Part 1: You can never go wrong with cookies!

Yes, I am completely committing myself to a follow-up blog post by using a title of "Part 1." I'll get back to you on that. Sometime.

One of our favorite things about the Christmas season is coming up with good ideas for home baked teacher gifts. Every year we aim for something a little different, but we usually come back to some sort of cookie. Since we have a middle-schooler this year, I knew it would be challenging to have a cookie gift for each class/teacher/room, etc. As I was mulling over what to do, my brilliant girl said, "How about we make a giant cookie and they can all share?" (No, I'm not smarter than a 6th-grader;)

I emailed her homeroom teacher who was thrilled with the idea and said she would arrange a time for her team to gather around, so one day last week I delivered a box to the front office. It doesn't matter if you're 3 or ????. Everybody loves a cookie delivery at school:)

Here is how to make your giant, festive Christmas cookie:

Use a pan with sides and line with parchment paper. I mixed up a batch of the Nestle Tollhouse Recipe cookies and spread the dough in a rectangle shape. The edges won't bake perfectly, but that's okay! While the cookie is still cooling, you can take a pizza cutter and gently cut away the uneven parts. Perfect for offering up as an after school snack with a glass of milk! My guess is that you could buy the pre-packaged dough and that would work fine as well.

While the cookie cooled, I mixed up some frosting (yes, you can use canned - just don't tell me;) and color striped my decorating bag. The picture isn't great, but wanted to show you how it works. Take a butter knife for each color, dip into container (I use Wilton Paste Colors) and then run the knife along the inside of the bag. Do the same with the next color(s.)

Next, add your frosting. (This is a terrible photo, but the best I could do!) It really helps if you have a second set of hands to hold the bag while you do this! But if you are the only one in your kitchen as I was at the time, just gently plop small spoonfuls of frosting into the bag until it is about 2/3 full.

You will want to squeeze the first few shells onto a "tester" plate or wax paper. As you can see, I was a little heavy on the green coloring....better to find this out before it's placed on your cookie.

I rotated the bag about 45 degrees every time I piped so each color would show well. Once that was completed, we added Peppermint Kisses, (top corners) Andes Mints and Starlight Mints along the border - just pipe a small amount of frosting on the back of candy and attach.

A final note....I used Wilton cake boards lined in foil - they are sturdy enough on to support the frosted cookie and make transporting very easy and simple. You can find them at Michaels (usually 6 in a pack) and when used with a 40% percent coupon it's a great deal. Happy Baking!