Little cookies, big announcement

As far back as I can remember, I have essentially been a wanna-be mommy at heart.

At four years old, I couldn't wait for my little brother to be born so I could hold, kiss, and play with him. I would generously offer name suggestions (which undoubtedly resembled popular Disney and storybook characters) and watch as my parents set up the nursery.

When he finally made his appearance, my curiosity and excitement only grew. I would eagerly stand alongside my mom, doll in hand, learning to test water temperatures at bath time.

Now, over 21 years later, my sweet husband and I have our own exciting announcement. . .

That's right! We feel so blessed to announce that we are expecting our own precious little bundle of joy in less than six months. We have had so much fun sharing the news with our family and close friends over the past few weeks. However, because many of our loved ones live in different towns, a lot of sharing had to be done over the phone.

So when I realized that my husband would eventually need to make the announcement at work, I took the opportunity to do something fun. I made baby announcement cookies!

I decided to make basic sugar cookies and decorate them with royal icing. These are some of my favorite projects, because the decorating options are endless. After digging through my cookie cutters for about an hour, I was able to determine a design and get started!

I made my sugar cookie dough a day ahead and allowed it to chill overnight in the refrigerator. I have learned that performing this step early allows for a lot more time and energy on decorating day. After chilling, the dough was ready to be cut and baked!

While the cookies were baking and cooling, I mixed and colored my icing. This step can be time-consuming depending on how many colors and consistencies need to be mixed. Just remember that if you're using royal icing, the portions not being used need to be covered with plastic wrap to avoid drying.

I mixed five different "gender neutral" icing colors with various consistencies. This was enough variety to give me plenty of options for the cookies I had designed.

Icing consistency is really important when you begin piping. The wrong consistency can make decorating more difficult and possibly ruin the final look of your cookies. Learning the correct amount of water to add to the icing takes practice! I had to adjust several of my mixtures before I found the appropriate consistency.

When I finished, our baby announcement plate looked like this:

Well... it might be missing a cookie or two. Let's face it, the pregnant lady had to do a taste test!