Florida Christmas Cookies

Truth be told, I really do not like baking Christmas cookies.  The mixing, the icing, the baking, the hot kitchen, the cleaning, my sudden weight gain...

Really, the only thing fun about it is the finished product (and maybe the tiny bit of cookie dough that I consume...per minute).

But my kids love the whole baking thing, so I do it for them.  Ah, the things we do for love.  

I wanted to do something very different with our Christmas cookies this year. Something fun.  We always receive the loveliest Greek cookies from our Greek neighbors and the most spectacular Italian cookies from our Italian neighbors. So, being the swamp-loving, Florida Cracker that I am, I decided to make Florida Christmas cookies.  

I rounded up all the ingredients and then bribed my oldest daughter and her girlfriend to mix up the dough.  

I should have bribed them to clean up too.  Just kidding, they did a fabulous job with the mixing and the cleaning. 

Next came the cutting.  We used PlayDoh cutters in the shapes of a fish, a dolphin, a lobster, a starfish, a sea horse, and my favorite - an alligator.  

Then we frosted them in bright, fun Florida colors.

It was like an art class was going on in our kitchen.

 Florida lobster

Florida monkey

More Florida monkeys

And finally, after the icing dried, we boxed the cookies up and sent them out to our friends and neighbors. 

Aren't they cute? I love them all, but the gators are my favorite.  Perfectly Florida. 

Hugs, 

Melissa