Cookie mouse, your project sounds lovely. Home owner's associations in new suburbs usually prohibit. We had to submit an application to the HOA for a backyard shed. The siding color had to match our new house. Smaller & medium sized homes are cozier.

I always thought sugar cookies were pretty tasteless until I tried this recipe from Taste of Home: 24 Servings Prep: 15 min. + chilling Bake: 10 min./batch Ingredients * 1 cup butter, softened * 1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened * 1 cup sugar * 1 egg yolk * 1/2 teaspoon Spice Islandî Pure Vanilla Extract * 1/4 teaspoon almond extract * 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 1/4 teaspoon baking soda * Tinted frosting or colored sugar Directions * In a bowl, cream butter, cream cheese and sugar. Beat in egg yolk * and extracts. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda; gradually * add to creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until * easy to handle. * On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-in. thickness. * Cut with a 2-1/2-in. cookie cutter dipped in flour. Place 1 in. * apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375ð for 8-10 minutes * or until edges begin to brown. Cool for 2 minutes before removing * from pans to wire racks. Decorate as desired. Yield: 4 dozen. They are tender in the center and melt in your mouth!

PWM, I'm assuming you'd like the amounts converted to something other than metric? There are many conversion tools on line, one gave me these conversions. Islay, please feel free to correct me if I am wrong: 450g (2 cups) dark brown sugar 175g (3/4 cup) ml evaporated milk 30g ( 2 tbls) butter 1 tsp vanilla extract 55g (1/4 cup) chopped walnuts. Butter a 20 or 30 cm (8 or 9 inch square) tin. In a saucepan, stir together the sugar and milk. Boil until temp. reaches 112 to 116°C. (232-240F, soft ball stage) Or, until a small amount dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface. Remove from the heat, stir in the butter, vanilla and nuts. Continue to beat until the mixture loses its gloss. pour into prepared tin, score with knife and set aside for about 5 minutes. Cut into squares. I hope this helps. Annie

I need them to be different sizes for the various patients' requests. Some will eat only the smallest or half of the largest cookie. Others want only the biggest ones, so they can eat small portions of them and make them last, as these aren't cheap and Blue Cross won't cover it, yet. I don't make a profit on this process, by the way, they cover all the costs. What I do get are the extra cookies. This batch is 60 for them and 10 for me. I've been baking these for nearly two years now, and my own personal tolerance is the only baseline I have to use for potency. Tomorrow morning, I'll eat the smallest cookie, that will give me a good idea what the big ones are like and what I will tell the patients. This is where science leaves the room, shaking its head in dismay, and good old "test it on yourself" works best. Many thanks for your help, grainlady. You are certainly a baking magician!