A note on Christmas cookies

I hear many people asking about frosting cookies. Oh it's so hard, how do you get the nice, even lines, etc. Here's a secret: I'm pretty lazy sometimes, and frosting cookies is one of those times. I'd love to do royal icing and make it fancy, but seriously, I have a lot to do, and no time to get out all my piping bags and tips and fancy sugars. (I wish I did, but I don't).

So here's how the lazy girl frosts cookies.

Icing recipe
powdered sugar, 2-3 cups, a little more, a little less
some milk, 2-3T
1/2t vanilla or other flavor (rosewater is good, if you want to surprise people)

Mix all that together with a fork or whisk. You want it to be thick, but soupy and spreadable. Add more milk or sugar, as needed. Add some coloring.

The method:
Pour your icing on a large dinner plate with a little lip on the edge (so it doesn't flow off the plate)

Take your cookie.
Hold it face down, perpendicular to the plate.

Drop it.
Pick it up,
let it drip and if necessary, scrape off the excess icing with a knife or fork.

Spread on a foil-lined cookie sheet, and let dry for a few hours.

I used to spread the icing on each cookie with a knife, but you can't imagine how messy that is. Your hands are covered in icing by the 3rd cookie, it's pretty annoying.

What I like best about this icing method (aside from being easy) is that if you slightly overbake your cookies so they're as crunchy as biscotti, the icing will soften them a bit so they're a little more chewy, and in a sealed container, they'll stay like that for several days.