ON THE SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
– SCHOOL HOLIDAYS BEGIN
And we make the best eva sugar cookies.
I love this tradition – not only because they are seriously yummy but the girls love to decorate the cookies. Since we have been doing this since Bean was a baby they are all developing some serious skills and their seems to be some good natured rivalry as to who’s cookies are the best decorated!
Our tradition has evolved over the years since the terrible trio have are all at school now, but on the first day of holidays we wack on our favourite Christmas movies and start baking.
We have experimented over the years with recipes but this one seems to suit us best. And as we are in Australia we don’t have to worry about our butter taking ages to soften, but if you are located some where else, make sure you pop your butter on the bench to soften before you start.
We don’t tend to stick to the traditional Christmas shapes – this year we have unicorn cookie cutters which I know means we will mainly have unicorn cookies this year!
To make the shapes in the picture to the left I just gently pressed the smaller cookie cutters into the square.
This makes it easier to decorate too – you have a pre made line to follow!
To decorate we generally use what ever is in the cupboards.
These writing gels are a firm favourite, but we also make Royal Icing and food colouring to make different colours.
In Australia (and I presume elsewhere) you can buy Royal icing in the supermarkets. Other wise this recipe {here} is a good one.
My Nan always said (when she watched me with food colouring) “Darling…You know you only need one or two drops?” but like the artist I am I love the vibrant colours so I add a lot more than one or two drops of colouring!
When the girls were younger they preferred the gel pens to the royal icing because they had more control.
but I always preferred to royal icing and using a black gel for outlines.
They are so vibrant and if you are looking for a little gift for an acquaintance or your kids bus driver or the postie, they look amazing in cellophane bags with a pretty ribbon.
Do you have a favourite cookie recipe that you make for Christmas or special occasions? I would love if you shared it with us – just let us know in the comments or hit reply to this email!
TOMORROW pop back for some fun decorating ideas that the kids and I do in the holidays!
DAY ONE | DAY TWO | DAY THREE | DAY FOUR | DAY FIVE | DAY SIX
P.S The 12 days of Christmas is a collection of stories and traditions and fun things that we do in Casa da Mac in the lead up to Christmas. Pop back tomorrow for another post!!
