Creative Ideas for Christmas Cookie Decorations
This trio of Christmas cookie recipes will be your go-to for crowd-pleasing treats. Make a few extra batches to keep on hand for unexpected holiday visitors. Recipe:Cornmeal Sugar CookiesRecipe:Fruitcake CookiesRecipe:Honey-Orange-Ginger Cookies
Decorating Christmas cookies is a fun Christmas tradition to start with your kids, your significant other, or even just yourself! Decorate Christmas cookies for a cookie swap or to give as gifts. Before pickingChristmas cookie decorations, pick a cookie that is easy to decorate. Maybe make Southern Living's Classic Sugar Cookies, or shortbread cookies, or something else with a flat surface and a flavor that takes well to icing or frosting. Browse through some favorite Christmas cookies and pick one!
After baking and cooling your cookies, decide what you want to do. Painting your cookies with royal icing allows you to create intricate designs with bright colors. Use toothpicks to dot icing on, like a Pointillist painting. Or flood a layer of icing onto the cookie, drip other colors on top, and swirl them together.
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You can use a doily to create intricate designs, too. Lay a lace doily on top of the cookie, then sift powdered sugar overtop, so that when you peel up the doily, a lacey design is left on the cookie. Be careful when storing these cookies, as the powdered sugar could easily be smudged. Or, flood the cookie with royal icing and then sift powdered sugar overtop so the sugar sticks to the icing.
If you want to create designs before baking, cut out cookies using cookie cutters. Before baking, cut the cookies into shapes, making small puzzles. Ice the cookie pieces so they appear as one larger cookie. Whoever eats the cookie can assemble it first!
Icing is not the only way to decorate your Christmas cookies. Treat Christmas cookie decorations as an opportunity to explore your artistic side! Use sprinkles and candies to make designs on the cookie. Attach pretzel sticks as antlers to make reindeer cookies. Make whoopie pies with your cookies and roll the edges in sparkly sprinkles or in chopped chocolate or chopped nuts. You could even personalize your cookies by cutting them in the shape of the first letter of someone's name. Or give someone a whole message in cookies! Cut out Merry Christmas, which is 14 cookies, perfect for a gift.
Mandatory: Make sure to serve milk, or send it along with the cookies!
