Yuletide Sand Art Cookies

These posed to be a bit more difficult - the original recipe that I found didn't quite fit in the jar. Once I figured out the measurements and the layers, things worked out better. So I did all the work and here's what I found to work for these 'pretty in the jar' and 'yummy in the tummy' jar cookies:

Dry Ingredients to be Layered in Jar:

1 C flour (bottom layer)
1/3 C green sugar
1/3 C red sugar
1/2 C flour
3/4 C dried raisins
3/4 C white chips

Colored sugar: I just added drops of food coloring to white sugar and used a whisk to mix it thoroughly together.

Use a funnel to pour ingredients in the jar and then 'tap' jar on flat surface to help settle the layers.

Label for the jar:

Ingredients You'll Need:

1/3 C butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Beat the butter until smooth. Add egg, vanilla and almond extract and continue beating until well combine. Stir in contents of jar.

Drop by teaspoonful onto cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. Enjoy!

Add labels, fabric and an optional bow and there you have it: Yuletide Sand Art Cookies!

Apple Cookies on a Stick

We made these for our Pre-school Garden of Eden/Forbidden Fruit Sunday School lesson.

What you'll need:

*  1 pkg of sugar cookie dough (or I suppose you could make       homemade cookies, but come on, who's got the time?)
*  flour
*  apple shaped cookie cutter
*  popscicle sticks
*  wax paper
*  1 can of white frosting
*  M & M candies
*  small tube of brown/black gel icing 
*  green food coloring
*  red food coloring

1.  Prepare the cookie dough
2.  Roll out dough on floured surface
3.  Cut out apple shapes from the 1/4 in thick flattened dough
4.  Put the cookie apples on the cookie sheet
5.  Place a popscicle stick on top of the cookie and slightly push down
6.  Use a small piece of dough to cover the portion of the stick that is on the cookie
7.  Bake as directed

After baking, let cookie pops cool on wire racks

While baking & cooling, prepare the frosting:

*  Take about 3/4 the container of frosting and add RED food coloring (as much as you'd like depending on how red you want it)
*  Take the other 1/4 and add GREEN food coloring (again, however much you'd like)

Once cookies have cooled, frost them!

Frost the apple red, the leaf green, and use the brown or black gel icing for the stem. (Pretty much common sense, eh?)

If you would like to add a smiley face and eyes simply put 2 dots of icing for the eyes and then put the M & M candies on that (the frosting will cement the candy) and then use the gel icing to draw a smile.

Eat!