High Calorie Fun

Ever had the experience where a chance encounter sets you off in a whole new direction? We have. In fact, it happens to us quite regularly. We are so easily led. It makes for an exciting life. That's for sure.

Over Thanksgiving, we visited our cousin in the Big City. (It was her husband who so kindly took us to that wonderful wool store we raved about.) Our cousin in the Big City is full of Big City ways and it's always fun to visit her to see what she's gotten up to. She is a very gifted hostess and this time, she had a sugar bowl full of decorated sugar cubes. They were the most darling sugar cubes we had ever seen. As well, she mentioned baking gingerbread men. The more she talked and the more those cubes called to us, the more interested we became.

Small canvases. Tiny edible works of art. Hmmmmm......

We ought to backtrack to explain that about 30 years ago we took a few cake decorating classes. We have the diploma to prove it. For years we didn't even know where our university diploma was (chez our parents, as it turns out) but we've always kept the framed cake decorating diploma on display in our sewing room.

We mixed up a batch of our grandmother's shortbread cookies (the original Grandma Coco) and cut them out in assorted shapes. We're using Royal Icing and we've had to experiment with recipes and getting the consistency right. Pastry bag? Parchment paper cones? or Ziplok baggie? After some trial and error, we like the parchment paper cones. No tip. No coupler. Lots of fun.

Further proof, if any was needed, that art is everywhere.