Decorating Christmas Cookies With Toddlers

Sugar Cookies with Colored Icing (Photo: Samdogs/Flickr.com)

Need some inspiration for decorating Christmas cookies? Decorating Christmas cookies is a fun holiday activity for both kids and adults, and the best part is, you get to eat you creations!

This page includes pictures of decorated Christmas cookies and Christmas cookie decorating ideas.

Some Christmas cookie decorating techniques are basic while others may take a little more effort. Don't be afraid to improvise and use your imagination. (Scroll down for decorated Christmas cookies pictures.) *Note: Many of these Christmas cookies can be made from store bought cookies (already made) that are decorated with frosting, icing and candy! For example, the snowman cookies made from Oreos and the reindeer cookies made from gingersnap cookies.)

Embellishment Ideas for Decorated Christmas Cookies

White, red and green icing
Colored sprinkles
Red licorice
Peppermint candies
Confectioners sugar or powdered sugar
Maraschino cherries
Cinnamon red-hots candies
Snowflake candy sprinkles
Assorted chocolates (M&Ms, Hershey's Kisses)
Food coloring
Sugar

Melted Snowman Cookies Pictures

Melting snowman cookies. Sugar cookie dough, M&M for buttons.

Melted snowman cookie with a marshmallow face.

Easy Christmas Cookies: Snowman Cookies

Snowman cookies made with two sugar cookies, red hot or M&M buttons, gum drop hats.

Another version of easy snowman cookies. Use drops of sugar cookie dough placed close together on a cookie sheet.

Easy snowman cookies made from Oreos dipped in white chocolate. Hats made from colored sprinkles.

Santa Cookies Ideas

Cute Santa cookies (Photo: GrammasCutters.com)

Decorated Santa Cookies

Everyone knows Santa Claus loves cookies, but what Santa loves even more, is cookies decorated to look like him! To decorate Santa cookies, you should have lots of white icing, red sugar (add a few drops of red food coloring and stir), and chocolate chips (good for eyes). Coconut makes for a nice full beard.

The Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats blog has a cute and simple idea for making Santa cookies. These are made by decorating simple sugar cookies.

With this one, you don't have to worry about finding a Santa shaped cookie cutter, just use a round sugar cookie. His beard is made with icing (half-moon shape) sprinkled with coconut flakes. Use icing and sugar (made red with food coloring) for his hat. The trim of his hat is made with a ribbon of frosting.

Find the full instructions for these Santa cookies at Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats: Ho! Ho! Ho!

Easy Santa Cookies

Easy decorated Santa cookies (Photo: GoodEatsBlog.com)

Nutter Butter Santa cookie faces. Use white icing, chocolate chips for eyes, red hots for the nose, red sugar sprinkles for the hat and miniature marshmallow for the ball on Santa's hat.

Decorating Sugar Cookies

There are so many ways to decorate sugar cookies for Christmas. All you need is a little imagination and the sky's the limit. Here are some ideas for decorating sugar cookies:

Painted Sugar Cookies

Before baking, 'paint' the sugar cookies with a paint made from egg yolk mixed with a bit of food coloring.

When the cookies are baked, the egg yolk will dry and give it a glazed look. You could also make the paint from corn syrup, water and food coloring. The Food Network recommends 4 teaspoons of corn syrup and 1 teaspoon of water. _{^{(Source: Painted Sugar Cookies)}}

Decorated with Royal Icing

A popular way of decorating Christmas cookies, is with royal icing. You can either buy pre-made icing in tubes or make your own. Royal icing dries 'hard' so it is great for making borders and decorative lines.

Royal icing can be used to make poinsettias, stars, or whatever you like. Add a few drops of food coloring to white icing to make your own holiday colored palette. How about a green mistletoe flower with a cinnamon red hot for the berries? Be creative. The icing can also be used as an edible adhesive.

If you make your own, you'll need a way of applying the icing. You can easily pipe icing by filling a zip-lock bag with icing and cutting off a corner tip to make a makeshift pastry bag. Twist the bag, make sure all the air is out and give it a squeeze.

Pastry bag kits often come with different 'tips.' You can apply the icing to create different effects depending on which tips you use. Icing kits can be purchased in the baking supplies section of your local grocery store. These often come with different piping tips.

How to Make Royal Icing

To make your own royal icing, you'll need:

4 cups of powdered sugar
2 tablespoons of meringue powder
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (or almond, lemon extract)
6 tablespoons of water

Mix the ingredients with a beater (or in a mixer) for about 10 minutes. After the consistency is right, add a few drops of food coloring.

Wreath cookie, candy cane cookie, snowman cookie, gift box cookie, poinsettia cookie (Photo: WisconsinMade.com)

Christmas Tree Cookie (Photo: Handcraftit.com)

Snowflake Sugar Cookies Pictures

Snowflake Sugar Cookies (Photo:Jacki2.blogspot.com)

Snowflake Sugar Cookies (FoodNetwork.com)

Angel Sugar Cookies Pictures

Beautiful Angel Cookies (SugarCraft.com)

Pretty angel sugar cookies for Christmas.

