The plan for the wedding dessert evolved over conversations with people over a period of about a month. I had gone to coffee with a young friend of mine who told me about her and her sisters' plans of having wedding potlucks for their food since food is such a big expense for a wedding. And she pointed out that food, especially potlucks, brings people together. Weddings used to be a community affair, not a show. Her and her mom voluntered to help and it got me thinking… Then shortly after that Merri and I got together for dinner with mother and daughter friends she had grown up with. Merri is the second of the group to get married (our older daughter being the first.) At dinner we all agreed to help each other with food for the daughters'/friends' weddings. The moms agreed to bring fruit pies and crisps to the wedding. I also have a dear caterer friend with her top secret chocolate cake, and Merri's good friend and mom asked if they could make mini cheese cakes as a gift. Neither bride or groom are crazy about cake, and since their wedding is eclectic it seemed like just the right idea. I jumped in to make a batch of gluten free brownies and two of our favorite cookies: Cranberry Orange Cookies and Spice Cookies. As you can see we cut out the spice cookies into shamrock shapes. The groom's name is Irish. I got the idea when his dad showed me his shamrock collection. I played with a few designs and so far I like the bottom ones with the swirl the best. The recipe is below the photo.

Spice Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream together:

1 cup butter or margarine

1 ½ cups sugar

Add:

1 tablespoon dark Karo syrup

1 beaten egg

Mix well.

Sift together:

3 ¼ cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon ginger

Add to creamed mixture and mix well. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out until thin. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Dough may be refrigerated for several days prior to baking.

Icing per color:

1 cup powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

1-2 tablespoons half & half

a few drops food coloring

Mix together. Sometimes the amounts of sugar and half & half need to be adjusted a bit to get the right consistency. I spoon each color into small zip lock bags and cut off a small amount of a corner to squeeze the icing through in order to "draw" with the icing.

Cranberry Orange Cookies

The cranberry orange cookies shown below are one of our family favorites. I got the recipe online from allrecipes.com and have used it for years. In the recipe it doesn't say if the cranberries are fresh or dried, but probably fresh. I put in dried and cut back on the amount called for by a half a cup, but on the last batch I made I put in half dried cranberries, and half fresh. They have a nice orange glaze too. To me they tasted even better with a bit more tartness. Either way, I haven't met anyone who said they didn't like them. Click here for the link for the cookies:

allrecipes.com/Recipe/cranberry-orange-cookies