Christmas Cookie Decorating

If there's decorated cookies, it must be Christmas! Nothing says Christmas more than a plate of cookies. We do cookie exchanges, give them as gifts and snitch way more than we are willing to admit. Aside from being delicious and not the least bit nutritious, decorated cookies are a feast for the eyes and nose. Everyone has a favorite sugar cookie recipe, but here are a few ideas to bring them up a notch. These decorated cookies are for the child or the child in all of us. No real talent needed, but is appreciated.

PAINTBOX COOKIES: This is a technique rather than a pattern. It works well on any light colored cookie, and in any shape. In addition to your sugar cookie dough, you will need; food coloring, and 1 egg yolk per color,plus some inexpensive small paintbrushes. Prepare your favorite sugar cookie recipe. If called for, put dough in refrigerator. Next separate some eggs. You will use 1 egg yolk for each color you want to paint with. Put each yolk in a separate bowl and add drops of food coloring until the color is just a bit dark add a tablespoon of water to thin the "paint". Beat each egg and dye lightly to thorougly mix. Cut the sugar cookie dough into shapes as desired. For children place each shape on a lightly floured piece of wax paper. This way they can more easily move the cookie around to paint it. To paint each cookie dip a brush into the colored egg yolk and "paint" on your design. Since the cookies have not been baked it is fine to use raw eggs. Too much egg paint will leave a crust so don't over due the decorating. You can decorate cookies, to look like ornaments, drums, angels, or wildly colored "that's lovely sweetie's."

STAINED GLASS COOKIES: Another technigue to make decorated cookies, out of plain sugar cookies. For these you will need clear hard candies and sugar cookie dough. Make your sugar cookie dough and chill if needed. Separate hard candies, by color and place each color in a heavy duty clear bag. Crush the hard candies with a hammer, or rolling pin. Break them into smaller pieces, but not powder. Chunks are fine. Cut out each shape and then cut a smaller shape out of the middle of each sugar cookie, and remove it. Place each sugar cookie on a well greased cookie pan. Put a small amount of crushed hard candies in each space. The pieces do not need to touch all the sides of the hole, a 1 inch hole will take about 1 teaspoon of hard candies, to fill. Bake the cookies at 350 degrees until lightly browned around the edges. Do not set on paper towels to cool as the melted hard candies will stick. You can put them on lightly buttered foil or a wire rack to cool. As you get better at judging the amount of hard candies to use, you can mix colors, or make smaller more intricate cut outs.

STENCILED COOKIES: Stencils of all sorts are so readibly available, why not pick a few and make decorated cookies? You can do this technique on light or dark colored cookies. All you need to do is vary the stencil color. For light colored cookies use powdered sugar that has been tinted with food coloring or cocoa. For pastel colored sugar, to 1/2 cup powdered sugar add one drop of food coloring and stir until the color is blended. You may need to really work the drop in well, to prevent clumping. You can add another drop, but too much will melt the sugar. To make cocoa colored sugar, to 1/2 cup of powdered sugar add 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder and blend in well. To stencil the cookies, bake them first and let them cool. Place a stencil over the sugar cookie and sprinkle the powdered sugar over the stencil. If you have a small fine sieve, this works the best for sprinkling. You can also put each color into a salt shaker. Lift the stencil straight up. Voila! Beautiful decorated cookies. Remove excess sugar from the stencil before using again.

SNOWGLOBE COOKIES: These cookies get more oohs and ahhs than nearly any other cookie I bake. They are also cute set upright in a basket. Wrap in clear cellophane or plastic wrap and they are knockouts! I have even made them on sticks and then wrapped in cellophane. Too Cute! After making your favorite sugar cookie recipe separate 1/8 of it and color this batch red or any color. Cut the plain sugar cookie dough into circles. The size doesn't really matter, use a soup can or larger for a cutter if you don't have standard cookie cutters. Roll out the colored dough and cut rectangles to act as the snowglobe base. Make the base about 1-2 inches wide and about 1 inch shorter than the width of the sugar cookie. Gently press the colored rectangle to the bottom of the circle. Decorate the round sugar cookie portion with egg yolk paint, stencils, sprinkles or M and M's. If you use the M and M's it will look like a Gumball machine. After the cookies have been baked you can sprinkle on some edible glitter to give the Snowglobe effect.

Have fun with all of these techniques. These ideas will work for any holiday, by adjusting your cookie shape, stencils and colors. Happy Holidays!