A holiday stand-by

I haven't started my Christmas baking yet, but I'm sure I will make at least 1 dozen package cookies sometime this month.

I love this cookie...it's cheerful and makes a great gift for just about anyone. I've made THOUSANDS of this cookie over the past nine years...take a peek at some of the variations...

The squiggly lines were made by dragging a toothpick through wet icing. For the holly leaves (I like the ones in the top pic best), I piped dots of royal icing onto the dried flood icing and then added leaves with a food coloring pen (Americolor Gourmet Writers).

And, of course, there are dots! To learn more about adding dots, click here.

Last year, I decided to change up the bow a little and add sanding sugar. Here's how to do it. I thought plain packages with the sugar would be cute, but ended up reverting back to dotty ones. :)This year, I think a light blue and red package would be really sweet!