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Your holiday cookies need not look ho-hum. Tread the middle ground gracefully this season, with a few simple tips, techniques and tricks from the pros. (Bill Hogan/Chicago Tribune) |
Maybe you don't have the time, energy or inclination to whip up a 3-D gingerbread wonderland, complete with snowy Christmas trees, red-cheeked carolers and royal icing garlands for Santa's reindeer.
But that doesn't mean your holiday cookies have to look ho-hum.
You can tread the middle ground gracefully this season, with a few simple tips, techniques and tricks from the pros.
The goal is to make your cookies look as good as they taste, without spending hours piping microscopic faces onto miniature snowmen. The options range from classic (portion cookie dough evenly) to fresh and intriguing: Stenciling, anyone?
"Stenciling is kind of a new thing for cookies," says Julia M. Usher, author of "Julia M. Usher's Ultimate Cookies."
"This is a really super-easy way to decorate. Just apply that top coat (of royal icing). Let it dry solidly overnight, and then put a stencil on top that fits the cookie and spread a contrasting color through it, not moving the stencil, and you've got a very, very pretty cookie."
Among the basic principles behind streamlined cookie decorating: Great-looking cookies don't have to be fancy, but they generally do have to be uniform. Think of the humble but identical bakery-shop sugar cookies that bedazzle when piled high in a tray.
"Especially from a retail point of view, it's very important that cookies are evenly baked and look the same and are the same size," says Tina Casaceli, author of "Milk and Cookies."
For unrolled cookies, use a small ice cream scoop rather than a spoon to measure out perfectly sized portions of dough.
For rolled cookies, you'll want to start with a great dough and roll it thin so it will lie flat when baked.
"Likewise," Usher says, "If you cream your butter and sugar to the amount that it says in my book, which is no more than a minute or two, you're not going to create a lot of excess air, which also creates a domed effect" in the finished cookie.
Check on your cookies — rolled or scooped — every few minutes when they're in the oven to avoid uneven cooking, turning your cookie sheets as necessary. Casaceli says that two turns of the sheet are generally sufficient for a 10-minute cookie.
For a little classic no-stress color or texture, you can apply sanding sugar to the cookies before baking. Or wait until after baking and apply a simple, child-friendly glaze, says Tracey Zabar, author of "One Sweet Cookie: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes."
To make glaze, add a little water to some confectioners' sugar and mix with a fork, adding more water until the mixture is a little runny.
"Paint it, pipe it or spoon it on a cookie," Zabar says. "It's like glue. You can throw on M&M's, nonpareils or sprinkles, any little decorating thing you can find in the baking section, and they're beautiful. It's such a fun thing to do with a child. I have four sons, and they're big now, but that was always my idea of decorating cookies."
Royal icing is a little more elegant but not a lot more complicated, particularly if you skip the piping.
Usher says you can use the handle end of a craft brush to apply a simple top coat.
"I just kind of dab (the icing) on the cookie and kind of push it around. I don't spread it. And I work from one area of the cookie on over to the next, dabbing it on until it flows smoothly into one uniform coat and not retreading old territory," she says, noting that royal icing dries and crusts very quickly.
You can add sprinkles to the wet royal icing for a festive, finished look.
But that doesn't mean your holiday cookies have to look ho-hum.
You can tread the middle ground gracefully this season, with a few simple tips, techniques and tricks from the pros.
The goal is to make your cookies look as good as they taste, without spending hours piping microscopic faces onto miniature snowmen. The options range from classic (portion cookie dough evenly) to fresh and intriguing: Stenciling, anyone?
"Stenciling is kind of a new thing for cookies," says Julia M. Usher, author of "Julia M. Usher's Ultimate Cookies."
"This is a really super-easy way to decorate. Just apply that top coat (of royal icing). Let it dry solidly overnight, and then put a stencil on top that fits the cookie and spread a contrasting color through it, not moving the stencil, and you've got a very, very pretty cookie."
Among the basic principles behind streamlined cookie decorating: Great-looking cookies don't have to be fancy, but they generally do have to be uniform. Think of the humble but identical bakery-shop sugar cookies that bedazzle when piled high in a tray.
"Especially from a retail point of view, it's very important that cookies are evenly baked and look the same and are the same size," says Tina Casaceli, author of "Milk and Cookies."
For unrolled cookies, use a small ice cream scoop rather than a spoon to measure out perfectly sized portions of dough.
For rolled cookies, you'll want to start with a great dough and roll it thin so it will lie flat when baked.
"Likewise," Usher says, "If you cream your butter and sugar to the amount that it says in my book, which is no more than a minute or two, you're not going to create a lot of excess air, which also creates a domed effect" in the finished cookie.
Check on your cookies — rolled or scooped — every few minutes when they're in the oven to avoid uneven cooking, turning your cookie sheets as necessary. Casaceli says that two turns of the sheet are generally sufficient for a 10-minute cookie.
For a little classic no-stress color or texture, you can apply sanding sugar to the cookies before baking. Or wait until after baking and apply a simple, child-friendly glaze, says Tracey Zabar, author of "One Sweet Cookie: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes."
To make glaze, add a little water to some confectioners' sugar and mix with a fork, adding more water until the mixture is a little runny.
"Paint it, pipe it or spoon it on a cookie," Zabar says. "It's like glue. You can throw on M&M's, nonpareils or sprinkles, any little decorating thing you can find in the baking section, and they're beautiful. It's such a fun thing to do with a child. I have four sons, and they're big now, but that was always my idea of decorating cookies."
Royal icing is a little more elegant but not a lot more complicated, particularly if you skip the piping.
Usher says you can use the handle end of a craft brush to apply a simple top coat.
"I just kind of dab (the icing) on the cookie and kind of push it around. I don't spread it. And I work from one area of the cookie on over to the next, dabbing it on until it flows smoothly into one uniform coat and not retreading old territory," she says, noting that royal icing dries and crusts very quickly.
You can add sprinkles to the wet royal icing for a festive, finished look.
