New Year's Eve Sparkler Cookies

My New Year's Eve parties have varied wildly throughout the years.

One time, I spent the evening with a large group of friends all dressed up, eating fancy food and dancing in fancy lights and thinking fancy thoughts. And we even sang the fancy song that everyone sings at midnight. And there was kissing. It was the real deal.

One time, I went to my inlaws house. They went out and I fell asleep on their couch at 9:30 p.m. and woke up the next morning with my shoes still tied.

One time I went to a giant street party with thousands of people and live music and it was freezing and there was ice everywhere and I was still young enough to pretend that it didn't bother me to be standing outside in the middle of winter in the dead of the night. And I was running around with my friends pretending to be this super trendy person who hangs out with huge crowds and parties until dawn as a means of attracting boys. I'm so glad that did not work out for me.

One time I played "Guess which movie this line comes from" with my 4 year old and every answer was "The Lion King." And I set the clocks back so we could celebrate midnight at 10pm and go to bed.

One time, I gave my kids sparklers at 4pm and told them that you were supposed to light them as soon as it gets dark and then go to bed.

Wait, actually... that last one is my plan for this year. I'm really hoping it's going to work. If not, I'll probably just eat these sparkler cookies instead. Want to make some? They are super simple and fun.

I pretty much hate trying to put sticks into cookie dough. If you feel the same way, you could do this instead. Just roll your cookie dough twice as thin as usual. Cut out two of the shapes. (For the sparklers.... use a spider web/ Christmas wreath cutter.) Place the cookie stick on one of them and cover with the other one. Press together gently and bake as normal. And since sparklers burn from top to bottom, you can put that cookie at any point on the stick you want.

1. Using a #3 tip and 20 second icing, make a squiggly shape in the middle. Let it dry for at least 30 minutes.
2. Outline and fill the rest of the cookie with white icing. Allow to dry for an hour or two. Or overnight. Whatever works for you.
3. With piping consistency icing and a #2 tip, pipe a squiggly line all around your squiggly shape.
4. Then pipe some lines and a bunch of dots all over the place. No need to be precise or careful or anything at all like that. Just let yourself go and enjoy it.