I’m planning to make — and post — Super Bowl macarons on Saturday, so if you are interested in doing the same, go ahead and separate some eggs now so your egg whites can age.

This weekend I did a practice run with my sugar cookies, using the general decorating method used by Bridget of Bake at 350 and described in detail here. But I used this recipe for icing from the Gourmet cookbook (it calls for powdered egg whites instead of meringue powder — and they have powdered egg whites at the grocery store). And since I didn’t order Americolor food coloring, I bought gel food colors at Michael’s — Wilton brand and the Duff Goldman brand.

I accidentally thinned some of the icing out too much and some not enough, and Toby said my polka dot football helmets look like Dr. Seuss. I will probably decorate them a little differently for the Super Bowl. But they’re not too terrible.