I have a couple of other cookie recipes I use for sugar cookies, but my favorite is “Nutmeg Bells.” Found it several years back in Good Housekeeping & I keep fixing it & fixing it. They’re addictive! The nutmeg taste is mild but definitely there. The month being October I want pumpkins so I pull out the particular cookie cutter I want. Yes, I have more than one pumpkin cutter. Doesn’t everybody? Another time, we’ll discuss making Nutmeg Sugar Cookies, but this entry is about individualizing cookies.
Notice the shy smile this fellow has.
After baking & cooling the cookies, it’s time to decorate them. The cookies are coated with orange royal icing and brownish green royal icing & outlined. Now the fun begins! I have made pumpkin cookies where I tried very hard to get each cookie to look alike, but these are going to be jack-o-lanterns. We all know that each jack-o-lantern is different from all the rest & has its own personality. That’s the intention with these cookies.
Hmmm almost a beatnik look. Remember beatniks? Doobie Gillis anyone?
I loaded the piping bag with brown royal icing & start decorating. As I pick up each cookie, I study it & it seems to tell me what it should look like. Some have faces only & some have hair. A few of them call for beards. Then there are the shy ones that hide behind their glasses. On it goes, until each one is finished. None of them look alike so I’m pleased. Not sure they’re fierce looking, but they definitely don’t look like any cookies my mother would have made.
The more traditional look
Tags: Aunt Martha Nutmeg Bells, cook, cookies, nutmeg cookies, recipe, sugar cookies