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Valentine’s Cookies

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First, let me say how much I love this Pearl Dust!  After the background icing is set up & before you start with the other details, just take a soft paint brush and dust it all over the cookie.  It gives them this lovely sheen.

This is my favorite house ~ the little heart shingles are so sweet!
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Here's the rest of the village…
Houses_a0122The snowflake cookies were made with this amazing cookie cutter from Fancy Flours.  When I ordered it, I thought it was about 3 or 4" across….it's actually 8"!  Mega cookie.
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Birdhouse_0065Royal Icing good things:  Sets up fast so you can package and travel easily with the cookies.  You can do amazing detail work with it.  Drawbacks:  Not so tasty {to me} and makes for a too-crunchy cookie.

My preference is for the taste of a softer frosting like we use on the Thanksgiving cookies.  After much trial & error, my favorite is Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Frosting in Cream Cheese flavor with an extra blended-in 8 oz package of cream cheese & some powdered sugar.  The extra cream cheese = yummier flavor.  The extra powdered sugar = faster drying time and a little more "body" to the soft frosting.

That said, I don't think I've ever made cookies prettier than these!  I'm so happy and proud of how they turned out.  :o)