by Tierney O'Hara

Created on: November 23, 2011

14 Great tips for decorating holiday cookies

Who doesn’t love a beautiful cookie decorated with jimmies, sprinkles or bits of chocolate or fruit? As is often said, “We eat with our eyes first,” so even the most delectable cookie tastes better when beautifully dressed with icings and colorful trimmings. No matter what the holiday, a simple sugar cookie can easily be turned into a work of art by using some of the tips that follow.

1)      Start with a reliable sugar cookie recipe - one that will yield a firm cookie that can hold up to being handled during the decorating process.

2)      Unless you’re only making a few cookies or have a helper, it’s a good idea to bake the cookies one day and decorate them the next.

3)      Make sure your cookie is completely cooled before you frost it as even some residual warmth will make the icing melt.

4)      Prepare your decorating area so all your trimmings and frostings are easy to get to and organized.

5)      Line a cookie sheet with newspaper and place a cooling rack on top. Decorate your cookies over the rack. The newspaper will catch the dripping frosting or extra sprinkles that fall off the cookie and clean-up is a breeze.

6)      Use a royal icing recipe if you want a smooth, firm frosting that dries thoroughly for easy decorating.

7)      Plastic squeeze bottles filled with icing will make decorating cookies quick and easy. This is an excellent way for children to frost cookies without making a huge mess.

8)      Less is more. If you add too many types of sprinkles, jimmies or sugars on your cookie it will quickly go from gorgeous to garish.

9)      Look out when you mix colored frosting or sugars – green and red make brown when put together and usually that’s not the color you’re looking for except if you’re making cut-out cookies of Thanksgiving turkeys or fall leaves.

10)  Beware of hard candy trimmings like silver dragees (banned in California) or cinnamon dots as they can be too hard for some people to chew.

11)  If you have a lot of cookies to decorate, and not a lot of time, use white frosting as a base and use sprinkles to make the cookies colorful.

12)  If you intend to sprinkle on sugars or jimmies, don’t let the frosting dry as the decorations won’t stick to the icing.

13)  Unless you are a seasoned baker, use cookie-cutter shapes that are not too fragile.

14)  Let the frosted cookies air dry until the icing is completely stiff.

Once your cookies are frosted and trimmed be sure to package them with care.  Never layer one cookie upon another as they can stick together. Parchment paper or waxed paper should be used between layers and only after the cookies are totally dry and no longer sticky.

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