Decorating Christmas Cookies Collection

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As I thought through all the possibilities of shapes to do for Christmas…..it seemed like “decorating Christmas cookies” was a perfect theme.

That’s how I started decorating cookies. My dad made it an event every year when I was a little girl. My whole family did it together. And boy did we have fun…and make lots of memories!

Even though the Christmas season is jammed packed with so many extra activities…..make some time to decorate cookies with the ones you love. It will be worth every second.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Made with Love Heart Decorated Sugar Cookies YouTube video HERE

Sugar and Spice Decorated Sugar Cookies YouTube video HERE

Snowflake Decorated Sugar Cookie YouTube video HERE

Stocking Decorated Sugar Cookie YouTube video HERE

Candy Cane Decorated Sugar Cookies YouTube video HERE

Cookie Sheet Pan Decorated Sugar Cookie YouTube video HERE

Snowman Decorated Sugar Cookie YouTube video HERE

Christmas Tree Decorated Sugar Cookie YouTube video HERE

Gingerbread Man Decorated Sugar Cookie YouTube video HERE

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CookieCrazieBasics: Chocolate Cut-Out Recipe

I love making chocolate cookies not only because chocolate is AMAZING(!) but because the dark background of the cookies really makes certain designs pop. 

This recipe is a modification of my regular sugar cookie recipe. I didn't want to tamper with the success I've had with the original......so I traded out some of the flour in the original recipe and added cocoa instead. It works well.....and is very yummy. I also add expresso powder to intensify the chocolate flavor. Mmmmmm.....

CookieCrazie Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1-1/2 cups sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp expresso powder (optional....but highly recommended!)

1/2 cup sour cream

4 1/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg, vanilla, cocoa, expresso powder & sour cream.

Blend in dry ingredients.

The dough does not need to be refrigerated before rolling & cutting.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough to desired thickness. Cut into shapes.

Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake approx 20 minutes.

Yield: 20-25 medium cookies

Everything else is the same after mixing up the dough.

Here's some of my favorite chocolate cookie designs.....(Click on the photo to see the blog post.)

Hey....and what a lovely way to end the post.....with some Valentines cookies made with the chocolate dough. :)

CookieCrazieBasics: Sugar Cookie Recipe

It all starts with a good sugar cookie recipe.

And if the basic cookie is not delicious, it doesn't really matter what it looks like.

I've been using the following recipe for many years. I think it's "secret ingredient" is the sour cream. It holds its shape perfectly and tastes the best of all I've had.

CookieCrazie Sugar Cookies

1 cup (227 grams) butter, softened

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup (125 grams) sour cream

4 3/4 cups (600 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg, vanilla, & sour cream. Blend in dry ingredients.
No refrigeration of dough is necessary.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough to desired thickness. Cut into shapes.
Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake approx 20 minutes.

Yield: 20-25 medium cookies

Glaze Icing Recipe

Let's Talk About Cookie Dough

So......let's talk about cookie dough. I thought I start at the beginning.....and hopefully I'll work my way up to decorating. 

First things first.....many things I do are NOT the conventional way. I don't sift flour or powdered sugar. I don't chill my dough at any point. I cut out thick cookies. I bake them at a lower temp for a longer time......trying not to get them brown, so they will be soft and not crunchy. I leave the baked cookies on the pans to cool. I don't use royal icing.....rather corn syrup glaze. I decorate my cookies standing up...................

You get the picture......so if you read something about my decorating that shocks you, just know that I'm unconventional. You've been pre-warned. lol

I won't bore you with the mixing of the cookie dough. Everyone can do that......it's not rocket science or anything. 

One thing I will say is that I make my dough pretty stiff so that I don't have to mess with using a lot of extra flour or chilling my dough when I'm rolling it out. When mixing my dough, I add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup extra flour to make it nice and stiff......but not so much that it is dry and crumbly and won't hold together. Then I just roll out the dough, cut, put on pan, and bake. It was so freeing when I came to this conclusion!

I took some pics to show you my set up. Here's everything set out and ready to go.

I've got my cookie sheets with Sil Pat liners on the left; my DoBoard to roll out the dough evenly; dough ready and waiting to become cookies; :) cutters and templates; and finally.....my list and sketches of cookies I want to cut out. (Sil Pats are silcon mats you put on your cookie sheets......the dough does not stick to it as it bakes and they are fairly easy clean up. I guess you would call them the "green" way compared to using parchment paper.)

My DoBoard is an invaluable tool. It is pricey, but worth every penny. It allows you to roll out dough at 5 different depths. I cut my dough at about 3/8" thick.

In the next few days I'll show you how I created a few of my fun shapes.

Here's another entry of my 2011 Winter collection. For some reason, I just love mittens attached by strings.....so I wanted to do a cookie with them. I still can NOT stand my handwriting on a cookie.....but it is what it is. lol

That's it for today. Happy baking!