Christmas Bellies Cookie Tutorial

     One of my favorite designs for Christmas is the Santa Belly.  I love how you can wrap a black band around anything red and instantly you have Santa.   I figured why stop at Santa and went and made the whole North Pole crew!  These may be the funnest cookies I've ever made. Somehow they came together effortlessly and I think I giggled the whole time!

     It was this butterfly cutter from an Easter set of cookie cutters sold last year at Wal-Mart that first got me started.  I was looking through my cutters for another project and instantly I saw a dress with curly-toed shoes in this one.   I actually squealed when I saw it in the cutter!  If you didn't get this set last year you can get close to the shape by piecing a little bit of a flower to any other butterfly.
   After cutting the shape I pressed in a little dough to fill the space cut out between the legs and the dress.  It may have been cuter to leave it cut out, but I didn't want to risk the little legs breaking off.  I also added a little bit to make the bodice more modest but if you wanted a more risque "Santa Baby" cookie, you could go that way :)

   For the rest of the belly cookies I used a variety of different cutters.  The butterfly was used again for Mrs. Claus.  The carrot from the same Easter set became the reindeer belly.  the elf is an ice cream cone that has been smooshed to be wider and Santa is a snowman face by Wilton.

    As much as I would like to be able to take pictures of every step along the way, my kitchen is just not set up for it.  The top pic here is after the first stage of piping and filling.  You can see how basic the decorating is at this stage.  Outline each shape in royal icing and fill it in.   Allow the sections to dry for a little while before you add the section next to it and then let the base dry over night and you can start the fun part of adding all the details!
    The "jingle bells" are white candy pearls that I colored gold by brushing them with yellow food color and a touch of luster dust in a little bowl before placing them onto the wet icing.

   I hope all your Holiday plans are going off without a hitch!
   Have a great weekend!