Stocking Stuffers

Today was officially my last day at work. Woo hoo! We are moving quite a bit away for Hubby's job, so I decided to make cookies for all the cool kids at work. We were supposed to have a Christmas party, but that had to be cancelled due to the new hours of operation. You see, not everyone is there at the same time now. But, I did make cookies for all the people in my department as sort of a non-official goodbye party.

I wanted to do something personal and something Christmasy at the same time. So, I decided to do stockings. I know plenty of people have their names, initials, etc. monogrammed or glittered onto their Christmas stockings at home, so I wanted to make a play on that. These turned out to be glittery and "monogrammed". 

These are fairly simple to make. I mean, I never do anything too hard. Plus, I'm into simplicity; I just realized that I enjoy minimalist art. Oh, did I mention I'm just a little A.D.D.? Yeah... sorry for the off-topic rant. 

Back to the cookies. Here's what you'll need:

• Green and Red gel coloring
• Edible Markers (any color)
• Green and Red sugar crystals
• Royal Icing

Using plain white royal icing, outline the top using a #2 tip. Then, using the red (or green) outline the rest of the stocking. Let that sit for about 2 minutes.

Now, flood the cookies with thinned royal icing (with the appropriate colors). A lot of people use squeeze bottles for this. I didn't, because I only needed 10 cookies. I used a small spreading knife to scoop the icing onto the cookies. Push the icing into the corners with a toothpick. Let the icing dry for a few minutes.

While the icing is still wet, but not too wet, cover the colored spaces with the appropriate colored sprinkles. Let the icing cool completely to set in the sprinkles. I waited 4 hours, but sometimes this takes longer.

When the cookies are completely dry, use the edible markers to write the names on the stockings. I decorated mine with dots on the ends of each letter. That's mostly because I don't have the best handwriting. But, a lot of people have great handwriting, so feel free to make pretty designs with the markers. That's why I love them. They are so simple to use and give you freedom to be artistic.

Not only are these great for office parties, but they are also great neighbor gifts. Another plus? They don't take long to make! So get out your baking supplies and make Santa some cookies.