Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo Train Cookies

I baked these train cookies with a Christmas batch of Chocolate Roll Out Cookies a la Lilaloa's recipe.

1 cup butter

1/4 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

2/3 cup cocoa

3 cups flour

355F 6-7min (high alt. adjustment)

These cookies come out of the oven with such a nice even surface.  While decorating some reindeer cookies for Christmas, I noticed my royal icing adhered better to the chocolate cookies than my regular sugar cookies.

This set of train cookies won't be getting the royal (icing) treatment.  I piped gray circles for the wheels with a black sugar peal in the center of the frosting.  Then I added windows to the trains with sky blue frosting.  The engines/cars/caboose got some red/yellow/green frosting and were finished off with black outlining to highlight windows and wheels.

This copper train cookie cutter set comes with 3 shapes.  The middle cars can be decorated as passenger coaches or freight cars.

The freight cars are carrying coal (black sugar pearls again) and presents.  The train cookies will be used for a train birthday cake.

No decorator bags with tips on these- just Ziplocs with a corner snipped.  The texture is fun and a little more cartoon-ish.

I can hardly wait for you see the train cake!