair that if my brother had to work for his birthday cookies, my sister would, too. And I had to make sure my two, young nieces have my sister assemble these flowers before eating them, because she’s good at finding loopholes. For the record, she’s also good at throwing parties, being a mom, sharp jokes, discerning the character of others, giving advice and yelling while driving.

The cookie package contains four stems, five leaves, four flower centers and twenty-four petals. I included a note of explanation, but I think she might have even figured it out on her own. She’s a smartie. (I almost wrote “one smart cookie,” but then I figured you’d judge me for the bad pun.)

And by the way, to make sure these were assembled before eating, my nieces took the liberty of doing the assembling themselves. Here they are in action:

And here’s the final result. Interesting. I never thought to do multi-colored petals, but I like them much better than my own, boring, monotone ones. Kids are smart. (And these cuties are also available for any lucrative modeling gigs or Hollywood commercials.)

to make flower puzzle cookies

you will need:*

cookie dough

royal icing

circle cookie cutter

leaf cookie or fondant cutter

knife or dough scraper

heart cookie cutter

food coloring

disposable decorating bags

couplers

size “3″ and/or “4″ decorating tips

rubber bands

sprinkles (optional)

*Find the cookie cutters at specialty shops or in the craft store, perhaps as part of cookie or fondant cutter sets. You’ll also find the decorating bags, couplers, decorating tips and sprinkles in the craft store. I used a 1 1/4-inch circle, 2-inch and 3-inch leaves, and a 2-inch heart (the heart is for the petals). For the decorating tips, use any size you prefer. I chose a mix of “3″s and “4″s. For food coloring, I suggest Americolor Soft Gel Pastes, available in specialty stores or online. Leaf Green, Electric Green, Electric Pink, Orange, Turquoise, and Egg Yellow used here.

step one: Prepare the cookie dough according to the recipe. Chill and roll out on a floured surface and cut out your pieces: Circles for the flower centers and leaves for the, um, leaves. To make the stems, I used a dough scraper to cut out 1/2-inch by 4-inch rectangles. To make the petals, I cut a heart shape in half vertically, smoothing the sides with my fingers a bit. Bake and let cool completely.

step two: Prepare the royal icing according to the recipe. Divide and tint your preferred colors. I made yellow for the centers, pink, orange, and turquoise for the petals, and two shades of green for the stems and leaves. Prepare a decorating bag with coupler and tip for each color, fill and close the bags tightly with rubber bands.

step three: Decorate your cookies. Decorate however you like best. I outlined each cookie first and let set about 15 minutes. I then piped to fill each cookie. I used one consistency of icing, in between an outline consistency and a flooding consistency, so I could both outline and fill with the same decorating bag. For more tips on basic cookie decorating, click HERE. To make the flower centers, I piped and filled a circle with yellow icing then immediately coated with yellow sprinkles.  TIP: For easy decorating (where you don’t have to worry about the icing consistency, or seeing the “lines” of icing), just outline and fill the cookie and immediately coat in the same color of sprinkles.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!