Summery Ladybug Cookies

It is a hot summer!

I mean really hot! My running's been down, even though I'm training for my silly fall marathon... all I can feel is the humidity. The best part of living on the lake is the idea that at the end of a run, or of a long day, you can jump in the lake! It's perfect weather for swimming! Next year's Triathlon should be easy, right?

I hope everyone is beating the heat and staying healthy. When the heat gets bad, I pull out some cookie dough, cut a few shapes (7 min in the oven), then I decorate. Here's my latest, Ladybugs! (with tiny butterflies).

It's funny, I bought a mold for a ladybug a while back to make ladybug cookies for a then order, but I never much cared for the cutter. The cutter in question had legs. I don't know why, but I never cared for the legs on the bug, and no matter how I used the cutter, I never liked the outcome. Since I like to experiment with my cutters, I made a new ladybug shape using a round cookie cutter (for the body) and a Hershey kiss cutter (for the antenna). I like this design a olot more!< I guess the moral is that you don't always need a cutter. Many of the food bloggers out there seem to be doing this 'make a new design from an old cutter' trick. Basically, you have to look outside of the box. And while the lady bugs are not exactly 'outside of the box' or revolutionary, they still look adorable!

For the little butterflies, I wanted to use the small bit of dough I had left over. I just piped on white icing and then drew on the butterflies quickly with a food marker. Bite-sized fun! (Why do they call food fun?).

So, now I'm off to take a nap. That is the other great thing about summer... napping! I've got a lot of work ahead in the coming weeks, and I really should start planning for the new school year.
I guess I'm going to have to think about work soon... sigh!

Stay cool!