The final result

I don't know if I made it clear but the last cookies that I pictured were from years gone by. After a couple of decorating disasters (sticky frosting) I gave up on the cutout cookies but I'm back in the game now. This year's cookies were a success as far as I'm concerned. The Wilton Cooking Icing set up nicely and tasted fine actually. I was worried that it wouldn't taste good.

I could only find white and orange so I tinted some of the white icing violet, black and gray. I used my Pampered Chef accent decorator bottles for the colors I tinted myself. I did try some Betty Crocker cookie icing (just for the green pumpkin stems). That brand doesn't require the brief microwave heating that the Wilton requires so it was a bit thicker. I think it would have slightly harder to work with but it set up great too.

Both lack the shine of the Toba Garrett Glacé (which is just powdered sugar, corn syrup, milk and flavoring) but the quick and sturdy drying won me over.

The premade icings are expensive (I think $4.99 for the Wilton and $3.45 for the Better Crocker). I used a coupon in Michael's for the Wilton. It says you can ice one dozen 3-inch cookies with one bottle but I only used about 1 1/2 bottles for 2 1/2 dozen cookies. If you've ever struggled with sticky frosted cookies you would probably agree with me that it's worth the money.

I really love this King Arthur recipe for cutout cookies. I've got the cookie making down. I found the right icing. Now I just need to work on my decorating skills. I see many more cutout cookies in my future.

Question of the Day: How many cookie cutter do you own? I have tons. I have one of those huge plastic sets that has a cutter for just about every occasion.