CAITLIN BARRETT is a member of THE NIBBLE™ editorial staff. Her cookie-decorating skills haven’t improved much since grade school, so she was glad to have the chance to test this product.

The way we decorated cookies as kids might have said a lot about the type of grown-ups we would become:

• Those who were meticulous and methodical decorators, whose sprinkles never strayed from their intended location, grew up to be the friends who could convert metric measurements into cups and teaspoons without blinking an eye.
• The sloppy painter who only wanted to get it over with and eat it (because it all tastes the same anyway) would become the grown-up who cooks without recipes (successfully) and could somehow make wearing mismatched shoes look cool.
• The purist who never failed to point out that “Christmas trees aren’t red, snowmen only have two eyes and everyone knows that gingerbread men don’t wear basketball jerseys” became the adult who would never fail to make the bed in the morning, who knew exactly how much milk and cream it would take to make the perfect cup of coffee.
• The daring kid who ignored conventions and used every color of frosting, sprinkles and candy but still managed to create a masterpiece turned out to be the first person you knew to serve red wine with fish or to create a glaze for poultry using cinnamon candy.

No matter what your decorating style was then, the current kid in everyone, as well as the authentic kids in their lives, will enjoy this sweet kit from Immaculate Baking Co.

The Edible Art Box contains almost everything kids need to explore their artistic side (and have a fun afternoon making cookies), starting with Sweet Vanilla Sugar cookie mix that makes over a dozen large cookies, and colorful decorating sugars. Each kit also includes 3 cookie cutter shapes—a penguin, a rooster and a woman—based on art by American Folk artists. Before the cookie decorating begins, kids and adults can learn a little bit about the artists whose work inspired the cookie cutters. The woman cookie cutter, for example, is based on "Church Goin’ Lady,” a portrait painted in ordinary housepaints on masonite by Mose Tolliver, an Alabama artist whose work hangs in the prestigious Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Kids can practice their designs with the coloring book and crayons included in the kit, so when the cookies come out of the oven, they’ll be ready to make some edible art.

One note: the kit doesn't come with frosting, and you don’t need it to decorate the cookies. However, there’s a recipe on the box for an optional, royal icing (one egg, two sticks of butter and two tablespoons of flour).  We think it’s an excellent opportunity to show the foodies of tomorrow that (1) good icing doesn’t come in a can, (2) it’s easy to make in 5 minutes, and (3) yes, they can cook!

IMMACULATE BAKING CO.
Edible Art Box

• Box Includes:
  1 Box Sugar Cookie Mix
  3 Cookie Cutters
  3 Jars of Decorating Sugars
  Directions for Kids
  Folk Art Coloring Book
  Crayons (not edible)
  $29.95

Purchase online at the ImmaculateBaking.com.

Available at specialty food stores and gift shops nationwide.

Shipping additional. Price accurate at time of publication, subject to change over time.