If you have school age children who play video games, you have most likely heard of Minecraft. It’s like a digital form of legos in which you can build worlds of whatever your little imagination desires. There are creepers and mods and diamond armor and I have no idea what any of it means, but my kids are obsessed with it. The design of the game is weirdly pixel looking, and the way players maneuver around the screen gives me vertigo. I am for sure getting old.

My oldest turned 11 today and the big day coincidentally fell on the first day of school. Fortunately, he enjoys being there and was happy to be reuniting with old friends, so it made the situation a little less daunting. Top that with bringing the class a birthday treat, and the day turns out to be a pretty great one!

My boy went back and forth about what cookie design he wanted. When I suggested Minecraft, I slightly held my breath. The thought of piping various shades of tiny squares on 30+ cookies almost immediately made me break out in hives…so of course he was keen on the idea. I scoured the net for images, determined to make a simpler version, and here’s what I came up with.

I made a Minecraft guy cookie puzzle.

I baked 64 square cookies, 1 3/4 inch in size, figuring every kid in his class would get 2 cookies each.

Using this picture I found online, I followed the color scheme square by square. It was a lot of different shades to mix, but I started with the darkest of the blues and browns first, then mixed in additional white frosting to the remaining to get lighter hues. It wasn’t so horrible.Once they were frosted and dry, the next challenge was figuring out how in the world to get the cookies to school staying in place like this. My dear cake friend gave me some foam core to use as a tray, which I covered in parchment. She also suggested I place a little dot of frosting under each cookie to “glue” them in place. It totally worked. Thank you, Laura!!!

So there is my Minecraft cookie. In the words of my husband, “I don’t see it,”. Well, me neither to be honest, but I suppose if I squint, I can see the character. I think. When the birthday boy saw the cookie puzzle all together for the first time, he exclaimed, “COOL!”.

I guess I was successful then, and if he’s happy with it, that’s all that really matters.

Happy birthday, H! Now let’s go find me a Ms. Pac Man arcade game so I can kick it old school and show you how games SHOULD be done.