Eat Mickey's Face

So, your family's smiley almost-2-year-old is obsessed with Mickey Mouse (not that he would turn his nose at 'wubby' (Wow Wow Wubbzy), 'hanny manny' (Handy Manny), 'wubbub' (Spongebob, obviously), 'giggo' (The Wiggles), or my personal favorite, 'Talioola' (Charlie and Lola, which you should really check out, regardless of your age, because they are adorable). Obviously, when his birthday comes around, there's gonna be a Mickey Mouse party.

For the party, my sister thought it would be fun to have her son's munchkin friends decorate Mickey Mouse cookies. And why buy cookies when you (or rather, me, along with my mom) can make them at home? My sister loaded us up with recipe (Martha Stewart's amazing sugar cookie recipe from her Baking Handbook (a really gorgeous and comprehensive book, by the way)), ingredients, Mickey cookie cutter, and shiny red KitchenAid, and we went to town. My sister's kitchen became a cookie factory: while Mom cut out one batch of cookies, I checked the ones in the oven, and another hunk of dough chilled in the fridge (I dare you to make this recipe without eating any of the raw dough, by the way: totally impossible).

Well, love Martha or hate her, the cookie dough was irrestible, and the cookies were perfect: not overly sweet, crispy around the edges of the ears with that delicious brown butter flavor, but tender and buttery in the middle.
They were a hit with the kids, whose artistic renderings with frosting and sprinkles and little Hershey's Kissables (have you seen this cute M-n-M-like things in Hershey Kiss shape?) were quite avant-garde, and I'm pretty sure the grownups snuck a big circular ear or two when no one was looking -- I know I did.

an esteemed guest and her masterpiece

Martha's recipe happens to be posted online here. Our tips: be generous with vanilla. Be generous with flour on your work surface and rolling pin: makes the dough much easier to handle. Do not overlook the chilling step between cutting out the cookies and baking them. Roll the dough thicker if you want chewier cookies, thinner for crispier ones.