[Trader joe's] Sometimes you just need a little buttercream...

Much to the detriment of my hip measurement, I've fallen in love with buttercream frosted cookies.

Buttercream doesn't lend itself to decorating the way that royal icing does, but it can still be pretty...and takes about one tenth of the time.

There is just *something* about biting into a buttercream frosted cookie that makes me happy. Last night, I tried eating just half of one. Is there any doubt in your mind as to whether I went back for that second half? ;)

I so, so love buttercream roses, but we are coming up on Halloween after all. I used this recipe from Imperial Sugar. It's an all-butter buttercream, so it stays nice and soft.

For the pumpkins, I used #15 and #16 star tips to decorate and then and #2 tip for the stem.

For the spiderwebs, I spread on a base coat of frosting with an offset spatula, then piped a spiderweb shape for the outer black outline using a #2 tip. I piped two circles inside that, then used a toothpick to drag the circles toward each outer point. I added the spider with the same tip.

It's not as crisp looking as a royal icing decorated cookie (here's an example of a royal icing spiderweb), but still cute.

PS...I use Americolor food coloring with buttercream just like I do with royal icing. For these cookies, I used Orange (tinting it two shades), Super Black, and Leaf Green.