Happy 2013!

Another year over and a new one beginning! Happy 2013!

The beginning of a new year is always a time for self-reflection (I'm big on New Years Resolutions). This year, one of my New Years Resolutions is to find balance. As you've probably noticed, these past few months have been lacking in posts. So a part of this "balance" is figuring out how to introduce hobbies back into my life, things like art, baking, learning languages, and of course blogging.

With a semester of medical school behind me, I have a better idea of what I can handle. This semester, I hope to find a way to work my hobbies into my schedule so it's not just study study study all the time. In terms of art, I'm thinking for February, I'm going to challenge myself to do at least one sketch a week (I'll save painting and pastels for summer), and for March, a photograph a day. In terms of baking, I'm going for a more structured approach since the process takes such a large chunk of time, what with planning, buying ingredients, the actual baking, and decorating. And, of course, my goal for blogging for now is to post at least once a month; no more months with no posts >:|.

A little bit on these cookies. For NYE this year, my friends and I decided to stay in for a casual get-together (lots of Mario Party while sipping sangria). To match the mood, I opted for something a bit fancy, but not over-the-top, which resulted in these cookies. They're not too hard to make and are quite pretty. I really like the contrast between the more demure pink icing with white pearls and the wilder black icing with silver balls. These are perfect for both a fancy dressy event and a casual night-in chilling with friends.

P.S. Did any of you make any interesting New Years Resolutions? Share :)!

2013 Cookies
sugar cookie dough recipe
sugar cookie icing recipe
pearl sprinkles
silver sprinkles
gel food coloring

number cookie cutters
toothpicks

Make the cookie dough as indicated in the recipe. Cut out 2, 0, 1, and 3 from the dough. Place the numbers in order on a parchment lined baking sheet so that the numbers are touching. No need to chill the cut-outs. Bake the cookies until the edges are slightly golden. Take them out, let them cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Let the cookies completely cool before decorating them. Make the sugar cookie icing as indicated in the recipe. Tint it with gel food coloring (since it's pretty concentrated, you won't need to add that much. Spread the icing on the cookies. I used a toothpick to spread it, but you can probably pipe it on with a piping bag (it'd probably go much faster). After icing a cookie, place either the pearl or silver sprinkles on the cookie, following the numbers. Repeat with the other cookies. Let the icing dry and serve.