Dear Reader, "Painted" Christmas cookies...

I was in the holiday spirit this weekend so I made Pioneer Woman's favorite Christmas cookies.  I followed the recipe for the dough and took a taste.  It was a little salty, but I thought it might just be that my taste buds were off because I have the sniffles.

I cut out angels and circles for Christmas ornaments (I don't have a Christmas tree cookie cutter--gasp!).  I made yellow, green, and red "paints" to paint the uncooked cookies with.  This was so easy!  Such a good idea for little ones, too (less messy then icing and no fear of breaking the cookies while they pick them up to ice them). 

 I put them on the rack to cool and was so pleased with how they turned out.

Next I made some icing to outline and drizzle them with.  I made it far too thin and ended up just smearing it all over to make a sheer glaze:

Then I did the taste test....disappointed.  They still had that funny, salty taste I tasted in the dough.  I went back and checked and didn't leave out an ingredient so I don't know what the deal was.  I undercooked them, too.  Her 6 minutes=perfection didn't work for me. 

Bottom line...I loved "painting" the cookies and will definitely do it again.  I'll just use a different sugar cookie recipe.  I'll also just buy icing to trace the cookies with instead of making my own...I doubt I'll ever have much luck with the correct consistency...