Yes, Carol...It's Christmas! by Cindy Vincent: Guest Post: Christmas Party Tips Part 2

Cindy’s Christmas Party Tips

Post #2:

Hello again and Merry Christmas!  In my last post, I talked about iconic items that instantly evoke the feeling of Christmas.  And in today’s post, I’m going to talk about another one of those items—decorated sugar cookies.  A good Christmas party should never be without them!  Please note though: While Carol, in my book Yes, Carol . . . It’s Christmas!, is supposed to be an expert when it comes to decorating cookies, I am not nearly as talented as my fictional character.  Ha!  That’s the difference between fiction and reality . . .  

So if you’re not an expert baker, don’t panic, because I intend to make this easy for you.  Let me start by sharing my top-secret, fail-safe sugar cookie recipe. 

  Uh-huh, that’s right.  After years of trying to perfect a sugar cookie recipe that not only tasted good, but rolled out easily to make cookie cutouts, someone told me about this.  And, let me just say, I have never looked back.  Just mix according to the directions (I usually make up two packs at once) and then—this is very important—cover and set in the refrigerator for several hours.  Once the dough is nicely firmed up, spread a little flour over your work surface, and also spread some flour on your rolling pin.  Each and every time you roll out the dough.  Use cookie cutters to cut out the desired shapes and put them on your cookie sheets.  Bake according to the instructions. 

After you have all the cookies you like, and they’ve cooled nicely, now comes the fun part.  Here’s a tip that I learned the hard way—there is frosting and there is icing.  Frosting is something that goes on a cake (and often comes in a round container at the grocery store), but icing—specifically, royal icing—is what a person uses to decorate cookies.  Here’s my recipe.

32-ounce bag of powdered sugar

6 tablespoons meringue powder

1 cup warm water

3 teaspoons Karo light corn syrup

Mix the dry ingredients (the powdered sugar and the meringue powder) together first, using a fork.  And a word to the wise—be very careful when you’re messing with all that powdered sugar.  Never just dump it into a bowl or you’ll have a kitchen covered in a white layer of sugar that will be sticky for weeks.  So pour it in very slowly and gently.  Once you’ve mixed the first two ingredients, start adding the water a little at a time.  Use your fork to slowly mix it in, one small section at a time.  Keep adding water until your icing becomes a consistency that you can work with in a piping bag.  If the icing is too thick, add water.  If it’s too thin, add more sugar.  And finish off by adding the Karo syrup. 

When your icing is ready, separate it into different bowls and add food coloring to each one.  If you haven’t decorated sugar cookies like this before, I’d suggest not going too crazy when it comes to your colors.  Meaning, don’t start out with every color under the sun.  You can see in my picture that I recently made a batch using red, blue, green and white.  

To decorate your cookies, put the icing into piping bags (which are sometimes called pastry bags).  I highly recommend using these disposable bags without tips.  You won’t have to worry about washing them later and you can actually see the icing inside the bag.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DJ6F2WY/  

As soon as you have icing loaded up into the bags, twist the top closed so the icing will stay in the bag and not ooze out the back.  Then snip the very tip of the bag.  Keep in mind, this is where the icing will be coming out.  So the bigger the snip at the end, the larger your piped line of icing will be.  I suggest starting with a small hole first, while you’re adjusting to your technique. You can always cut it larger later if you want to. 

When piping (or pushing the icing out through the little hole in the piping bag), you’ll be doing two different steps.  The first is to “Outline” the area of the cookie.  I like to do this and then give it a few minutes to dry.  The second is to “Flood” the rest of the area with icing so that the icing sort of slides into place.  Some people even suggest that you add a little water to your icing at this stage, so that it “floods” the outlined area a little easier.  From my pictures, you can see that I might have benefitted from thinning my icing a smidge, because I ended up using a knife to spread them to the edge of the outline.  

  After you’ve iced your cookies, you can also add sprinkles, just to give them a little more pizzazz.  

When it comes to decorating sugar cookies, remember, you’re going for “pretty” and not “perfect.”  If you’re a professional baker or someone who’s been doing this since the dawn of time, your cookies will probably look like something in a baker’s window.  But for non-professionals, these cookies are simply meant to be fun and Christmassy.  And they’re meant to evoke the happy feelings of Christmas for your party guests to enjoy.  

Thank you, Julie, for hosting me here today!  And now, please join us tomorrow for my third post on Christmas party entertaining at another wonderful blog, Heidi Reads.  See you there!