Christmas Cookies

 Christmas wouldn't be complete in our house without some decorated sugar cookies.  These were all decorated with fondant rather than royal icing for a couple reasons.  1.  Royal icing you have a lot of wait time until the base has dried to add the accents (unless you are wanting the colors to blend together). 2. I was too tired to make royal icing when I already had fondant in the colors that I needed on hand.   So since I was on a time crunch these are some quick and easy Christmas cookies that will please your whole house.

Snowball Cookies

 These were the left over circles that I had from the Strawberry Santa Hat Sugar Cookies that I made.  Roll out some white fondant on a greased board (I use a tiny bit of shortening on my counter so it doesn't stick.  You can use Cornstarch or Powdered sugar, but if you are rolling things out a lot it can dry out your fondant and you need to use water to adhear it to the cookie.) Then use the cookie cutter that you originally cut the circle cookie out with and cut a circle of fondant.  Shake the cookie cutter a little to make sure it cuts the edges smoothly.  Place the fondant on the cookie and smooth over the top to adhear it to the cookie (if you used powdered sugar or cornstarch then spread a little water or light corn syrup on the back of the fondant).    Then to make the sparkling sugar you can either use a tiny bit of light corn syrup to make it sticky and sprinkle away.  After 30 minutes the cookie is no longer sticky from the corn syrup and can be packaged if needed.  My boys loved the snow balls.

Santa Hat Cookie

 This Santa Hat is a miniature one I got in a Wilton Christmas Mini Cookie Cutter set that I bought at Michaels two years ago.  But, the instructions would be the same no matter the size of cookie you would just need more fondant for the bigger cookies.   I start by rolling out the red fondant on my greased board and use the cookie cutter to cut out the shape. Then I use my cake pizza cutter and cut off the ball area and the bottom rim of the cookie where the head band needs to go. (Trust me it is a lot easier to cut them off than to cover it up.  I speak from experience.) Then I pinch off a little bit of white fondant and roll it into a ball.  Put a tiny dab of water where you want it to go and gently press down to get it to stick to the cookie. For the white band on the hat I take a larger ball of fondant and first roll it into a ball to get the creases out and then roll it into a log.  I attach it the same way and make sure the white overlaps the base of the red a little. If you want to add some texture to the white parts you can easily with a piping tip or anything that you have handy.

Christmas Star

 There is nothing easier than a star cookie! You roll out your fondant and cut it out with the star cookie cutter.  Attach it to the cookie  and you are done.  Since my fondant was a regular yellow I had a few options to make it stand out a little more if you want to.  You could paint it gold (with gold luster dust mixed with a little lemon extract), brush on dry gold luster dust, or use a gold colored fondant.  I went with a little bit different option.  I have a disco dust that is rainbow in color (yes they come in many different colors) and I spread a tiny bit of water over the fondant and then took a dry  yes dry paint brush and dipped it in the disco dust and taped the paint brush over the stars I was making and it really make them sparkle.  So many options to choose from!  And yes it is also one of my Mini Wilton Christmas Cutters.

 Gingerbread Girl

 She is a small, but not mini gingerbread girl.  First I added a layer of a blend of chocolate fondant and white fondant mixed together (to lighten the color a little since the chocolate fondant is pretty dark probaly 2 parts chocolate and 1 part white fondant). Then I rolled out my red fondant.  I cut a triangle shape close to the size I thought and cut the top of the triangle to make the neck line.  Use a little water on the back of the red fondant and attach to the body.  Then I took a tiny pinch of the red fondant and rolled it into a ball and then into a little sausage.  Then take a toothpick or knife or whatever you have on hand and indent on the top and bottom and there is an easy bow. Take some white fondant and roll it out into a thin snake and add trim to the top and bottom of the dress.  And last grab your edible food marker pens and place two dots for the eyes and a smile.  (If you are decorating a larger cookie feel free to use the fondant for the eyes and mouth, but when you are working with a small cookie it is very difficult to get it small enough and in the right spot.

Gingerbread Man

Last but not least our little gingerbread man.  I used the part chocolate part white fondant mix again like in the gingerbread girl and did the eyes and mouth the same.  But, instead of the dress I added a simple scarf.  You take the desired color fondant and roll it out.  Then cut some strips.  Mine were about 1/2 thick which fit perfectly on my 3 inch cookie.  Use a paint brush dipped in water and draw a line where you want it to go.  Then lay the fondant from one side of the neck to the other and cut with a knife or spatula.  Then take about a 2 inch strip and I used my pizza cutter to fringe the edge of the piece and attach to one side.
These cookies were so easy to make that it can be a fun easy project even with your kids.  Enjoy! See below for the cookie cutters I used.