My Achy Bakey Heart

I tested my new Wilton heart-shaped cake pan by making a giant heart-shaped sugar cookie. When I spread the dough into the pan, I left about an inch of space around it so it would be easy to extract the cookie from the pan later on. Since cookies are baked on ungreased cookie sheets, it helped that the cake pan was non-stick.

When the baked beauty was done, I tested my Wilton tube of dual-colored icing (purchased after Halloween, thus the orange and black combo) which conveniently came with decorating tips. I used the star tip to dot the edges of the cookie. The space in the middle is big enough to write your own message such as the eternal "Happy Birthday."

To give you an idea of how big the heart cookie was, here's a photo of my hand holding it straight out of the oven (after it cooled, of course):

The tiny spots you see are the green candy sprinkles I mixed with the batter prior to baking.

You know what bums me out as a budding baker, though? It's when I create these confections and take them to parties with diabetophobic adults who abstain from sweets yet would eat the sticky rice dessert that's on the table.

It's called "Dessert Discrimination." But don't tell my heart, my Achy Bakey Heart!