Halloween marks the beginning of the holiday cookie-baking season for me. Ghosts and black cats, Jack-o’-lanterns and bug-eyed bats...all those spooky shapes need to be turned into sweet treats. I always prefer to tone down the “creepy” and pump up the deliciousness. So that’s what I did.

Turkeys and pumpkins are the classic shapes for Thanksgiving cutout cookies. They can be crazy or elegant, but decorating them reminds me that this is the time to think about all the people I’m thankful to have in my life. My favorite way to let them know how much they mean to me is to give them cookies. On the “big day” the dessert table may be loaded with pies, but when it’s time to go home, everyone leaves with a cookie or two for the road. There’s always room for a cookie. Right?

My sister asked me to make cookies as a gift for her art teacher. I knew I had to make something pretty...afterall she’s an artist, right? I also knew it had to be delicious because my sister’s art class has been the recipient of a lot of my cookie “experiments,” and some of them, although tasty, were not very pretty to look at. A birthday required a delicious and beautiful cookie.