Decorated sugar cookies

I love to bake.  It's stress relief for me.  Bonus points if I have a genuine reason to bake (other than just wanting some sort of goodies to eat).

I am very proud of these cookies.  My hand was killing me afterwards, but they were totally worth it. :)

My husband and I are Tampa Bay Lightning fans.  We were season ticket members (not this season though, since school and work keeps us from going to the games this year.  Next year, we'll be back).  We make the two-hour drive to Tampa for the games, or we watch from home while we wear our jerseys.  We've been there for the good times and for the bad times.  During the playoffs in 2010-2011, we were kicking butt and taking names.  And it was awesome.  And I was excited.  That time called for cookies!

Since I didn't take many pictures of the process, my step-by-step is not that great.  See the link at the bottom for more in-depth step-by-step directions.  Ignore her poor choice of team. :)

Start with your favorite sugar cookie recipe.  Roll, cut into desired shape, bake as directed (I had to reshape my lightning bolt cutter to get the correct shape).  Allow to cool completely.  Any touch of warmth will cause the icing to melt and run.  Not fun.

Then make your royal icing, and outline.  When the outline is dry, you're ready to flood.  By the time I finished the last outline, the first ones had dried and were ready for flooding.

To flood, thin your royal icing with a few drops of water, and fill a squeeze bottle.  Pour the thinned icing into the outline, making sure to get the icing into the corners of the outline (I used toothpicks to make sure I got it all in the corners).

Let your flooded cookies dry overnight.  Do not rush this, do not try to do this too early, do not pass go, do not collect $200.  If you try to decorate these too early, you end up making a mess.  Notice the smudge on Malone's jersey (and a couple other ones)?  I got too excited.  Also, Malone is my favorite Lightning player.  It has nothing to do with his eyes that could look into your soul, I promise.  Lol.

Once decorated, allow the cookies to dry again.  I left mine for a few hours until the decorator icing had hardened.  

Then, enjoy, while watching your team sweep the Caps.  Sweet, sweet victory.  :)

I have to thank the Brown Eyed Baker for the idea, although she is definitely rooting for the wrong team.  I'm just saying...