Easy Christmas Cookie Decorating

Pinwheel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Divide sugar cookie dough into two equal portions.

Return one half of the dough to the bowl.

Add 5 drops of red gel food color to the bowl.

Mix until dough is evenly colored. 

Place red dough between two large sheets of wax paper and roll out dough to a 9x16-inch rectangle.

Transfer dough to the refrigerator to chill, keeping both sheets of wax paper in place.

Repeat process with untinted dough.

Refrigerate both layers of dough for 15-20 minutes. 

Remove the dough from the refrigerator.

Place the untinted dough onto your work surface, removing the top layer of wax paper.

Remove one sheet of wax paper from the red dough. Carefully flip the red dough down onto the untined layer. Remove the remaining top layer of wax paper.

Beginning at one of the short ends, carefully roll dough into a tight log. Pull up gently on the remaining layer of wax paper to help roll the dough.

Add holiday cookie sprinkles onto a clean piece of wax paper.

Roll log in the sprinkles. Continue rolling and pressing sprinkles into the dough until it is completely covered and no dough shows through.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Using a sharp knife, slice off the end of the log and discard. Carefully slice 1/4-inch slices, spacing roughly 1-2-inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake cookies for 10 minutes.

Allow cookies to sit on the pan for 1 minute before transfering to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Press

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Roll out your sugar cookie dough and cut shapes using holiday cookie cutters

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

Place your cookies onto the baking sheet about 2 inches apart

Place a cup of flour into a shallow dish

Place your decorative glassware into the flour to coat

Shake off excess flour

Place your decorative glassware onto the cookie and press down

Remove the glassware from the cookie

Repeat with remaining cookies

Add chocolate candies as you want

Bake for 10-12 minutes until bottoms are golden

Marble Glaze

Mix all ingredients on medium-high until smooth. If icing seems too thick, add a tablespoon of heavy cream, one at a time, until you reach the desired consistency

Line a drinking glass with a small zip-lock plastic bag.

Pour 1/4 of the icing into the bag and add food coloring. Zip the top of the bag and kneed until the food coloring is combined with the icing.

Add the white icing into a shallow bowl.

Cut a small hole into the corner of the zip-lock bag and pipe lines back and forth over the white icing. Using a toothpick, swirl the icing in the opposite direction. Don’t over mix.

Lay a piece of parchment paper onto your work surface. Place a wire cooling rack on top.

Using a baked and cooled cookie, dip the face of the cookie into the icing making sure every corner touches the icing.

Lift the cookie up, shake a little to smooth out the icing and let the excess drip off for a few seconds.

Gently place the cookie onto the wire rack. 

Let dry completely, about an hour. Repeat for every cookie.

As the marble effect fades, re-pipe and swirl colored icing into the white icing.

Stencils

This technique works best with a chocolate or dark colored cookie.

Using a baked and cooled cookie, place a plastic stencil on top of each cookie.

Place a sifter on top of a bowl

Pour 1/2 cup confectioners sugar into the sifter

Using the sifter, gentle cover the cookies with the sugar

Remove the stencils