Baking is an interesting endeavor. If all of the ingredients are mixed in the right order and in the right amounts, most things turn out as expected. It is the experiments, or the decorations, that can go a bit awry.
This past week I started on the holiday cookies I began experimenting with during the long Covid Winter last year. The base ingredients and cookies always come out pretty. The decorations, not always so pretty.
In making the sugar cookies for decorating, I decided to follow the lead of what I read in a couple of magazines, and watching on YouTube. Rather than trying to make each cookie individualized, a great idea but also stressful, each of the shapes would be decorated the same. They came out pretty well.
Then there are the ones where I wanted to try a new technique. I followed the directions, had what I thought were the right tools, and I gave it a try. The result was not so pretty. Once I saw it wasn’t going to work this time, I decided to pivot. I’ll give the technique another try next year, but for this year, a little snow goes a long way.
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 