Cookie Tags And Ornaments

Transform your decorated cookies into gift tags and tree ornaments just by making a hole in the top of them before baking.

The tags are a sweet addition to wrapped gifts and the ornaments are little works of art that will last year after year if kept in an airtight container.

This is an especially fun cookie project for a large group or the whole family.

Here's how:

Make a batch cookie dough. Click here for my favorite sugar cookie recipe and click here for my favorite gingerbread recipe.

Lay your cut out cookies onto a sheetpan and make a hole in the top of them.

I used the end of my scribe tool to make the holes but you could use a dowel, straw or another tool to make about a quarter-inch size hole in the top of the cookie. It's important that you make the hole larger than you need it to be since it will close up a bit during baking.

For the gift tags, I outlined the baked and cooled cookies with red piping consistency icing and let that dry for about 15 minutes.

Then I flooded the cookie with ivory tinted icing and set the cookies aside to dry completely.

Once the cookie tags are dry, you can write on them with edible markers and thread a piece of twin or ribbon through them. The markers can be found online, in decorating supply shops and art and craft stores like Michael's and JoAnn's.

Snowman Cookies

The snowmen on these cookies were piped freehand onto an iced and dry base cookie.

I like cookie designs that don't require the purchase of a special cutter. I chose to use a plaque cutter for these but a simple round or square would work well too.

Because they were made freehand, every single snowman is a little bit different which I think makes them interesting and injects them with some personality. I got a kick out of piping their stick arms in different poses.

These cookies were decorated in four steps and need drying time in between. They aren't hard to make, they just take some time.

Here's how:

Outline and flood a cookie with light blue icing and then immediately pipe on some white dots for snow. Set the cookie aside to dry completely. Keep working until all of your cookies have this base coat.

Once your base coats are dry, pipe on a snowman with medium consistency white icing. Use your scribe tool or a skewer to move the icing to fill in the gaps and give the cookie a gentle shake to help the icing settle.

Repeat until there is a snowman on every cookie and set them aside to dry completely.

Once your cookies are dry, pipe on three dots of piping consistency icing and have a small food safe brush ready to use. (I apologize for the bad lighting, I was working late into the night.)

With the brush, spread the icing neatly out to the edges of the snowman working in a circular motion so that it looks natural. Set the cookies aside to dry completely.

The final step is to use a black edible ink marker to add eyes, a mouth and buttons. Also, with piping consistency brown and orange royal icing add the arms and carrot nose. For the nose, I used my scribe tool to help manipulate the icing to a point.

All done!

Once the cookies are completely dry they can be packaged. I put each cookie into a self-sealing cellophane bag.

Escaping The Rain

We tend to serve fewer guests at The Wednesday Community Meal when it's raining.

My theory is that those with housing or in a shelter opt to skip the wet trek to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and stay inside and dry. It's primarily our homeless guests who join us rain or shine.


There's been record breaking rain in Portland this week and our lower 251 meal number reflected that.

One guest who takes the time to visit with me for a few minutes each Wednesday said, "This rain has been really hard on me." And then he politely asked, "Do you think I could have some extra food to go?" I was happy to oblige since we had plenty and we were also granting requests for seconds in the dining room.

Our aim at the meal is always, if we have the food, let's do our best to accommodate everyone.

Most of the guests who joined us today got an Italian sausage on a roll with sides of baked potatoes, coleslaw and roasted apples. Later guests were served entrees of steak and mushrooms, chili rellenos and orange chicken. Everyone was also offered soup, salad, dessert and drinks.

A lunch ready to be served.  Since the baked potatoes were small, guests got two.

The desserts we served were donated by Trader Joe's and New Seasons Market.

Gingerbread Trees

When you decide to go into decorated cookie mass production like I have this past week — I made and packaged more than 300 — It's imperative that you pick a doable design that's simple.

Because if you don't, and I've learned from experience, you will drive yourself absolutely crazy and the decorating will be tedious. And, intricate designs have a real tendency to look messy when you combine decorating with feeling overwhelmed.

