silly squirrels

The story of how I met one of my dearest friends (over a decade ago) involves a smushed squirrel and the ensuing grief. I'll spare you the details, but the squirrel has always had a particular meaning for us both because of this. And this particular friend is also a particularly good gift giver, the sort of gift giver who always finds exactly what is significant and perfect for others. Tucked into her latest gift to me was a little squirrel cookie cutter (find them here). And so I made squirrel cookies.

how to make a squirrel cookie:

1.  Make dough according to the recipe. Cut out and bake squirrels.  2. Make frosting according to the recipe. 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.

*Find the sprinkles, frosting bags, couplers and tips at the craft store. Find the food coloring online or in specialty stores. Find the squirrel cutter HERE. Click HERE for tips on finding supplies.