I am not a "pro" but here are some tips: 1.) Use food coloring in dough so no need to paint! Food coloring fades with baking, so make dough several shades darker. 2.) Roll dough in one direction (up-up-up or down-down-down) When rolling "up-down-up-down" it makes an uneven surface of hills & valleys. Rolling in one direction gives a nice level cookie surface. 3.) Thicker rolled cookies puffed more, but if you let them sit out an hour before baking, it puffed much less. Ideal thickness 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch. Baking at 275-300 for a longer time also decreased puff. Not all puff was bad, some of our shapes looked great puffy, like our tree & ornament shape, like a 3D effect. 4.) Keep dough in a ziplock and pull out only what you need. 5.) Puffy paints great for "icing". 6.) Straws were perfect for making holes. Holes shrink a bit w baking, straws are pefect circle size. 7.) Bake on a non-stick or parchment paper so they slip off easily and don't break. 8.) Several thin layers of Mod Podge brand were great sealant, do this after you finish painting decorations, etc.. 9.) Add 2 - 4 tsp of allspice to dough for a beautiful speckled appearance 10.) Squeeze a pea-sized dollop of glitter glue onto ornament & smear w finger. Gives ornament a pretty sparkly sheen. 11.) Paint & seal on top of waxpaper sheets. Easy clean-up, no sticking or ruined ornaments.

Reviewed On: Dec. 10, 2011

It was OK. I have come to the conclusion that I am not a big fan of black-eyed-peas in general. I don't really like the "earthy" flavor...kind of reminds me of eating dirt! This recipe is sooooo not healthy. While butter based anything is sure to be delicious, healthy, it is not! So while it tasted OK, I would not make this again because of too many calories.

Reviewed On: Sep. 11, 2011

Made as written. Pretty good, very "Italian" tasting (not necessarily a bad thing!) I think would be five stars with beef.

Reviewed On: Mar. 13, 2011