Cookies. Aren't cookies just the best? Everyone knows I make the best frosted cut-out cookies during the holidays. The secrets? The first secret of cookie baking is to follow the recipe to a T. Don't add extra flour to try and stretch the batter! I had a relative who did that and it drove me nuts. The second rule of cookie baking is to use simple shapes-- circles, pumpkins, evergreen trees. These are uniform thickness shapes that are easy to get off the pan with a spatula. Shapes like reindeer with intricate antlers or angels with tiny folded praying hands are no good. Cookies are so nostalgia-inducing, too. One of my best memories is of my grandfather taking me to Point Bakery in downtown Stevens Point for frosted sugar cookies in the nineties. Typically decorated with a green dinosaur or shamrock, these cookies were iconic. The closest thing to these cookies I have found in the past twenty-five years are the frosted sugar cookies from Main Grain Bakery in Stevens Point. This painting is inspired by those cookies. I've sworn off sugar as of turning forty, but every day, I fantasize just a little about wandering over to grab a lil' sweet.