December 4 is National Cookie Day and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate it than by hosting a Drop In & Decorate event… while the girls were in school. Yes, you read that correctly. I had friends over to ice cookies while the girls were away. You know the saying, while the cat’s away the mice will play. Well in my case, the mice were away so Mama Cat got to play.
Okay, okay, the real reason I did it while they were in school is because these cookies are not just any cookies. Drop In & Decorate is a non-profit organization who organizes and helps others organize events to decorate cookies to be donated to community services such as shelters, food pantries, and medical facilities. The cookies we decorated today will go to the Ronald McDonald House where our family stayed when Ryan was born. Because those who stay at the RMH sometimes have compromised immune systems, I wanted to limit those icing to mommies. I will make some holiday cookies with the girls another day.
If you are interested in hosting a Drop In & Decorate event, please contact lydia (at) ninecooks (dot) com. She will send you all the info you need to host a terrific event. Her site has many tips on how to streamline the process… I took her advice to use squeeze bottles to ice the cookies and let me tell you, there’s no going back. Here are some pictures of our party, um, I mean, event today.
These squeeze bottles were worth the dough
In a groove…
In progress.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, how tasty are your branches.
Details, details, details
The finished product(s) drying.
Quality Control Boardmember
(c) 2016 Leighann Marquiss
Comments (19)
Quality control is so important — I love your taster!
Cute cute cute!!
The cookies are nice too 🙂
I plan to spend the whole weekend decorating cookies at the flagship Drop In & Decorate event here in Rhode Island. Can’t wait!
oh I was right!
that is awesome!!!
I bet that was so fun! Wish I coulda been there!
i have never heard of this. That is awesome! So fun… and where do you get those bottles?
What a great idea!
Absolute awesomeness!
And yeah, where do you get the squeeze bottles? I’d be a lot more willing to let my crew ice cookies that way!
I picked up the squeeze bottles at Michael’s craft store in the baking section. I used a 40 percent off coupon and got 18 for under $10. I already envision using these to ice cookies with the local women’s shelter (and their kids) a few blocks from my house. Maybe for Valentine’s Day if I can get my act together by then. I questioned my purchase until I used them today. They rock!
what kind of icing did you use? was it just confectioners sugar and milk?
btw, beautiful and i am planning on getting the bottles for our cookie decorating!!
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I used Royal Icing with meringue powder which can be bought at Michael’s while you are buying the squeeze bottles.
DROP IN & DECORATE ROYAL ICING
Makes 2-1/2 cups, enough for one batch of large cookies.
1 lb + scant 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar (I used 1 lb.)
5 Tbsp meringue powder
1/2 cup cool water (add more, a teaspoon at a time, if needed for desired consistency)
A few drops of paste food coloring
Have fun!
Those cookies look great and that is such a wonderful way to give back to RMH. They are lifesavers!! I love your taste tester….hope he approved and you guys didn’t get in too much trouble by him!!!
Hey! Thanks for the comment! Glad you guys are enjoying some snow too….I just wish ours had lasted longer. 🙁
As for the snow cream you make a mixture out of milk, sweetener(whatever you like to use), and vanilla flavoring. I don’t have measurements(sorry!)but just start out mixing small amounts and taste to see if it’s sweet enough, etc. Then you just add in some fresh, clean snow until it’s thick enough to eat with a spoon and wal-la! Snow cream!! 🙂 Seriously it is so good once you figure out the mixture….hope you get to try it.
How in the world did I miss out on this fun and generous event?!
I love the cookies where you left some of the cookie showing through! Such a wonderful batch for a wonderful charity!
Your cookies look wonderful! Such a nice way to give back.