BUTTONS FOR EYES COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream together the butter and sugar. Then add the eggs and vanilla, and mix until thoroughly combined.
• Gradually add in the dry ingredients, putting in the flour a bit at a time, until the dough is all mixed.
• Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least an hour.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Roll out dough to 1/4″ thick, and cut into rounds.
• Using a straw or the tip of an icing bag, punch holes where the buttonholes would be.
• Bake for around 10 minutes, or until the edges are just turning golden.
• Remove the cookies from the baking sheet, and allow to cool completely, else the icing will run off.
• Mix the icing by beating into the powdered sugar the egg white, and just enough water to make a runny, pourable consistency - you may need to experiment a bit with this to get a great, workable batch.
• Tint to desired colors with food coloring.
• To ice the cookies, place one or two cookies at a time on a long, flat knife.
• Hold the cookies over the bowl of icing, and spoon icing over, making sure to get the sides covered.
• Allow the excess icing to drip off, then transfer the cookies to a rack over paper to catch the drips.
• Repeat until all the cookies are covered.
• Let cookies dry for several hours (if you can wait!).