Xmas Kookies!

Merry Christmas! Please enjoy some kooky dried fruit & nut Christmas cookies courtesy of my phenomenally crafty friend Amanda, America's answer to Ju Duoqui and her vegetable tableaus. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Amanda has turned her kitchen into an elfland artisan cookie workshop, churning out such masterpieces as Black Santa, '70s cartoon kids, a Mexican dancing lady, Dia de los Muertos skull and eyeball hand, and an entire bestiary of animals perfumed with clove and ginger. I helped with a Christmas tree for Santa to put presents under (above).

To note as you marvel at these photos: no cookie cutters were involved in the formation of these amazing sweets. And the frosting was made with powdered sugar mixed with food coloring. Inspiration begins now!

It took me over a day to find the heart to eat the bejeweled butterfly that my friend presented to me (below). Once I started, though, it was so tasty I couldn't stop, though I did eat the parts very deliberately, pausing for a moment to contemplate the reverse aging process of butterfly to saintly larva, my insect Benjamin Button.

The pretty dancing lady and her model:

Almond duck and coconut-flake-poppyseed sheep:

Mr. Tristram has two mustaches, macho-man gingerbread on the left, and real-hair maitre d' on the right:

Corey and I promise that we licked our hands thoroughly before handling the glowy saint and happy dog that other people have probably eaten by now:

Thanks Amanda! (pictured here with her lovely assistant Tom)