Snowflake Cut-Out Cookies

From my home to yours I'd like to wish you all a HAPPIEST NEW YEAR!!  May 2012 be your best yet!!!

Unfortunately for me, this holiday season I've been plagued by a cold/flu that won't seem to go away.  This meant I did not make nearly as many treats as I'd have liked.  I did the best I could, though, and had a great time with these snowflakes.  I really do love making cut-out cookies!  I find the icing of cookies very relaxing and great opportunity to be creative.  Snowflakes are the perfect shape to experiment with new designs and have some fun decorating.

I made both small and large cookies.  For the background of the cookie I chose a light blue so the white flake design would stand out more  I used the standard outline and flood method.  To decorate the small flakes, I used a #1 tip with a very thick icing mixture of water and sifted confectioners sugar poured into a pastry bag.  The icing was thick enough that my hand began to cramp up from squeezing.  I made the icing so thick because I did not want it to spread and not keep its' shape.  Despite the discomfort, I love the way they turned out!

I need much more work on my hand control to make the lines even.  I free-formed the designs and want to try different patterns.  I'm actually excited to make more!

For the large snowflake cookies, I used a #2 tip with what I THOUGHT was a thick enough icing, but it wasn't.  So, the lines spread out more than I'd hoped.  Since they were large it wasn't that big of a deal, so I finished them with the icing mixture I had prepared.  They were pretty, but I still think they would look lovelier with a thinner flake line.  When I make them again I'll post an update!