tis' the season of giving...

so it is the time to use my bargain hunter instincts to create thoughtful (and good value) gifts for everybody... that was how this got started...
must also mention the inspiration from nigella feast (yes... gastro-porn on ABC, wed - on another note, there are quite a few cooking shows on at the moment - food safari *excellent but segments too brief*, jamie at home *full of enthusiasm, but abit staged*, nigella feast *just listen to how she describes the cooking ingredients!*, and iron chef x'mas special *awaiting this weekend*)
first there was the flour ...

abit of dough mixing... (i altered the nigella recipe and popped in some freshly ground almonds - almond meal in addition)
rolling and cutting...
the piggy and man cookie cutters had been resting in my bottom kitchen draw for ages...

TIP: when baking on wire rack... it is better to put the cookies on foil then baking sheet - otherwise they go crooked (not flat enough to receive their icing)

my trusty oven baking in action... TIP: fan forced would brown cookies on the edge v quickly while middle ones are still not... cookies cooling...

more cookies cooling...

time to add more colour and make the gifts more attractive...

alot of people say that using colour pastes are far more superior than liquid colouring, cos pastes give more intense colours? liquid ones worked fine for me and are much cheaper! (3-4 times cheaper - TIP: just add less water to the icing sugar and this is compensated by the volume of the liquid colouring)

another note - i didn't pipe on the icing, i toothpicked it - that's probably why it took so long! have to add to my wish list an "cake icing kit"...

pre-icing ideas - ideas of icing the santas...

other finished products...

and here is how it was done...

first there were the "pressies" with red, blue and yellow ribbons

the ribbons went on first then the leaves

then the christmasy colour dots... and they are diff sizes like real pressies

then... the piggys... they wore x'mas socks first...

then it was the white trim and the snowwhite tail...

and finally the eyes...

santas were the most complicated and time consuming...

they had to be given their red uniform first... (including hats)

after a good drying... it was their white trim and beards...

then the belt buckles and the eyes...

... ooo... forgot the buttons on their uniform

here we go... waving santa

after a period of air drying the icing was set and the biscuits were packaged into "gifts"...

into little friend packs...

others were all wrapped up ready to go to the neighbours...

however... they are still sitting on the bench awaiting for dispatch...