Christmas Iced Cookies: Cutting Shape Cutters and Decorating Tips

Iced Christmas Biscuits – how to cut out shapes and decorate cookies

Equipment

• Rolling pin
• Cookie cutters (Christmas shapes)
• Baking trays and parchment paper
• Mixing bowl or stand mixer
• Piping bags and small nozzles

Ingredients

Christmas cookie cutter biscuits

• 200 g butter, at room temperature
• 200 g granulated sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 400 g plain flour (you may need a little more to reach a playdough-like consistency)

Royal icing

• 350 g icing sugar
• 2 pasteurised egg whites (or egg white powder/meringue powder)
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp cream of tartar
• Food gel colouring (choose red, green, black, white, or any colours you prefer)

To decorate

• Sprinkles, nonpareils, small chocolate pieces, edible glitter, etc.

Instructions

Make the biscuit dough

1. Bring the 200 g butter to room temperature. Place in a bowl with 200 g sugar and beat with an electric whisk or stand mixer for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy. (If mixing by hand, it will take longer.)
2. Add 1 beaten egg and 2 tsp vanilla extract and mix until combined, about 1 minute.
3. Stir in 2 tsp baking powder and half the flour (200 g) with a spoon.
4. Add the remaining flour a little at a time. The dough should reach a playdough-like consistency: pliable but not sticky. If it’s too sticky, add a little more flour; if it’s too dry, add a splash of cold water.
5. Divide the dough into three equal balls. Each ball will yield roughly 12 biscuits using 8 cm cutters.
6. Place the balls in a zip-lock bag and chill in the fridge for 25 minutes or, for faster chilling, freeze for 10 minutes. Chilling firms the dough and helps the biscuits keep their shape when baking.

Roll and cut

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C fan / 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
2. Roll the chilled dough between sheets of parchment paper to about 1 cm (¼ inch) thick. Rolling on parchment prevents sticking and makes it easy to transfer to a baking tray.
3. Cut shapes with your cookie cutters and transfer the parchment sheet with cut biscuits to a baking tray. Use the handle of a fork to ease shapes out of the cutter if needed.
4. Reroll scraps on a fresh sheet of parchment and repeat until all dough is used.

Bake

1. Bake for 7–9 minutes, depending on thickness. Watch carefully: the biscuits should remain pale. Remove when tiny surface cracks appear—this indicates they’re cooked through.
2. Biscuits will be soft when removed but will firm as they cool. Allow them to cool completely before decorating.

Make the royal icing

1. In a clean bowl combine 350 g icing sugar, ½ tsp cream of tartar, ½ tsp vanilla extract and 2 pasteurised egg whites (or reconstituted egg white powder).
2. Beat on low until smooth. The icing should be thick enough to pipe without running. Adjust consistency by adding a teaspoon of water at a time for a slightly thinner mix.
3. Divide the icing into small bowls and colour each with food gel. Keep one bowl plain white if desired. For piping outlines, keep that icing thicker; for flooding (filling large areas), thin some icing with a little water.
4. Fill piping bags with the thick icing for outlines and with thinned icing for filling. You may find it useful to have two bags per colour: one for outlines and one for flooding.

Decorate

1. Ensure biscuits are completely cool. Pipe outlines with the thicker icing, then flood the interior with the thinner icing. Use a toothpick to coax icing into corners and to smooth the surface.
2. While wet, press on sprinkles or small decorations as desired so they stick to the icing.
3. Royal icing will be touch dry in about 30 minutes but needs a couple of hours to dry completely before stacking or storing.

Storage

Once fully dry, store iced biscuits in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week. If you need to pause decorating, keep piping bags sealed and refrigerated for up to three days to stop the icing from hardening.

Tips and notes

• Always use pasteurised egg whites or egg white powder when making royal icing to avoid any food-safety risk.
• Cream of tartar helps stabilise the icing and improves pipeability.
• If refrigerating or freezing dough for future use, defrost overnight in the fridge before rolling.
• For consistent icing results, test the flood consistency by running a knife through the icing and counting how long it takes to smooth back—aim for about 10–15 seconds.