Perfect Christmas Sugar Cookies and Icing recipes and decorating tips - video tutorial (2024)

FAQs

What tips are best for cookie decorating? ›

Outlining-consistency icing should squeeze easily out of a #2 pastry tip, stay in place, and hold its shape on the cookie when it lands. If the icing is too stiff, it will be hard to squeeze. If it is too loose, it will spread a little when it lands on the cookie—this won't help when you start flooding.

For this technique, you'll want to decorate your cookies before baking. We recommend using decorative sugar (also known as colored sanding sugar), Turbinado sugar (coarse golden sugar) or pearl sugar (coarse clear sugar). It all sounds super fancy but it's really very easy!

Decorate your sugar cookies by first outlining the border, then filling in the middle with flood icing which should settle into itself. Use a toothpick or scribe tool to fill in any gaps by spreading the icing around, then tap the cookie on the counter a few times to help the icing settle into a smooth, even layer.

My favorite way to decorate sugar cookies—especially for holidays and special occasions—is by using royal icing. The secret to getting precise lines, dots, and other details with royal icing is using a squeeze bottle.

Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating. I like to decorate cookies directly on baking sheets so I can stick the entire baking sheet in the refrigerator to help set the icing. So place the cooled cookies back on baking sheets.

Recommended Piping Tips

Wilton #1 & Wilton #2 are thin and excellent for piping detail, like the jack-o-lantern faces on these Halloween cookies. Wilton #3, Wilton #4, and Wilton #5 are larger and easier to work with.

To achieve flood consistency, start with stiff icing and add a couple of tablespoons of water at a time. To test it, take a spoonful of icing and drop it back into the bowl. It should take between 15-20 seconds for the icing to smooth itself out. This is known as 15 or 20-second count royal icing.

It's easiest to add sprinkles before the icing dries so they will stick to the cookies easier.

Decorate Before Baking

Place 1/4 cup (2 oz.) of granulated sugar into a small, zipper top baggie. Add 3 to 4 drops of food color of your choice. Zip the top closed, and shake the bag around to distribute the color.

The holes trick

There's also a new technique going around when preventing craters in a second layer of icing: poke holes in the base flood (under the area you'll cover with a second layer of icing). You can even do this when the first layer flood has completely dried!

What type of frosting is best for cookie decorating? ›

Royal icing creates clean lines and takes on color to create a vibrant look. It also works for detailed piping and decorating, when you want to make a gingerbread house or small designs.

Draw the borders around the cookies with border icing.

Begin with the border icing and trace the outline of each cookie with icing. Hold the bottle vertical with the tip of the bottle slightly above the cookie. Squeeze gently and with consistent pressure so the border is the same width all the way around.

For this technique, outline and flood the cookie with whatever color icing you prefer. Working with a secondary color, hold the piping bag perpendicular to the cookie, with the tip just barely above the surface of the icing. Squeeze gently until the icing begins to flow, and keep squeezing to enlarge the dot.

One of our all-time favorite ways to decorate sugar cookies is by flooding them with royal icing. Want to try the technique for yourself? Start by baking up a batch of Food Network Magazine's basic sugar cookies and making around 2 1/4 cups worth of basic royal icing.

You can never go wrong with layering your cookies on a simple plate or board! Most of the time, especially when I just bake up one batch of cookies, I will display the cookies on a serving plate, raised stand, or a domed serving plate. One of the new trends floating around on social media is a cookie board!

Use Squeeze Bottles to Decorate Cookies with Icing

I find that squeeze bottles work just as well for decorating and are easier for us non-pro bakers to work with. Plus, they're easy to clean! My favorites are little eight-ounce squeeze bottles that you can find at Michael's and other craft stores.

The Basic Dip

Hold a sugar cookie by the sides, then dip the top of the cookie in the royal icing. Lift the cookie from the icing and gently shake away the excess. That's it! (You could use a spatula or knife to spread the icing out, but it's really not necessary.)