Howling Wolf Cookie Fail

Every year we have a cookie walk with our church to raise money for utilities and such for the winter.

Every year I bake cookies for it.

This year, I wanted to do sugar cookies but didn’t want to have to roll them out… so I tried a cookie stamp.

Here’s the stamp:

You oil it and then stamp the raw cookies.  I did this as per instructions, and they looked good BEFORE they baked:

BUT THEN, when they came out of the oven there was no sign they’d ever been stamped.

Cue frustrated swearing.

They were still hot and soft so I stamped them again.

Then the stamp looked okay, and I should have stopped there.

But I thought ‘oh, I should paint them with food coloring’ instead of leaving it well enough alone and got:

You can kind of see what they’re supposed to be.  If you squint.  But I was SO unhappy with these.

All but four sold at the cookie walk, but I’m pretty sure they were pity purchases because my mom had to tell them what they were supposed to be.  Fail.

So, ideas?  Have you used cookie stamps before?  How did you do them – before or after baking?  Do you have any experience with painting on cookies?  Inquiring minds want to know!