Instead of placing dough 1/8" from the top of the baking pan, I covered the entire area, right to the top... as a result I got pretty good "impressions" of each cookie, and they are more sugar cookie "cakes"..I didn't decorate the way the book layed out as I did not have the time.. HOWEVER, I used lots of icing(whipped, from the grocery store).. micro waved for 10 seconds, and highlighted only certain things, and added lotsa colored sugar..really nice..mine were the best, at a family party!