Piping Practice

Since the holidays are here, I wanted to make some cute Christmas cookies to celebrate. Plus, I can definitely use the season as a reason to practice piping. I’ve only made decorated sugar cookies a handful of times, but I think I get a tiny bit better each time I try them.

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So naturally I made ice cream cones for Christmas.

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Kidding. I kid. But I did use this ice cream cone cookie cutter to make something else.

I have a limited supply of Christmas cookie cutters, so I had to improvise, you see.

I like improvising.

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Simply turn it upside down and it makes a great base shape for Santa.

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Lots of Santas.

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I used a recipe in the book, Cookie Craft ^[6] to make these chocolate sugar cookies.

Click here ^[7] and go to page 7 and 16 for the recipes.

P.S. – I love this book. It’s fantastic if you want to learn the ins and outs of cookie decorating.

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So – I used the shape of the cookie cutter to draw several different Santa heads on a sheet of paper. Then I made a few facial variations to help me practice.

My kind of homework.

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After the cookies cooled, I drew the faces on the cookies with an edible ink pen, hoping this would help me when I start piping.

I can trace. I’m a good tracer.

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But not so good at piping. The drawings did help, but I have to tell you – this stage had me a little worried.

They don’t look so hot, huh?

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I think it would be easier with larger shapes, though.

The cutter I used was about 3 inches tall. So the mustaches and such were really small.

Small for me anyway.

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But I piped and flooded forward.

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And thank goodness I kept going, With the help of some sprinkles and sugar crystals and an edible ink pen – they all turned out pretty cute.

I definitely think the different textures help pull off the look.

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Some have cute rosy cheeks.

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Some have big brows.

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Some have curly locks.

And the fun part is …

… if you change the drawing on the inside of the ice cream cone shape and use different colors of royal icing…

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You’ll end up with some of Santa’s little helpers.

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So, don’t give up.

Pipe on. Practice makes good.

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I’m still trying for perfect, but I think I need to make decorated cookies more than once or twice a year.

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Guess I’ll just have to keep playing.

It is sweet fun.

And if you want to play, too… I can make up a downloadable template of different Santa faces… using basic shapes like ice cream cones, circles, or hearts as the base – so you can make your own … If you like.