On the Eleventh Day of Christmas Cookies

THIS is where the mess magic happens!

Yesterday Sheep (and Snacks!) and I hosted the 6th Annual Playgroup Cookie Party (OMG!!) with our friends from playgroup!  Such a great time with some truly great friends - how blessed I have been by them through the years!  The 'original' group came together during birth classes at our local hospital and I was lucky enough to be asked to join by one of it's members when Sheep arrived about 9 months later.  Being a first time mom AND having a younger child means I have been the beneficiary of all their mommy successes - and failures!   What a gift!

While the 'origianl gang' has all grown up, and some have (sadly) moved away, we've still managed to stay connected and I am blessed to call this fine group of women my friends!  And although we've morphed into mostly a girls' night out group now (Nothin' wrong with that!!), we have managed to get together at the holidays for our cookie party!

Christmas 2006

Look at those tiny little creatures!

Christmas 2011

Since Sheep and I have already decorated sugar cookies with icing TWICE this season, I decided to change it up a bit, and 'paint' our sugar cookies this year using egg yolk paint.  It's fun, fast and a twist to our traditional cookies and icing free-for-all!  I wish I could tell you it was neater than icing but either way, messy seems to be our MO at the cookie party!  Hey, it's only once a year and  . . .

WE LOVE IT!!

We always use the same sugar cookie recipe, which you can find here, so here is how you prepare your 'paint' - enjoy!

Egg Yolk Paint

Egg yolks (you can make approximately 2 colors per egg yolk)
1 tablespoon water per yolk
3-5 drops liquid food coloring

Beat yolks and water together. 

Separate into small containers and add food coloring as desired. 

Use small paint brushes to apply paint to UNBAKED, cutout cookies. 

Sprinkle with sugar before baking in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. 

Place on cookie racks to cool and try to fight the kids off - ha! 

Actually, we skip that step and just let them gorge themselves on cookies all afternoon!!  After all, we're indulging on mommy drinks and cookies ourselves - yippee!

I hope everyone has as wonderful a Christmas as we do each year - celebrating with our family - and our playgroup family as well.

Merry Christmas y'all!