Smitten: Mr. Bates + Anna

Valentine's Day has come and gone, but we can still talk about love, right?!?

As of yesterday, I'm caught up on Downton Abbey.
{Now, *what* will I do with my free time?!?}

Side note: Let me say that watching Downton Abbey has made me long for a return to chivalry, manners, dressing for dinner, and politeness.  Yesterday, at the Godiva store, I approached the cashier to buy a truffle from the case.  Instead of asking "how may I help you," or even "hello," the cashier said, "what's up?"  Only when I got in the car did I think that I should have answered, "yo." 

Anyhoo...no spoilers here, since I know many of you are just jumping on the Downton bandwagon, but ever since there was that little spark between Anna & Mr. Bates in the first episode, I've been completely smitten with these two.  ♥

And, I thought their cookies deserved a little lace.

Lace is about the easiest way to decorate a cookie with piping.  You really can't do it wrong...and you get major bang for your buck...or pipe...or whatever.  It looks classy and elegant and all you did was pipe on random designs.  (I'll link at the bottom of the post to some lace inspiration from other blogs.)

To make the cookies, you'll need:

• heart-shaped sugar cookies
• royal icing, divided and tinted with AmeriColor Super Black, Ivory & Regal Purple (I added a touch of ivory to my purple to tone it down a bit.)
• disposable icing bags
• couplers and tips, #3 & #1
• squeeze bottles
• toothpicks

Use a #3 tip to outline the cookies in black icing.  (I chose a #3 tip here since I really wanted the outline to show.)

Thin the purple and ivory icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup.  (Reserve some of the white icing for piping details later.) You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin.  Count of 2-3 is good.  Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed.  Pour into squeeze bottles.

Fill in the outlines with the thinned icing, using a toothpick to guide to the edges and to pop large air bubbles. 

Let the cookies dry for at least one hour.

Use a #1 tip to pipe a lace pattern and/or personalization onto the cookies.  For inspiration, try an google image search for "simple lace" or "lace patterns."

Let the cookies dry, uncovered, 6-8 hours or overnight.

For more lace cookie inspiration, check out these beauties:

• Rosey Sugar (major inspiration for these cookies)
• Sugarbelle
• Haniela's
• Sweetopia (using Sugar Veil)

Now, without any spoilers...let's not ruin it for the Downton newbies out there...are you as in love with Mr. Bates & Anna as I am? ♥

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