Now this is my kind of eating!! I hope you also enjoy this no-calorie trip to other quilt bloggers who have set aside their rotary cutters and fabric and have reached for bowls and spoons in order to whip up some fun seasonal treats for you to enjoy. Maybe you’ll find a new favorite that will become part of your family tradition.
Welcome to the Virtual Cookie Exchange hosted by Carol of Just Let Me Quilt. Thanks, Carol. You will find the list of participating bloggers at the end of this post.
Nothing says Christmas like baking some heart shaped cookies! What?
That’s right. I used heart shaped cookies last year when I showed reindeer cookies (read that post here).
It just seemed fitting to make Santa cookies out of hearts this year.
I rolled out heart shaped cookies using The World’s Best Rolled Cookie Dough found at the end of this post which is also the same dough I used when making Painted Christmas cookies that I shared about here.
Once the cookies were baked and cooled,
I made a Buttercream frosting which I’ve included below.
This summer Tu-Na Helper and I spent several weeks in Germany. While there I found wonderful disposable pastry bags and bought several boxes to bring back home.
These pastry bags are triangular shaped but need to have the tip cut off. I use a coupler so I can switch out tips without having to dump out the frosting or use two bags.
These bags have a wonderful grip and are not slippery like the ones I’ve found locally. So if you’re ever in Stuttgart, do check out a kitchen shop for some of these.
Here’s the bag all ready to use. I’ve inserted the coupler inside the bag, put on a tip and used the ring to hold it in place.
But if you don’t have any bags or tips (which really are inexpensive and so fun to use), you can still decorate some Santa cookies by putting frosting in a small zip lock bag and cutting a small piece out of one corner.
Now onto the decorating.
I thinned a bit of the frosting and spread it on the tips of the hearts with a knife. These heart cookies are about 3 1/2″ across.
Some red colored sugar added color.
I think I need to turn these cookies around. Using a star tip (I had #21 but #16 would even be better), I squiggled on a band on the hat and added a star dot for the puff on the tip.
Then I used the #4 tip (just a small round circle) to put dabs of frosting where the eyes and nose should be.
The cookie on the bottom left corner shows the dots. I made sure to put the M side down.
Mini M&Ms make perfect eyes and noses. You can find mini M&Ms in the baking aisle of your grocery store.
I used the star tip to draw silly mustaches under that little nose
Oops, I forgot one!
and lots of swirls around the cheeks for the beard.
Hmmm. These Santas need a mouth. So I grabbed a container of Jimmies
These are elongated sprinkles and can be found in the baking aisle near the colored sugar and decors.
and did a little sorting
to find some mouths. Using my quilting tweezers (I washed it first), I positioned a Jimmie just right to give each Santa a mouth.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!
What’s better than having 5 Santas come to the party?
A whole plate full!
Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup less 1 T. butter (or Crisco-plain not flavored)
1 T. butter
4 Tablespoons hot milk
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar (sifted before measuring) approximate
3/4 teaspoon almond flavoring or vanilla extract
Mix all the ingredients with a mixer on low speed adding enough powdered sugar to make a soft icing that will keep its shape but not be too stiff. Keep any leftover frosting in the refrigerator.
Please visit these bloggers to check out their sweets and treats. Oh, and the looking is no-calorie!!
November 27
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats Thanks for visiting me. If you like what you read and would like to become part of my reading family, please subscribe to follow by using one of the methods available on my sidebar (or below if you are reading this on your mobile phone): email, WordPress, or Bloglovin.
November 28
Adventurous Applique and Quilting
November 29
Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
Pumpkin Patch Patterns & Quilting
What I Learned Today:
- I have 4 days to sew and mail my 2018 Bee Blocks.
- November came and went very quickly.
- I think I can say the same about the whole year.
- Those long sprinkles are called Jimmies.
- Once all the pastry bags are gone, I’ll just have to go back to Germany to buy some more.
- I do not like deadlines. I tend to procrastinate and then stress out to finish the project. I thought I’d eventually grow out of it (procrastination) but that hasn’t happened yet. Oh, well, there’s always hope for tomorrow.
- I do like paper piecing. I just finished a paper pieced Christmas tree wall hanging top for a class that I’m teaching on Friday. I’ll be back in a few days with pics of it.
- Exercising at 7:15 in the morning is very hard because it is so early and I am not a morning person. After conferring with friends at aerobics this morning, we agreed that the only reason we come is for the socialization.
- Exercising with an accountability partner helps. The conversation on Monday morning went something like this.
Bonnie: “Do you want to go to aerobics on Wednesday?”
Me: “No.”
Bonnie: “Ok. I’ll pick you up at 7:05.”
Question: Do you believe in Santa? When the kids were small, we told them that anyone could be a Santa and bring surprises for someone else. We also said once they stopped believing then Santa would stop bringing them a gift. Yes, we had 20-year-old kids still telling us that they believe or maybe it was that we still wanted to hear that they did.
Thanks for stopping by and do come again.
Karen, Tu-Na Quilts
Linking to:
Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats 
Ho Ho Ho! What a cute idea! You are one smart cookie:). Merry Christmas!
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Oh, so cute! I love this idea. I wouldn’t even have thought of the Jimmies! Thanks for this idea!
