My girls and I had a great time making cookies and assorted goodies for my sister's baby shower. I found some great cookie molds at house on the hill, inc.

These molded cookies that feature a boy on a stork were made with a Springerle cookie recipe from the International Cookie Cookbook by Nancy Baggett (scroll down a bit). I adjusted the recipe a bit - using anise extract instead of the whole anise seeds. For an extra special touch (for an extra special day) we coated the back with bittersweet chocolate.




These cookies show a mother rocking her baby in a cradle. We used the same cookbook to make a slightly spicy Speculaas cookie and lightly dusted them with powdered sugar.




For our first try at molded cookies I think they came out very well and were easier than I thought they would be - they do take a little time and patience but they were a big hit. I look forward to sweetening our whole year with other cookie molds from House on the Hill.

And again we consulted the International Cookie Cookbook for one of our favorite sugar cookie recipes. We used a baby bottle shaped cookie cutter that I had ordered (along with some other lovely things) from Hope Chest Legacy.





Aunt Laura is expecting a little girl and our secret for the pink icing is beet juice! If you have a suggestion for a natural blue please let us know.