Now simple doesn't mean boring or basic as these gingerbread trees prove. A simple cookie can still look very special with a smart design. I think these actually turned out quite elegant and the best part is that I accomplished a lot and enjoyed the process.

Here's how:

Make a batch of gingerbread trees. Click here for the recipe that I use.

With flood consistency royal icing and a #2 tip, outline the cookie.

Using the same icing and tip, immediately flood the cookie.

Use a skewer or scribe tool to help evenly distribute the icing and give the cookie a gentle shake to help the icing settle. Set the cookie aside to dry.

Let your cookies dry completely before moving onto the next step.

With medium consistency icing and a #2 tip, add the swirl details starting at the top left of the tree and working your way down the cookie. Medium consistency means icing that holds its shape but also settles and doesn't leave a peak. If you look at the design, it's just two linked capital cursive "L's" and very simple. It's a good idea to practice the design by first piping onto a plate so you get it just right before you go for it on a cookie.

Let the cookies dry completely before serving or packaging.

Gingerbread Lollipops

I chose to make these gingerbread lollipops for a recent fundraising sale at church because they are what I call a simple showstopper — Attention getting, yet quick to make.

The sticks that I used are candy apple sticks which take the heat of the oven and have a semi-pointed end that's easy to insert into the cookie.

Really, the only real trick to making these is to cut your cookies extra thick to accept the stick and then it's just two color wet-on-wet decorating and some basic packaging.

Here's how I made them:

Cut gingerbread rounds thicker than the diameter of the sticks you want to use.  Insert a stick into each cookie, pressing gently until it's more than half-way through it. Check the back of the cookie and if you see thin areas, you can press in a bit of extra dough for support.

Place the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake.

To decorate, add a touch of royal icing at the base of the cookie for extra support and then outline and fill the cookie. Immediately pipe on a spiral of another color and that's all there is to it. Leave the cookies to dry completely at room temperature.

Once dry, the cookies are super sturdy and easy to pick up.

I wrapped the gingerbread lollipops for the fundraising sale by clipping the adhesive strip off of a self-sealing cellophane bag and sliding it over the cookie. Then, I tied on the bag with a piece of ribbon and that's all there is to it!

Happy To Serve Inside

Cindy, Leo, Dorrie and Courtney were part of a great team of volunteers who worked in the dining room today. Serving hundreds of meals during the two hour service is hard work, but they make it look easy, and they always have a smile for our guests.

I'm so happy we were able to go back to serving Trinity Episcopal's Wednesday Community Meal inside today. We served sack lunches last week due to the dining room being set up for the Cathedral's Community Thanksgiving Meal. 

It's been terribly cold and rainy here in Portland and the weekly respite of a hot, sit down meal in a warm dining room is so important, especially to our homeless guests.

Those who joined us today were treated to oven-baked chicken with rice, gravy, roasted vegetables and melon. There was also soup, salad, dessert and lots of hot coffee and cocoa.
 

Today's lunch.

We served 261 meals today.

Peppermint Candy Cookies

These peppermint candy cookies are festive and quick to decorate which makes them a great decorated cookie choice for holiday celebrations.

 I found the cutter that I used at a local baking shop but it is also easy to find online. Another option is to just decorate small round cookies with the peppermint design.

I really love that only two colors of royal icing are needed to make these cuties.

Here's how:

The cutout cookies before baking. Click here for my favorite tried and true cookie recipe.

After baking the cookies, get your royal icing ready. You need flood consistency white and small amount of red icing. Place each of the icings in pastry bags fitted with #2 tips.

Outline and fill the circle center of the cookie.

Immediately pipe eight short red lines around the circle. This is wet on wet cookie decorating so it's important to work fast and work on just one cookie at a time.

With a scribe tool, toothpick or skewer draw through the lines going in a spiral and working towards the center of the circle.

It will look like this.

Decorate all of the centers of the cookies.

Outline and fill the wrapper sections of the cookie. Use your scribe tool to move the icing to fill in the gaps and evenly distribute it.

One down and more to go!