Squirrel Cookies

How to make a squirrel cookie:

1. Make dough according to the recipe. (Recipe follows.) Cut out and bake squirrels.
2. Make frosting according to the recipe. (Recipe follows.) Use Americolor soft gel pastes (Chocolate Brown and Super Black) to make light brown and black frosting.
3. Prepare two frosting bags with couplers and decorating tips (one with size "2" and one with size "4"). Fill the bag with size "2" tip with black and fill the size "4" tip with half of your light brown, covering the rest. Tie both closed with rubber bands.
4. Pipe the outline of the squirrel with the black and let set 15 minutes.
5. Fill the tail with the light brown by piping back and forth and immediately coat with white sprinkles.
6. Thin the reserved light brown frosting with a few drops of water until the consistency of thick glue. Fill an empty frosting bag, close with a rubber band, snip 1/8 inch from the tip and pipe to fill the squirrel. Let the frosting run to the edges, encouraging with a toothpick.
7. Let set several hours and pipe the eye with black.
8. If desired, adhere a walnut to his hand with a dab of frosting.

Sugar Cookies:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
(can add 1 1/2 tsp almond extract here. Yummy. I do that.)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and blend well. Add extracts and blend. Mix flour and salt and gradually add. Cover dough with plastic wrap (I usually put mine in a gallon size Ziploc bag) and chill dough for about 2 hours. Working with about 1/3 of the batch at a time, briefly knead the chilled dough and roll about 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes. Bake cut out cookies on parchment lined baking trays at 375 for 12-14 minutes. Note: You can also freeze dough. After mixing, put dough in a gallon size Freezer ziploc bag (or wrap well) and freeze. Thaw overnight or for at least a few hours in the refrigerator in the ziploc bag. If too chilled to handle, let sit at room temperature for about 1/2 hour to 1 hour until it's workable. Chilled is good, though, don't let it get too mushy.

Chocolate Rolled Cookies
1 cup (2 sticks) slightly softened, unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and blend. Mix together the dry ingredients and gradually add to the wet. Cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours. When chilled, roll out on a floured surface, cut out shapes, and bake on a parchment paper-lined baking tray in a preheated 375 degree oven. Bake 8 to 10 minutes for small cookies, 10 to 12 minutes for larger cookies, or until edges are crisp. TIP: In lieu of flour, which may show up on the surface, you can roll cookies between two pieces of wax paper.

Royal Icing (sort of):

Note: This frosting is similar to royal icing, but I add shortening and flavoring to make it taste delicious. Thus, it dries hard enough to handle and pack when left overnight, but not rock hard, like traditional royal icing. The consistency is NOT the runny kind used for flooding. It's stiffer. Take a spoonful, turn it over the bowl. The frosting should cling to the spoon and slowly fall into the bowl. That's the right consistency.

4 tblsp meringue powder (available at many supermarkets and in most craft stores)
1/2 cup water
7-8 cups confectioner's sugar (may need more or less, see the consistency advice above)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tblsp Crisco
2 Tblsp light corn syrup

Whip the meringue powder and water on high speed for a looooong time, several minutes, until it's fluffy and peaks form (use an electric hand beater or the wire whisk of your standing mixer). Gradually add the rest of the ingredients to desired consistency. Store at room temperature in a sealed container for up to a month.

Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 to 6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Cream the butter with a mixer. Add 3 cups confectioner's sugar, 1 cup at a time, blending well with each addition (mixture may be dry and crumbly). Add 3 tablespoons milk and vanilla and blend. Blend in remaining confectioner's sugar. Add more milk (about 3 tablespoons) until desired consistency is reached. Add more milk to thin and more sugar to thicken.

Recipe Source: http://www.thedecoratedcookieblog.com/2010/11/silly-squirrels.html