The Great Cookie Catastrophe of 2015

Lately on instagram I've seen these really beautifully decorated sugar cookies. Apparently, these cookies are a sign of a good blog because they are everywhere! Naturally, I was inspired and thought I'd try them. My goal was to make delicious cookies, frost them perfectly on the first try, blog about how easy it was, then be a huge success and go viral on Pinterest. I could see it all in my head -- it was going be uh-mazing. 

With little experience frosting cookies and without much preparation, I started out. I made some sugar cookie dough then left it in the fridge to chill. When I got back from running errands I rolled out my dough and started cutting. Despite flour everywhere, it was relatively smooth sailing. It's hard to mess up when you are just cutting shapes out of dough. 

The cookies bake and cool and it comes time to make the icing which requires large amounts of confectioner's sugar. I spill sugar all over the counters, all over myself, but I do manage to get some in the bowl. A minor set back. I finish it, divide it into my colorful latte bowls, then color it. Food coloring on fingers, but oh well. 

*Sidenote: For this type of cookie decorating you use two consistencies of icing -- the first is for the border, and then second is for the flooding. Basically, the thicker border icing keeps the runnier icing from flowing off the cookie. That's how you get that perfect glaze look. This information comes into play later in our story.

I had my icings made, put them in my icing bag with my newly purchased frosting tips and that's when things got a bit out of hand. I started with border icing, which came out surprisingly quick, so I am tracing the outline of the cookie as fast as I can, but not nearly fast enough. Then came the flood icing which was even faster than the previous icing. It's spilling out everywhere and there is no stopping it! It freely flows over the border icing, all over the table, but I press on! Because remember people, I'm blogging about this and it has to be perfect. 

I finish the first round of cookies thinking "these will look a lot better when they dry." Did they? No. Not at all. These cookies look like I decorated them with my feet, and by now I am covered in confectioners sugar and icing. My kitchen is a complete mess and I have nothing to show for it. 

Andrew came home as I was attempting to finish the last batch and says "Oh, did you have Zuzu come over to help you decorate cookies?" For reference, Zuzu is my 5 year old niece. Ha ha very funny Andrew! 

I gathered what was left of my baking pride, spent a solid 30 minutes repairing my kitchen, and put the usable cookies in a container to take to work. At least there they will be appreciated by the mouth, if not with the eyes. 

Ever failed at baking? Tell me all your kitchen failures, you're in good company. Have a great day everyone -- may your cakes rise and your cookies never crumble! 

xoxo Sallie