Recipes, Bleeding, and Drawing on Cookies

So even though I really love my usual sugar cookie recipe (which is Peggy Porschen's), I thought I might try out Sweet Sugarbelle's recipe (on account of I think she is a Cookie Goddess).

I had had a hankering for cinnamon cookies for some reason, so instead of adding "flavouring", I added three teaspoons of ground cinnamon. The result was these:

And they were pretty good. The texture was very soft (almost-but-not-quite cakey?). The flavour was nice - a little sweeter than my usual recipe (quite a few of them never made it to being iced). And they worked well with the cinnamon. Another good point is that the dough does not need to be chilled before baking, so it's a good option if you're in a rush.

Honestly? I think I still prefer Peggy's recipe, flavour and texture-wise. But Sugarbelle's is good too - like most cookie reviews, this is just a personal preference. And I'd happily eat either.

Anyway, so I had a bit of a disaster when decorating these - I decided to outline my designs with black, as I really like the look of it, plus it makes life easy as you don't have to mix several different colours of piping-consistency icing. I have heard people talking about their black icing "bleeding" into their colours before, but this was the first time I have ever had it happen. It was horrendous. Seriously, these cookies were Uuuuuugly. So I pretty much gave up in disgust, and we ate them all.

But there were a few cookies that survived, because all I had done to them was iced them flat, planning to pipe designs on afterward. So the bleeding is there if you look for it, but it's not nearly so obvious. So when earlier today, my Nanna dropped in for a cuppa, and these were all I had in the house, I grabbed my Gourmet Writers and said to The Muffin, "Quick! What should I draw on the cookies?" She said "Birds, Mummy! I want little birds!"

Voila - These were scribbled on in the time it took to boil the kettle. So yes, they're a bit rough. But imagine what you could do if you actually made an effort!

This has to be the easiest way ever to decorate cookies. So you know, if you're ever feeling lazy short of time, it's an option.

Hope you're all having a good weekend - I promise there will be more sugary goodness here next week, as well as the usual Muffin Tin Monday post!