Christmas Light Cookies

Servings:

Cooking Time:

Ingredients:

• ½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp grated lemon peel
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 5 cups confectioners sugar
• ½ cup milk
• 1 jar each of red, yellow, and green paste food coloring
• 1 lb. bag of licorice whips
• Special Aid: Template - Click Here

Instructions:

• In a large bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Beat in egg, vanilla, and lemon peel. On low speed, gradually beat in the flour until blended. Shape dough into a disk and then wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for one hour.
• Preheat oven to 350° and lightly grease two baking sheets.
• On a floured surface, using a floured rolling pin, roll dough out to ⅛ inch thickness. Using the template, cut out the cookies.
• Place cookies, 1 inch apart, on the prepared baking sheets. Make a hole in the bottom of each cookie (in the end of the light bulb) with the straw.
• Bake cookies in batches, until golden, about 5-8 minutes a batch. Transfer cookies to wire racks and cool completely.
• For the Icing: beat together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Divide mixture evenly among the three small bowls, reserving about 1 cup of the mixture for the white icing.
• Add food coloring to each bowl to make desired colors (remember: green and yellow make blue!).
• Spread the different colored icings on the cookies on the bulb, let stand until set.
• Using a pastry bag and a small, round tip, pipe the white icing "threads" on the bottom of each bulb. Let stand until set.
• Thread the licorice "wire" through the hole made with the straw and string together!

Christmas Light Cookies are a great gift idea. These decadent treats add fun to any gift basket! A dinner host would surely love the personal touches and not soon forget you gave them a thoughtful thank you gift basket!

Special Aid: plastic straw