Commercials make it look so easy and peaceful, don’t they? Decorating cookies with kids. Let’s be honest: it’s not always the stuff of commercials. What starts out as a wonderful holiday memory can leave kids bored and whiny, your floor covered in sprinkles, the kitchen a disaster area, and lots of frosting in your hair.
If you’re looking for a fun way—and easy way—to decorate cookies with kids this Christmas, I’ve got you covered. It only take a bit of prep work on your part the day before and you’ll be set up for a stress-free, mess-free (!) cookie decorating session.
The secret to this cookie decorating success? Food coloring pens!
First, start by making the cookies. Use whatever cut-out cookie recipe floats your boat. This vanilla almond cut-out cookie recipe is my go-to. I’ve made thousands and thousands of cookies with this recipe. It’s a winner.
You’ll also need royal icing. Here on Food & Friends I shared a recipe for royal icing made without meringue powder. Here’s one made with meringue powder. Either will work.
The key is making the cookies and royal icing at least a day before decorating.
You’ll thin the royal icing with a bit of water, stirring gently as you go until, when you run a knife through the bowl of icing, the line disappears in about 20 seconds. Pour the icing into a squeeze bottle and cover the cooled cookies.
Note: If you want to ensure that your icing is the whitest of white, stir in some white food coloring. (Yes, Virginia, there is white food coloring.)
Use a toothpick to guide the icing in place and to pop any large air bubbles. Don’t worry about perfection here. Let the icing dry uncovered for 6-8 hours or overnight. If making them a few days early, store in an airtight container between layers of waxed paper. The cookies can even be frozen and then thawed at room temperature.
Once the cookies are made and the icing is completely dry (I cannot stress this enough), grab some kids. My sweet friends MaryKatherine and Cecilia joined me for cookie decorating.
Break out the food coloring pens and let them go to town!
If you have limited time (or patience, ha!), or are decorating with a large group of children, this is the way to go!
What I love the most about decorating cookies with kids is how creative they are, and how unafraid they are to try things.
MaryKatherine, for example, pressed a paper towel onto the wet “ink” to give this snowman’s outfit some texture. Um, genius!
I decided to decorate a couple of cookies with them and added blonde curls to my snowman. They didn’t work. So, I colored in the entire face yellow … then remembered what they say about yellow snow. MaryKatherine and Cecilia immediately saved the day, suggesting I make a “Snowman Chicken.” See? Kids are the best.
The food coloring pen decorations only need a few minutes to dry, so the cookies are ready to be packaged and stored right away.
Another bonus? Because you made the cookies and icing the day before, the only thing to clean up after decorating is the pens! That makes my heart happy.
Here’s hoping your Christmas is filled with love … and cookies!
