A Princess Cookie Decorating Party and A Twist on My Traditional Gingerbread Men

A couple of weeks ago...as I spent a day trying to unpack from our Thanksgiving trip and return to life as usual...my daughter kept running up to me and hopping around me, shouting out ideas for "her party". Declarations of "At my party we'll do ballet and pretend we're in The Nutcracker"..."At my party we'll dress like princesses."..."At my party we'll..." well, you probably get the idea. My daughter has quite an imagination and I guessed that she was just pretending that she was the hostess of a party, so I answered each of her party planning announcements with phrases like, "That's nice." and "Oh, that will be fun!" as I went about my daily tasks. I didn't realize that she was really planning a party. That is, until that night after we'd said her prayers and I tucked her in. As I turned to leave her room, she started crying. "What's wrong?" I asked (truly trying to keep the edge out of my voice) I wanted to be patient and understanding. I really did. But honestly, I was tired and ready to be "off-duty". I mean, as a mom, you're always on-call, but there is something wonderful about that hour after the kids are in bed and the house is quiet (or you're alone with the sound of your favorite t.v. show) and you're sort of off-duty. I was one step out of her door and on my way to this magical quiet time when she replied, "Mom, I've been trying to talk to you all day about my Christmas party and I can tell that you're ignoring me." She called me out, and she was totally right. I thought back over the day and realized that she had been pretty focused on this "party" all day long. Her little tears melted my heart. I apologized and promised to discuss the party over breakfast. I kind of thought that she'd forget about it. I should've known better...this kid doesn't forget a thing!

Over Coco Wheats (for her) and coffee (for me) we came up with the idea of a cookie decorating party. We'd serve hot chocolate and the guests could dress up in princess dresses (from my daughter's collection)...if they wanted to. My daughter wanted to set a strict dress code, but I explained that 1. it's kind of rude to tell your friends what to wear to such a casual party 2. Her friends might not own a princess dress and 3. Princess dresses are NOT practical cookie decorating apparel. I explained to my daughter that she could invite 4 friends and then we set about making the invitations.

I found some printable coloring pages and then typed the party information in the center, dictated by my daughter, of course. Then I gave her some water color paints and a glitter stick and we painted them while my youngest napped away the afternoon.





The day before the party, we baked the cookies, my favorite White Velvet Cutouts recipe found here, and mixed up the Buttercream frosting. Before our guests arrived I hung an apron on the back of every chair, put down a piece of waxed paper where each child would sit, put a variety of cut out cookies on each piece of waxed paper, placed sprinkles and a roll of paper towel in the center of the table, made a batch of hot cocoa on my stovetop (recipe on the cocoa container), tuned into the holiday music channel (which the girls did spend some time dancing to...although I'm not sure it was at all like The Nutcracker), and set out a couple of snacks for the grown-ups that chose to stay for the party. That's it! This party came together quickly and easily.

Once the girls had changed into princess attire and danced a few numbers to the holiday tunes playing from our television, the decorating began!



The class monkey joined in the fun (he goes home with a different student each weekend and the kids write about where the monkey travelled in a journal, shared on Mondays). One of my daughter's friends had "Monkey" this weekend.



My toddler ate her weight in frosting.



She also decorated her first cookie ever. Hey, not too shabby for a not-quite-2-year-old. Restraint with the sprinkles will come in time....



As the afternoon wore on, the girls shared the frosting, and decorating tips, and little girl conversation....




And they got those cookies frosted.



Okay, so maybe the moms helped a little...pictured here is the cookie decorating culmination of dynamic mother-daughter duo, our good friends Staycie and Anna.



Each guest took home a big box of cookies. I was going to purchase cookie boxes from our local cake decorating shop, but my local grocery store was nice enough to give my husband 4 doughnut boxes. They worked perfectly.



This cookie decorating party is definitely a tradition that I'd like to continue. It's just fun! Fun to see the what the girls come up with...fun to catch up with the other moms...fun to eat the cookies! I felt so festive after the guests left that I had to go Christmas shopping!

Later in the weekend, we made gingerbread cookies. I have been making these gingerbread cookies since my oldest daughter was just 3 months old. It's "our" tradition. Every year she get older and takes on a new responsibility in the "gingerbread process". I love rememembering back to previous years and realizing how much she has learned and grown. That first year she slept through most of the cookie making in her bouncy seat. Now she helps to measure, mix, cut out, put on the "buttons, sprinkle the sugar, and tie the ribbons. This year, her little sister scooted a chair over the the kitchen counter and joined in the fun. Someday I'll be old and gray and these sisters may be teaching their little ones how to make gingerbread cookies....

