One of the happiest moments I have with my nephews is in my kitchen decorating cookies for Christmas gifts. They had more fun than I did and the gift recipients enjoyed their homemade treats. Let me show you how to decorate Christmas cookies with your own kids.
The easier the process for children, the better. You need three things to get started: an easy sugar cookie recipe, simple royal icing decorations, and several different colored tubes of pre-made royal icing so each child can share the royal icing.
Here’s my favorite chocolate sugar cookie recipe to get you started.
Chocolate Sugar Cookies
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1 cup unsalted butter, softened
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1 cup of sugar
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1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted (recipe was tested with regular cocoa)
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1 large egg
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1-1 / 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
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3 cups all-purpose flour
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1/4 teaspoon of salt
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1 tablespoon. chocolate syrup
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
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In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar for two minutes on medium speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
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Add the egg, vanilla, and chocolate syrup. Mix well.
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In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, and salt.
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Add to butter mixture little by little until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
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Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes before using it.
The recipe makes 2 dozen cookies depending on the size of the cookie cutter used.
Premade Royal Icing Decorations:Several companies have pre-made royal icing decorations that you can peel off the paper and apply to the baked sugar cookies. During the holidays, companies offer packages of Santa Claus and his reindeer, snowmen, candy canes, snowflakes and other designs. I suggest that you remove all the royal icing decorations from the paper, carefully remove the excess paper with a sharp knife, and then place all the royal icing decorations in a small bowl.
3 easy ideas to decorate Christmas cookies with children
1. Independent decoration:Place a sheet of plastic on your floor under the table. Set the children’s decorating table with a plastic tablecloth and place the baked sugar cookies on a tray in the center. Place the pre-made royal icing decorations found in a bowl near the cookie sheet. Punch a medium-sized hole in some of the colored royal icing tubes so the kids can squeeze the royal icing over their sugar cookies, put the top back on, and place them on the other side of the cookie sheet. Place plastic placemats in front of each child, and then place a plastic plate, tray, or sheet of waxed paper on the table near them so they can place their finished decorated sugar cookies. Also place plastic knives in each spot so the kids can spread the royal icing over the top of their cookies and paper towels cut into medium squares so they can wash their hands while decorating. You can also put bottles of different types of sprinkles for them to use as well. Kids love sparks.
2. Supervised decoration: This idea may be a duplicate of the first, except that you are there to supervise and help the children with their decorating. If you know how to use fondant, you can use fondant to cover the sugar cookies and then help them punch out fondant flowers and other shapes of fondant to decorate their cookies.
3. Group decoration:This idea replicates the first idea, but on a larger scale where a group of children is involved in the decoration. Different types of sugar cookies can be baked and then divided among the children to decorate and take home a variety of sugar cookies. Decorating supplies can be purchased by adults and placed in disposable bowls and placed on the decorating table for all children to use. Several adults should be available to restock supplies and provide boxes for children to take their cookies home.
Each of these ideas can be successfully implemented as long as you remember that kids have fun decorating cookies and creating their own edible masterpiece. And when you’re done, be sure to take pictures of the kids with their cookies. This could become an annual event.
To see more sugar cookie recipes and cookie ideas, click below.
https://indd.adobe.com/view/5b5b8d56-03d3-464b-9c80-4775106baf98