Reindeer Cookies Pictures

Reindeer Cookies (Photo:Mezkitchen.blogspot.com)

Reindeer Christmas Cookies (Photo: Lushlee.com)

Easy Reindeer cookies made from gingersnap cookies. Icing holds on the chocolate candy eyes, nose and peppermint candy cane antlers.

Nutter Butter reindeer cookies dipped in chocolate. Pretzel antlers.

How to Decorate Christmas Sugar Cookies: Decorating Tips

Christmas Cookies Recipes

Fruitcake and Christmas Cookie Recipes
Three family fruitcake recipes and
Recipe - Christmas Cookies from Mrs. Tanner
This Christmas Cookie Recipe came from our next door neighbor, Mrs. Tanner, many years ago and has been utilized through the years with great success. My Dad was a Realtor and also a home builder in...
Christmas Cookies And Candies - Biscotti
morguefile.com Another addition to Christmas cookies and candy offerings that can be part of a gift basket, a stand-alone gift in a pretty gift bag or tin, or a yummy addition to any get-together. ...
Christmas Cookie Recipes Using Almond Extract
I make a number of different types of cookies at Christmas time, but these two are definite favourites (and use almond extract). The first recipe is for thumbprint cookies and the second is an alternate way...
Christmas Cookie Cutters -- Holiday Cookie Cutters
Almost everyone I know who celebrates Christmas loves making Christmas cookies. My best friend is an avid baker and is always saying the making Christmas cookies is his favorite part of the holiday (though...
Easy Christmas Cookie Recipes
Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1 cup butter or margarine -- softened 1 1/2 tsps vanilla 2 eggs 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda Instructions: In a large bowl, beat sugar,...
Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons Childre...
Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Jane Dyer book cover
Christmas Cookies
Christmas cookies are centuries old tradition that appears to have begun in Medieval Europe. It is believed that German Lebkuchen may have been the first cookie to be associated with the Christmas season. The...
Quick and Easy Christmas Cookies for Children
Here is a quick and easy recipe for cookie dough that can be rolled flat and used with cookie cutters to make Christmas cookies. It is a great recipe to use with children. It is quick and easy to make and...
Christmas Cookie Recipes That Use Splenda
It's getting closer to that time of year and thinking about those in your family that prefer artificial sugars for their own personal reasons or because of health issues, it's always good to keep recipes on...

Fiona from South Africa on December 18, 2013:

The angels are gorgeous

Cara on December 17, 2012:

What is the round face on the melted snowman cookie made out of?

Lou53 on December 05, 2012:

Delighted that I found this site!

2patricias from Sussex by the Sea on December 03, 2012:

Great photos!

I am adding this to my Recipe Index for HubPages.

akaren2 on December 01, 2012:

What did you use for the head and nose on the melting snow man cookies?

Lily on November 24, 2012:

LOVE those cookies, I will have fun with my 8 year old .

Laura Brown from Barrie, Ontario, Canada on August 27, 2012:

You found a lot of them! I wish I could decorate cookies that nicely. I added your link to my Scoop.it topic. Thanks for sending it.

Mickie's Little Red Wagon from The South on February 03, 2012:

Almost too many ideas. Great collection of holiday cookie decorating ideas.

Michal from Miami, Florida on December 15, 2011:

wonderful ideas and lots of pictures! I saw some of these on pinterest and other places, but you really found the best ideas and put them in one place. thanks! looks like my niece and I will be having some fun soon!

Lilly May Rose from Australia on December 12, 2011:

These are great ideas. Great Hub!

someone on December 11, 2011:

These r cut cookie ideas

instantlyfamily on November 30, 2011:

Awesome Hub. I voted Up.

marianne on November 24, 2011:

its well good!!

Livin4Him from Wasilla, AK on November 11, 2011:

Wonderful layout...beautifully done! Thank you for all the hard work and effort that you put into this layout just so other's could benefit from it! Blessings!

momo on December 22, 2010:

love AKdude's hat

MOMO on December 22, 2010:

I love the cookie ideas. I will use them!

momo on December 22, 2010:

AWSOME

ingrid on November 21, 2010:

great cookies

i will be baking them down under in aussie land

AKdude from Alaska on November 20, 2010:

Those are some beautiful cookies! Someone put a lot of work into decorating them.

Diane Inside on October 06, 2010:

These are great ideas, I love sugar cookies so I'm sure I will be trying some of these. I especially love the angel cookies, so beautiful. Too pretty to eat. Thanks.

Elayne from Rocky Mountains on November 28, 2009:

They look so yummy and beautiful. Thanks for all the great ideas. Aloha!