Happy 4th of July!

July 4th has always been one of my favorite holidays.  I saw the cookies on the July issue of Martha Stewart Living and immediately knew I had to make them.  This technique is one of the easiest to do and the end result looks as if you spent hours on them. Many people ask "how did you do this?" Jokingly I reply "with magic."

Here in Massachusetts we've had a bit of a rainy spring and introduction into summer.  It's been seasonably warm - actually perfect - but when I made these cookies this week we had a little humidity.  Historically I don't bake in the summer but with central air conditioning, I thought I'd give it a try.  Overall it wasn't that bad but the icing took FOREVER to even slightly dry.  The cookies still have a soft coating of icing so stacking them is out of the question.   My three layer cupcake holder has flat inserts for cookies so it was super handy when I brought 3 dozen into work on Friday. Happily, by noon they were gone.

So a few more dozen are ready to go to my parent's house tomorrow for some fun July 4th festivities with friends and family.  We are hoping the kids will be able to make it to see their first fireworks!

Wishing you all a safe, happy and patriotic Fourth of July!