These simple and beautiful Winter Wonderland Cookies are perfect for any winter holiday or party!
Here in California we still have lots of sunshine… but I can dream of snow with these cute cookies!
One of my favorite things about this set of cookies is that it only requires a few icing colors and some very simple techniques to create a fun and engaging collection!
And although these cookies would be adorable for Christmas, they’d also be perfect for any winter holiday or party… all the way into January.
Let’s decorate and dream of snow together!
PIN IT NOW to save for later!
Winter Wonderland Cookies Decorating Instructions –
Start with a batch of my Perfect Sugar Cookies.
For this set you’ll need some round cookies (large and mini), some snowflakes and a simple tree (I used a mini tree cutter from Ecrandal, but I do not see it on their site currently).
Prepare a batch of Royal Icing.
For this set, I made…
Pale blue icing with a #2 tip, medium/flood consistency
Lime green icing with a #2 tip, medium/flood consistency
Medium-dark green icing with a #2 tip, medium/flood consistency
White icing with a #1.5 tip, piping consistency
White icing with a #2 tip, medium/flood consistency
You’ll also need white non-pareils sprinkles and white and/or light blue snowflake sprinkles (optional)
I’m trying something new and sharing the decorating process with a video, in place of step-by-step photos.
I’d love your feedback as to which you prefer (photos or video). Please don’t say “both”… I’m only human! =)
Enjoy this short video for the step-by-step decorating tutorial…
A few additional decorating notes…
For the large round cookies (the tree scene), the trees should be added immediately after the cookie has been “flooded” with the white and blue icing.
For the mini trees, (pictured in this post, but not show in the video) the same technique (called “wet-on-wet”) should be used.
For the snowflakes, outline and flood the cookies, then allow to dry (1-4 hours) before adding the white details.
How to Make Sugar Cookies and Royal Icing
Sugar Cookies and Royal Icing
Ingredients
Perfect Sugar Cookies
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt good quality
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg large
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract good quality, see flavor options in notes
Royal Icing
- 4 tablespoons meringue powder
- 4 cups powdered sugar about 1 pound
- 6 tablespoons warm water to start
Instructions
Perfect Sugar Cookies
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This should take 2-3 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla and beat another minute or so.
- Add the flour mixture slowly. (Be careful not to add too much at a time or you will have a snowstorm of flour.)
- Blend until all of the flour is incorporated. The mixture will look crumbly at first but just keep blending until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- Remove about half of the dough from the bowl and knead by hand just a bit to form a smooth ball. Roll out dough onto a lightly floured work surface, or onto a piece of plastic wrap (as described in detail in the blog post above).
- Cut out cookies into desired shapes and place entire baking sheet of unbaked cookies into the freezer for 5 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F and bake cookies in preheated oven for 9-11 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of your cookies.
- The cookies are baked when then are no longer shinny on top, but they will not show much of any change in color.
- Cool on baking sheet just a minute or so, then carefully move to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool fully before decorating.
Royal Icing
- Beat all ingredients until stiff peaks form.
- Spoon some of the thick white icing into individual bowls and add coloring .
- Add additional water, about 1 teaspoon at a time until you’ve reached the consistency you need.
Notes
Nutrition
PIN IT NOW to save for later!
Happy winter cookie decorating!
Disclosure – Amazon links provided for your convenience. I may receive a small commission when you shop using the links in this post.
These are beautiful. How big is the larger round cookie (with the trees)?
Thanks! The circle I used is about 3.5″ diameter. I think anything from 3″ or more would work great. You could do even smaller, but might have to add less trees. Happy decorating!
Made these cookies this weekend! Everything turned out perfect. It was my first time making royal icing & the directions were spot on! The sugar cookie recipe is delicious and great to work with for rolling. I don’t even have a rolling pin, just used a large piece of pvc pipe
There are so many things I love about this comment… but I think your ingenuity is #1! =) So glad you had such success! Merry Christmas!
Just so i don’t mess this up, when you pipe and flood the pale blue section and the white section, you are not changing the icing or the tip for those sections. You are piping then immediately flooding with the same extact frosting and tip. I️ can’t tell if you are switching in the video.
Yes, you are correct, for this design the outline and flood are the same icing. If you are a first time decorator, you may opt to use a slightly thicker consistency outline so you don’t have to be so precise with getting an icing that’s just thick enough to stay on the cookie, but also works as a flood (as I did). Either way will work for this design. Best of luck and happy decorating!
I am amazed by your talent!! I forwarded to my artistic 16 year old daughter. We’re planning on decorating cookies this week – maybe we can get something close to your end result! Great job!
Just found your site. I love the detailed instructions as far as consistency and tips for which colors. It is so helpful. I loved the video!
This seemed like a great idea. but…after several failed attempts and shopping at several stores short of ordering on line I have been unsuccessful in obtaining an 1.5 or 2 tip. I had no idea they even came that small. No wonder you can get such precision. I couldn’t even fine any meringue powder in this area this time of the year. Very disappointed that this is not a “common” task that can be done.
Hi Teresa,
So sorry for the frustration! I have many recipes on my site that can be accomplished with everyday ingredients, but if you’ve never decorated cookies at all before, it does require a few specialized supplies. Of course I have no control over what’s available in your area.
A couple things… meringue powder is generally available at Joanne’s, Michael’s, Hobby Lobby and it’s sold at my local Wal-mart as well. It’s sold in the cake decorating section. The #2 tips should be easily available (again, I have no idea where you live, so I can’t account for that). The #1.5 tips are by a brand called PME, and you will likely only find them on-line. The #2 tips could be used in place of the #1.5 with good results.
I loved the video! It inspired me to try something new.
Ive been making the snowflakes for years, but the winter
Scenes look so cute and easy. I wouldn’t have thought to
make while still wet.
Thank you!
Merry Christmas from Alaska
Thanks so much for your sweet comment! These little scenes probably look a lot like Alaska, I imagine! Merry Christmas to you!
Thanks for the feedback on consistency. It’s taking me a lot of do-overs to get it right. I like your comparison to toothpaste (piping) and shampoo (flooding.) Might use those for practice!
These cookies are so beautiful and I loved watching your video. Can’t wait to try to make these myself – wish me luck!!
Which greens did you use for the trees? These cookies are BEAUTIFUL!!