Despite my self-proclaimed status as the Queen of Gingerbread (the crown totally helps me get through baking 100+ gingerbread houses each year!), I haven't done any construction work with sugar cookies. No real reason why, but for the Little Red Riding Hood picnic, I decided to change that and make edible cookie baskets to hold my mini applesauce spice muffins.
My piping skills are seriously unimpressive, but even with my level of ability, I love how the cookie boxes turned out!
And seriously, a box made out of cookies, holding more treats inside? That would be pretty awesome, no matter how it was decorated!
I baked up my favorite sugar cookies, and cut them in rectangles to form the four sides of my basket and the bottom. I whipped up some nice, stiff royal icing (you want it to be able to hold its shape, not spread out like flooding icing) and used a basket weave icing tip to create the woven effect on the cookies.
I let the basket-weave icing dry completely, and then assembled my cookie boxes using more of the same brown royal icing. I didn't bother putting any icing on the base of the basket, since you wouldn't be able to see it.
It's like the Turkucken of the baking world--treats inside of treats! Except I actually want to eat this nesting confection.
The kids loved it! Though, to be fair, they love any kind of cookie.
Still, I'm calling it a cookie win.
I can't wait to make a Christmas variation on this project next month!