TIP #1: Make your dough ahead of time. I made a huge batch at Christmas, divided the dough into smaller portions (using our awesome FoodSaver) and froze the leftover dough. Each batch makes 16-24 cookies, depending on the size of the cookie cutter. With smaller batches and less prep work, this allows me to bake on a whim - which I love to do.
Since I haven't yet bought any cookie cutters of my own, all the ones I have are hand-me-downs (thanks Mom!) which means I only have Christmas shapes, a heart and round (which isn't much fun) - so I made hearts. But I figured a fancy shape deserved fancy icing, so I did some experimenting and came up with an easy soultion!
1- I rolled and cut out my dough - even if you didn't pre-make your dough, it always helps to chill it for 10 minutes to make handling easier.
2- I whipped up a batch of Super-Simple Cookie Icing (see recipe below) and made it thicker than normal. I colored it pink and used and sandwich bag to pipe a dam of icing onto the cookies. NOTE: I first attempted to do this with actual decorating supplies (a piping bag, coupler and tip) but the icing was so runny it just oozed out around the coupler and made a huge mess. The ziplock bag made everything so much simpler!
3- Once the dam had dried, I thinned the icing a bit and filled in the rest of the cookie. I didn't want to be too messy so I cut a bigger hole in my ziplock bag, piped a pile of icing inside the dam and used a butter knife to smooth it out, making sure the icing touched the dam all around.
This is such a simple method! No fancy tools needed. This is also a great way to get detail on your holiday cookies - stars and stripes for July 4th, trees with ornaments and garland for Christmas - you get the idea!
Go experiment with your own cookies and let me see your results!
my recipe for:
Super-Simple Cookie Icing
ingredients:*
confectioners sugar
milk
food coloring
*It's impossible to give exact quantities for this recipe because it's all based on feel.
directions:
-In a small mixing bowl pour a very small amount of milk (approx 1 T) and a large amount of confectioners sugar (approx 2 C). Stir ingredients together. The consistency is right when you feel some resistance when stirring, but the icing is still runny enough to drizzle quickly - you really can't mess this up. Just add milk or sugar accordingly until it feels right to you. If the icing starts to crust, just stir it and add a tiny bit of milk if needed.
TIP #2: Always start with the milk then add the sugar. It's easier to get a feel for how much liquid you are adding to the mix. And always remember: a little milk goes a long way.
TIP #3: Make your icing in small batches. It's much easier to control the consistency this way.
-Color the icing as desired and apply to cookies.
Enjoy!
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1 comment:
Those look super tasty! Thanks for the tutorial!
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