A cookie Christmas

The holidays very quickly get hectic, so before you are too stressed, we offer a few cookie baking and decorating tips for great cookies for the family or as gifts.

 

Let baking Christmas cookies be fun. The Internet is choc full of simple recipes for sugar cookies and you can use cookie cutters and icing to create the most wonderful cookies for the holiday season.

Baking Cookies

1. For even cooking consistency is the key. Use an ice cream scoop to measure and drop cookies onto a cooking tray if you are not using cookie cutters. Equally sized cookies means you’re less likely to burn or undercook some cookies. If they are the same size and thickness they’ll bake evenly and all look the same.

2. Preheat the oven in advance so that you don't have to wait to pop in and bake your cookies.

3. Be original and make your own cookie cutters by recycling aluminium cans.

4. Let baking sheets cool down between batches. Placing batter mix on a hot sheet will make the cookies spread too much and result in even batches.

5. Dip your cookie cutters in flour before use. The dough will easily loosen from the cutter when you place it on the cookie sheet.

 

 

Decorating your Cookies

1. When icing your cookies, pipe an outline around the edge of each cookie using a round tip and fairly stiff icing. The stiff consistency will act as a barrier when you fill your shape with cookie icing.

2. To fill in your cookie use thinned icing to create a smooth even layer of icing and let this set before adding more detail.

3. If you are adding detail with multiple colours, pipe small lines of another colour icing across your cooled base colour.

GOOD TO KNOW:
If you want one colour to flow into another, while the bottom icing colour is still wet, apply a second colour and drag a toothpick from top to bottom. This is an easy way to add fun details.

Prepare in advance

Don't leave cookie baking until the last minute. You worked hard to make your cookies look gorgeous.

If you are gifting home bakes cookies, let them set properly before wrapping them up to avoid smeared icing.