How To Decorate Christmas Sugar Cookies

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You've got the basic recipe. Now learn all the different ways you can decorate those holiday sugar cookies like a pro.

To complete this How-To you will need:

Specialty decorating items
Sugar cookie dough
Cookie cutters
Cookie sheets
Currants, chopped nuts, or assorted candy
Eggs
Food-coloring liquid and food-coloring gel or paste
A pastry brush or small artist's brush
Hard candies
A plastic bag
A rolling pin
Plastic squeeze bottles
Royal icing
A butter knife
Rolled fondant
Waxed paper
Cookie tins
A straw
A toothpick

Step 1: Get supplies

Go to a baking-supply or craft store, or shop online for specialty cookie-decorating items.

Step 2: Jazz them up

There are tons of ways to decorate your cookies before baking. After you've rolled out the dough and cut the cookies into shapes, press currants, nuts, or candy into them. Or brush them lightly with egg white and dust with colored sanding sugar or sprinkles.

Tip: Dragees, those tiny gold and silver balls that adorn fancy cookies and cakes, are edible. But because they contain real metal, eating them is not advisable.

Step 3: Glaze them

To add colorful shine, glaze cookies before baking by whisking a few drops of liquid food coloring into an egg yolk and spreading it on with a pastry brush or small artist's brush.

Tip: If you want to hang cookies on your Christmas tree, use a straw to make holes in the tops before baking.

Step 4: Create stained glass

For a stained-glass effect, put hard candies into a plastic bag, crush them with a rolling pin, and then sprinkle them onto unbaked cookies. The candies will melt to look like beautiful stained-glass windows.

Tip: Do a test cookie to make sure the candy doesn't start to burn before the cookie is fully baked. If that happens, add the candy after the cookies are half-baked.

Step 5: Ice them

For already-baked cookies, try frosting them. Whip up some royal icing, divide it into separate batches, and tint with food-coloring gel or paste. Put the icing in plastic squeeze bottles, pipe it around the outline of each cookie, squeeze some in the center, and spread it evenly over the top with a butter knife or a brush.

Tip: For a marbled effect, spread a light coating of white icing on the cookies. Then pipe on stripes of colored icing and swirl them with a toothpick.

Step 6: Make them glitter

Frosted cookies can be decorated even more by sprinkling them with edible glitter or luster dust.

Step 7: Make rolled fondant

Make or buy rolled fondant. Add food-coloring gel or paste to different batches, roll them out, and use your cookie cutters to make pieces that are identical to your cookies. Brush the bottoms with a tiny bit of water and press them onto the cookies.

Step 8: Store properly

Store your cookies in airtight containers, in single layers separated by waxed paper.

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Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• baking
• cooking
• decorating
• desserts
• food
• holidays
• how
• howcast
• icing
• making
• parties
• sweets
• to

[LaurieOreos37]

Who hangs cookies on their Christmas tree?

[BonnieSaysHey]

those silver lollies contain real METAL!?

[VanillaSoftDrink]

I Like The:

Candy Cane, The Star, The Christmas Tree, Snow Flake, Snow Man!

[VanillaSoftDrink]

Why do I keep on watching this?

IT'S JANUARY!

[HollandAmericalover]

How did you get the white egg wash on the Candy Cane cookie?

[LaurieOreos37]

@KidKools1999 haha.

[LaurieOreos37]

@MrPraysalot Sounds fun.

[LaurieOreos37]

@wonderpaint Haha ok. I should try it sometime.

[bltsdsubbie]

@JGirlGotzU @BonnieSaysHey I don't think it that much of a big deal. After all, loads of minerals like iron, zinc and phosphorus already occur in in your body naturally. Just as long as you don't eat them by the bucket, I think you're good :D

[Laurite]

@LaurieOreos37 I do, it's fun way to decorate Christmas tree or whatever instead of all these plastic shiny balls...

[lovehorrormovies10]

Brushing a cookie with tinted eggs is not a good idea. your cookie will take on an egg taste and pretty much ruin your cookie. the only way i would say to do that is if your not eatting the,.

[SuperBlackcat1999]

Nice and careful job