Cats and Mice

I dug my cookie decorating paraphernalia out from the very back of the kitchen cabinet last month so I could make Christmas cookies with my daughter.  It was so much fun, I decided to make room in the front of the cabinet for my cookie cutters and such.  I'm glad I did, because on a whim I decided to make cat and mouse cookie.  I have a cousin nearby who loves cats.  These will fun to take to her house.

These are fairly easy to make.  I use Wilton's roll out cookie recipe but I add quite a bit of extra flour and I use salted butter. (I like a particularly salty cookie taste to balance out the sweet icing.)   Then I make Wilton's color flow icing recipe.  The only thing I change on the icing is I add a tsp. of clear vanilla.  Load the icing in a decorating bag with a No. 3 round tip and outline the shapes.  Add a little water to the remaining icing to make the 'float' icing.  Brush it into the outlines shape with cheap plastic 'craft' paintbrushes.  While the icing is very wet, I add detail icing.  For example, I filled the 'pouncing' cat with grey icing, then immediately added large blobs of white flow icing for the paws, tail tip and cheeks.  Use a toothpick to 'draw out' the sides of the cat's cheeks.  For the yellow cats, I added white streaks and then 'marbled' with a toothpick.  After the cookies are fairly dry, I add the noses and eyes.