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I still believe in Santa, Karen (I don’t want those gifts to end!) This is such a great idea for a Christmas cookie and I can see them being a perfect baking project with the Monkey Boys. They probably won’t look as good as yours, but will be so fun. A trip to Germany for those bags won’t work for me, but I’ll improvise with bags from Michaels. You always make me smile and I’m so glad to have you along for my cookie exchange! xo
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These are very very cute. I would love to get my hands on some of those piping bags.
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Adorable cookies, I think I might actually be able to decorate cookies like that, thanks….love sugar cookies.
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Adorable — thanks for the buttercream recipe. I hate jarred frosting — now I have another option!!
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Cute cookies, thanks for the tutorial on them.
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So very cute, thanks for the step by step!
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Awesome post–those cookies look fabulous! I always told my third grade students that I believed in Santa. 🙂
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Your santas are sew cute, Karen! Brilliant use of Jimmies (!) for the mouth. Your exercise conversation with your friend gave me the best chuckle of the morning!!! That’s a friend who’s really looking out for you!
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What great ideas, Karen! Thanks! I think we’ll be making some of those cute little reindeer at our baking day too!
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Oh dear, loaded question… lol. As a young couple, we let others convince us to not permit our children to believe in Santa. I still loved the stories and the “giving Spirit” of a Santa so I told my toddler son that he was a man that lived a long time ago, who delivered toys to all in the village. A neighbor came over and asked him if he was excited for Santa… out of the mouths of babes… “Santa is dead”… I was horrified!!!! My 2nd son was encouraged to believe after that incident…. 🙂
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LOL – we did the same thing, and my kids also told someone that Santa is dead. We had to remind them that other kids do believe that Santa is real so they shouldn’t spoil it for them.
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love your idea for the heart cookie cutter – I have one! I need to dig it out and when Melanie and Aniya plan on coming over for baking I need to have some of these already done and a couple decorated so they see where the hearts are going! thanks for the ideas
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Well, as a fellow procrastinator, I feel your pain 🙂 Your cookies are just darling. What fun! Hope you are enjoying warm weather and sunshine. As to Santa, we weren’t big on Santa, but did have a few traditions around him, like gifts from Santa.
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I knew you would have something adorable today and I smiled when the first thing I saw was the Santa cookies. My dad always told me when you stop believing Santa will stop coming and I still believed when he passed away. Now I tell my son the same thing. Thank you for sharing.
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Those are adorable. I think that would be a great project with the grandchildren this year.
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Those are just the cutest…and I love the reindeer too! Now about your exercise partner…we all need one like her in our lives. LOL!!
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What cute cookies! Thanks for sharing
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I have a large collection of Santas so, yes, I believe. Your cookies are adorable, but I don’t bake much anymore because my husband eats them all right away.
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Hi Karen! I love your friend Bonnie! I need her in my life. I also love your cute Santas. I do believe in Santa, and carry that loving/giving feeling in my heart all year long. Your cookies look delicious as does the buttercream frosting. YUM! I do hope to get to Germany next summer . . . and a kitchen shop will absolutely go on my to-do list. ~smile~ Roseanne
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Sorting sprinkles with tweezers… wow, that sure is going the extra mile! 😀 Your Santa cookies are adorable!
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Your Santa’s look fantastic. I love that you don’t have to have a Santa cutter to make these. I think I have a heart in every size. Use up those bags quick so your trip to Germany comes sooner… Merry Christmas!
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You have had some great ideas for your cookies. It is so clever to use the heart shape for Santa. I had a good laugh about your exercise conversation! The effort to go is worth it because then you can enjoy an extra cookie or two without guilt.
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Your kids are my kind of kids – still believing. 🙂 Wonderful sweet little Santa faces and I loved all the instructions on making them – especially perfect for little ones. That buttercream frosting is a keeper and one I’m going to try. Thanks for sharing all – even the things you’ve learned. PS I have a pair of tweezers that’s in my baking things that I use just for those special decorating jobs.
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These cookies are super cute, Karen! I make & decorate cookies with my son every year, but we aren’t nearly this creative.
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This was such a fun post. I lvoe the finished cookie as well as the back story on the great pastry bags. Merry Christmas
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Love your cookies! I used to have my class make ornaments like this in school and they were always adorable.
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I love the Santa cookies! You really gave us great step by step instructions! Wow! Love your blog…Christmas has changed for us since we moved to Arizona but I still BELIEVE…..🎅
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I love having you as a friend!
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ThRs a great cookie 🍪! Love that you used the same cookie but different ways. Nice to be telling us of things we need that you can get in Europe! Fortunately, not too much of a baker as I learned long ago it isn’t a calorie free event!
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Of course I believe in Santa! If you don’t believe, then you get underwear for Christmas. ;o) Cute Santa cookies! Thanks for sharing.
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Cute cookies. I think you are right, you run out of bags you head back to Germany. LOL how nice to have a workout partner.
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Thanks for joining the fun in this Hop. Have a sweet holiday.
Kathy
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That is a cute idea! THanks for sharing your creativity!
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Cookies look so sweet and cute. Thanks for sharing!
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Oh my gosh, what cute Santa cookies. Thanks for sharing steps to create them. I definitely want to give them a try.
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Very clever to use the heart for both Santa and the reindeer – I’ll have to remember that!
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