Working on increasing my sprinkle budget...

Last Christmas I came upon an idea that I thought could be pretty fun for the kids – a Christmas cookie decorating party. What if I made a bunch of cut out cookies and my kids and my nephews and niece could get together to decorate them?

I will be honest – I kind of hate cut out cookies. Drop cookies are pretty much awesome – they don’t require extra refrigeration, rolling, resting, cutting, etc. I am a lazy baker – it’s true.

But for these kids? I’m more than willing to do it!

I made the doughs a week ahead and let them sit in the fridge. The night before I rolled out the doughs to the right depth. (Is depth the right word? My brain is so tired…) Thickness! Thickness is the word! The night before, I was still at a loss for frosting or glaze so I headed off to the internet… Found two recipes, figured I would try both. By far the winner was the Wilton Royal Icing. I used it in its stiffest form to put together my tiny gingerbread houses but then watered it down some for the main frosting. I did try another recipe that ended up much like glue… yuck. That stayed in the bowl.


Reading about other people’s decorating parties, I read squeeze bottles were the way to go – so I bought a bunch at Michaels. Also, my trusty helper Bronwyn sorted out 12 different kinds of decorations in 5 different mini muffin tins. This way each kid had their own set of decorations to eat or to put on their cookies.


The day of the party we had such a great time. Even the little guys did their own version of decorating and eating. I can certainly see making this a yearly event for the kids. After all – this is a great reason to increase my sprinkle budget for the year. Let’s be honest – that budget is always in need of some extra room. Let’s not talk about my cabinet space…

Recipes I used for this adventure:
Cookies:
Chocolate Cut Out Cookies - http://sweetopia.net/2013/12/chocolate-sugar-cookie-recipe-cut-out-cookies/
Vanilla Cut Out Cookies - http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2011/06/basic-sugar-cookie-recipe-2/
Frosting:
Royal Icing - http://www.wilton.com/royal-icing/WLRECIP-50.html