You can read all about our gingerbread cookies and get the recipe right here.



Well, after 5 years of making gingerbread cookies, I welcome a change. I'm not ready to give up the gingerbread tradition, but I was happy to find a new way to decorate our gingerbread cookies. A friend called me last week, "Did you see how Cheryl's Cookies had the gingerbread decorated in their catalogue? It was SO cute!" I checked it out. She was right, gingerbread reindeer are super cute and a nice break from the usual! I put my own twist on them and came up with these Rudolph gingerbread cookies....



The second that I turned that cookie upside down, I could totally see a reindeer!


I also baked pecan tarts, caramel corn, and made a big batch o' fudge this weekend too! Recipes coming soon....

Gingerbread Cookies

I began making these gingerbread cookies 4 years ago. Before that, I went back to my parent's house and baked an impressive assortment of Christmas cookies with my mom and sisters. After my daughter was born, I decided that we needed a Christmas tradition of our own. I'd never made gingerbread before in my life, but they look so pretty and festive that I decided that they were the perfect pick for our cookie tradition. That first Christmas my daughter sat in her bouncy seat at 3 months old and watched me roll out the cookies. Each year she's been a little more involved in the process. Last year her special job was the sprinkles. This year, she's still "queen of the sprinkles", but she actually helped to make the dough. I make, decorate, and individually wrap about 9 dozen of these cookies to take to each family Christmas celebration and to give to friends and neighbors. That means these cookies don't happen in just one day. I make the dough on day 1, roll out and bake on day 2, and decorate and wrap on day 3. This year, because our Christmas parties are more spread out, most of the cookies are still waiting in the freezer to be decorated.

You begin by sifting the dry ingedients together. That's flour, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and baking powder.



Next, melt and cool 1 cup of butter.



Now add a cup of molasses.


And an egg, water, and vanilla.


Add the dry ingredients.


Mix until combined and formed into a soft dough.


Divide the dough into 3 parts. I spoon mine right onto plastic wrap.


Then I smoosh (technical term here) the dough to about 1 1/2" thick. Make sure that it's sealed tightly in the plastic and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.


When the dough (and you) are ready, roll it out on a floured surface.


Cut out the cookies.


Transfer them to a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. They are done when they appear dry and are soft to touch.


Once they've cooled, they are ready to decorate. I begin by piping on two blue eyes and a smile.


Next, I add cinnamon candy buttons for the men and sashes for the ladies.


Then I pipe on cuffs and collars and skirt ruffles and sprinkle with green sugar. This is where I made a royal mistake with my first two dozen cookies this year. I always use Buttercream Icing on my gingerbread cookies. Well, I had quite a bit of white royal icing left over from the gingerbread barn and I hated to waste it, so I just used it to pipe on the cuffs and collars and ruffles. Big mistake. Huge. That stuff dries to a rock hard consistency. When I finished decorating, I wrapped the cookies and plated them up. Unfortunately, two days went by before I got a chance to deliver them to my neighbors. So the cookies sat there getting stale in addition to having cement for icing. I delivered the cookies last night and when I returned home, I decided to have one for myself. I bit, or should I say tried to bite into one of these pretty cookies. It was hard as a rock. Uh-oh. I am so embarrassed. If you happen to be one of the people that recieved my cookies and you're reading this now : I am so sorry! If I had only tried the cookies first....
The moral of the story is royal icing is great for gingerbread houses (and barns) but stick to buttercream for the cookie decoration AND always sample the final product before you give it away to people...especially if you want them to like you.


Once the frosting is dry, I wrap each cookie in plastic wrap and tie with a ribbon. I just love how pretty they look.


Gingerbread Cookies

6 c. flour
1 T. baking powder
1 T. ginger
1 t. cloves
1 t. nutmeg
1 t. cinnamon
1 c. butter, melted and cooled
1 c. molasses
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. water
1 egg
1 t. vanilla

1. Sift the dry ingredients together and set aside.

2. Combine the other ingredients and mix until smooth. Gradually stir in dry ingredients.

3. Divide dough into 3 pieces. Pat down to 1 1/2" thickness. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 3 hours.

4. Roll out to 1/4" thickness on a floured surface. Place 1" apart on a baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. They will look dry and be soft to touch when done.