Cookies for J's Big 30!

Here are some of the gingerbread cookies I made for my sis-in-law for her big 30th birthday.

Kick Ass Ninja-Bread Cookies

I have never made gingerbread cookies - ever. But, I am ambitious, so when I saw these on a blog I HAD to make them. I was taking my team of interns out to dinner on Friday night, and I HAD to have these made for them - as a thank you - and because they would like it. I bought the cookie cutters online and baked the cookies early in the week since the dough had to be refrigerated overnight before I could bake them.

My first attempt = FAIL

I didn't have the right tools, and thought that I would attempt to just do it and see what comes of it. Yeah, it was a fail. I was pretty bummed out because I had already baked like 3 dozen of these cookies. (they taste really good, by the way). So, I perused the internet and found this awesome site full of great tips on how to decorate cookies. It gave me a burst of energy, so the bf and I trekked out to Michael's to get all the supplies I needed.

On Thursday night, I spent 4 hours piping 10 cookies. I was so tired, but I was taking my interns out to dinner on Friday night, and REALLY wanted to give these to them. I stayed up past midnight piping and then cutting stars out of marshmallows. I was so tired, so I decided only 3 of them would get the stars with their ninjas. I thought that I would have a hard time with the black food coloring, but the black wasn't the problem, the red was. I used half a container of the gel food coloring, which is typically brighter than the liquid AND about 2 tablespoons of the red liquid food coloring. I decided to make my ninjas pink since it was a nice retro 80's-type color and gave my ninja's some flair. Here's my icing setup:

Ninjas for my team of interns:

Black Ninja for the only boy on my team who made it to dinner:

I let my bf eat the white one:

And I also let my bf eat this pair:

After this, I went to bed. I was TIRED! On Friday, I took the interns to a great dinner and gave each of them a ninja. They all liked it, so I was happy.

On Saturday morning, I decided I had it down, and I did. Practice really does make perfect, boys and girls. I decorated a total of 24 ginger bread cookies in 2 hours. Yep, I had it down. I gave a dozen to my coworker and sent the others to my family.

Here's my Saturday morning batch:

My cat, Angus, was so interested in what I was doing. He kept trying to get to the cookies. I blocked off the side with some fruit baskets, and he's still trying to get to it from behind. So cute...