Sugar Plum Fairy

The cookies were a complete success! Thanks for all the advice. We put down waxed paper and dusted it with flour, rubbed flour on the rolling pin, and everything worked perfectly. The cutters worked. The cookies didn’t stick to the waxed paper. The icing stuck to the cookies, and the sprinkles stuck to the icing. (See Extras.)

I also found a book that tells Hoffmann’s Nutcracker story (she found it spellbinding) and a DVD of Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland dancing the ballet. So while the cookies baked and while the icing dried on them, we read and watched and Bella choreographed her own version of the Sugar Plum Fairy dance, first on the floor and later (as the sugar began to kick in) on the couch (Extra). 

Bella concluded, “This was one of our best days EVER!”