That's crazy. I just went and looked at mine in the cabinet. Sure enough, it says "for decoration only". Absurd. I just made several dozen sugar cookies; thank goodness none with dragees.

I do swear by edible food pens now, though.

Well that is just crazy! Why would you even think that something that was on a cake or cookie wasn't meant to be eaten. (Unless it was the plastic topper on a wedding cake.)

We used to use those all the time when I was a kid in the 70's. Never plucked them off of our cookies before eating. There was a time, maybe in the 90's, when they were hard to find. At least around here, but I can’t remember why.

Interesting. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t find them in the store. I do remember eating them as a kid.

I checked out the multicolored sprinkles I purchased and none carries any warning about not being edible so maybe it is the silver or metallic ones only?

I also got a small tube of black gel sold in the same area as the sprinkles so I could make eyes, I didn't see any marker pens, and I presume the gel is just colored with food coloring because it had no warnings either.

Yes, silver dragees have been considered inedible by the FDA for a long time. Funnily enough, I was just reading an article about what happens if you eat them (spoiler: not much)...

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/silver-dragees-balls-cookies-fda_us_5a297643e4b03ece0300da6e

P.S. I ate them all the time as a kid, but no more. Bigger danger from them, IMO, is to your teeth/dental work.

Lucille, tell me more about your cookies. This year was my first foray into "serious" cookie making and i had mixed results. How about you?

I've only made one small batch as up until a few days ago I was still assembling the cookie 'stuff' including cookie cutters and sprinkles. It was your polar bear that got me started on all this:)

Further cookies to be made just before Christmas, as home made cookies at my house seem to have a very short life span.

Don't blame me, it was Funky and her elephants!

I found polar bears to be the easiest. My mittens were eh, and my ornaments were awful. I don't think I will try to make anything that is a perfect geometric form again; it is too easy to see imperfections in cutting or piping. You can tell immediately if a circle is off the tiniest bit, but not a polar bear's back or head.

I also followed this blogger to choose my icing colors, and even though I bought what she listed, I did not like the colors. Her colors looked sophisticated to me; eg her green was sort of olive-y. When I followed her directions it did not look olive. I added some red to grey it a bit and what i got was cement-looking sugar cookie ornaments. I also discovered that when you do wet designs (like marbling) you need to make sure you do not overdo the amount of icing, or it won't dry smoothly. The other issue I had with my ornaments was i wanted a hole in them to put a twine hanger on them. Love the look, but the holes are tricky. Sometimes they closed up during baking (chilling the cut cookie before helped). Even ones that appeared open were closed in the back. very tricky

Last tip -- cute glassine bags and french wire ribbon hides a lot of sins!

Mtn-let’s see them. :) You too, Lucille, when you get them done.

ETA: For me, it was your pic of the blue mittens and skates that inspired me. I’m still working on the icing consistency. Here’s mine, but the skates aren’t done yet.

Dee, those are great! I love the colors and designs you chose!!!

I will snap some photos. But mine look better with a blurred lense, a filter and from 5 feet away. : ) (just like me, come to think of it)

Thanks. The design on the snowflake hides the face that the flooding icing was a little too thick, and wasn’t completely flat. Those are for a friend who lost her mother a month ago—my age!—to offer some cheer. My DIL also asked for 1000 cookies for her annual Christmas Day free dinner, but that’s not happening! I think I have about 400 baked so far. Also, have you tried dipping? (Great YouTube video on it) I dipped several mittens last week in 5 second icing, and they were as smooth as glass. Then, you can just put in the final layer with piping.

I might try dipping, but my polar bears were not dipped and they were pretty easy. My mittens had bubbles and I think it may have been too thick.

The worst thing is, I was making all of this for a cookie swap that got cancelled, and just a few for us. Now I am going to be shipping them off to all and sundry. : ) I've only been having one a day (of the small round ornaments) but they are not vitamins!

Lol. Can’t your girls serve as distributors? Shipping cookies ain’t cheap.

Those look great! The mittens lamp look just like your inspiration. I like the polar bears, too. I have a polar bear cutter, but it is SO big. I might make those after Christmas. I have a ready customer base with my grandkids’ sports teams.

Gorgeous cookies! I remember my mom telling me way back in the sixties that the dragees were not to be eaten.

Is there a particular cookie recipe that is best used for this type cookie?

Thanks!

Yes, absolutely LoveMrMewey. You want to make "No Fail Sugar Cookies", because you want cookies that will be easy to roll out, easy to cut and move, and will not get puffy or misshapen when you bake them.

Try looking at this thread. http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4996216/more-cookie-craze

Thx Jana, Thx Dee. : )

Sorry for hijack Lucille.

It is no hijack. Your beautiful polar bear has spawned a new wave of cookie making and I for one welcome any cookie info.

It took some looking around but I found a polar bear cookie cutter. You may have started a trend :)

I tell ya' it is all Funkyart's fault. It's your turn now - photos!

As an aside, anyone have a good source for sanding sugar? My local bakery uses a white/clear sanding sugar that looks like big ice crystals. I cannot find it.

The local cake decorating place I frequent (Cake Craft Shoppe) sells assorted 4 oz bottles of sanding sugar for $1.89, and they also sell online. Checking their site just now, I notice when you click on an image of the sanding sugar, a bottle of CK Sanding Sugar appears; yet when I purchased a 4 oz bottle from them a couple of years ago, the sugar was packaged in a generic, store-labelled bottle. You might want to give them a call to verify. Happy baking!

(I took a break from royal iced sugar cookies this year, and am going all iced gingerbread/snap-ish cutout cookies + a ton of biscotti.) If I'm feeling inspired, I might dust the white piping with sugar to give it a bit of sparkle.

ETA: mtnrdredux: Tomorrow I can snap a pic of the sanding sugar I have, so you can see if it's the grain you're looking for.

Thank you, Javiwa. I read somewhere that CK Sanding was the best, and that is what i got, but I even like Wilton better. Neither look like my local baker's.

Oh! Sorry, mtn -- I misinterpreted your comment and thought you disliked the larger crystals. This one from Amazon looks like a good bet. And particularly helpful is their description: size of pretzel salt.

LOL this SHOCK went through my life while in high school. DECADES before the internet! Yep, those metallic little balls that make cookies look so fab are not for eating!! Old news. REALLY OLD NEWS. There is sooo much information to KNOW, we forgot we knew it?

I had heard it, from DH no less (Mr. Worrywart and all organic and don't eat that cr*p made in China), but thought it was an old wive's tale. Typical, I don't believe it until GW tells me so, LOL.

1. Mtn, I don’t know if you saw my comment to you on Funky’s thread, but I bought Bob’s Red Mill sparkling sugar, which looks like ice crystals, but Walmart’s Decorating sugar is also bigger crystals.
   

Dee! YES! thank you.