Holiday Cookie Ornaments Recipes

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper. In medium bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, flour and egg until soft dough forms.
• On floured surface, roll dough until about 1/8 inch thick. Cut with 3- to 3 1/2-inch cookie cutters. Place cutouts 1 inch apart on cookie sheets.
• Bake 5 minutes. Meanwhile, break off top of each candy cane to create loop for hanging cookies.
• Remove cookies from oven; press 1 candy piece on top of each cookie to make a loop. Bake 1 to 2 minutes longer or until edges are set. Cool on cookie sheets 2 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 20 minutes.
• Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place 1 container of frosting at a time in 2-cup glass measuring cup. Microwave uncovered on High 45 to 60 seconds, stirring every 15 seconds, until melted. Dip each cookie in frosting, allowing excess to drip off. Place cookies on parchment paper. Decorate as desired. Let stand until frosting is set, about 1 hour.

Steps:

• Make the Gingerbread: In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and mix. Add the eggs and mix. Add the molasses and vanilla and mix.
• Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves together. Working in batches and mixing after each addition until just combined, add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture. Shape the dough into a thick disk, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease 1 or 2 cookie sheets. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out 1/4-inch thick and cut out with desired cookie cutters.
• To make the Royal Icing: In a mixer, blend the confectioners' sugar, milk, and egg white together. Add more sugar to get a pipe-able consistency.
• To make Gingerbread Men and Women: Use gingerbread man and woman cookie cutters and cut out the cookies, re-rolling the scraps as needed. Decorate them with raisins and white chocolate chips for eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons down the front. Bake until firm, 8 to 10 minutes, and let cool on the pan.
• Meanwhile, add some festive colors to your icing with food coloring and lay out colored sugars in small glass bowls with spoons. Using a pastry bag fitted with the smallest plain tip, pipe a few colorful borders or white borders and coat with sanding sugar. When set, add more lines of icing in white.
• To make snowflakes: Use a snowflake-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the cookies, re-rolling the scraps as needed. If you plan to hang the cookies, use a toothpick to make holes in the cookies about 1/8-inch wide, keeping in mind that the holes will shrink as the cookies bake and puff up a bit. Bake until firm, 8 to 10 minutes, and let cool on the pan. Using only white icing and a pastry bag fitted with the smallest plain tip, pipe thin lines from the center of the cookie out to the points, like spokes of a wheel. Connect the spokes with thin lines between them, making a spiderweb effect to give it the look of a snowflake. Let the icing harden before threading the cookies onto wire, string, or yarn for hanging.
• To make ornaments: Use any holiday-themed cookie cutter to cut out the cookies, re-rolling the scraps as needed. If you plan to hang the cookies, use a toothpick to make holes in the cookies about 1/8-inch wide, keeping in mind that the holes will shrink as the cookies bake and puff up a bit. Bake until firm, 8 to 10 minutes, and let cool on the pan. Meanwhile, color some of your icing in festive colors with food coloring, or use colored sugars. Using a pastry bag fitted with the smallest plain tip, pipe a few colorful borders and decorations on the cookies. When set, add more lines of icing in white. Let the icing harden before threading the cookies onto wire, string, or yarn for hanging.
• To make dreidel trios: Use a dreidel cookie cutter and cut out 3 cookies. Lay 1 on a greased sheet pan. Fanning out at an angle, with the handles overlapping at the top, lay 2 more dreidels next to the first one (it will look like a paper-doll effect). The handle is now 3 layers thick; press on it gently to thin it slightly and make it larger. Repeat with the remaining dough, re-rolling the scraps as needed.
• If you plan to hang the cookies, use a toothpick to make a hole in the cookies about 1/8-inch wide, keeping in mind that the hole will shrink as the cookies bake and puff up a bit. Bake until firm, 8 to 10 minutes, and let cool on the pan. Color some of your icing blue with food coloring, or use blue colored sugar and white icing together. Using a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip, pipe Hebrew letters or stars of David on the cookies' faces. Let the icing harden before threading the cookies onto wire, string, or yarn for hanging.

Steps:

• Make the cookie dough: In a large bowl, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar with an electric hand mixer on high speed for about 5 minutes, until fluffy and the sugar is mostly dissolved. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to beat evenly.
• Add the eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
• Add the salt, then sift in the flour, baking powder, and cream of tartar and fold with a rubber spatula to incorporate.
• Divide the dough into 2 portions and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or up to 3-4 days.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350˚F (180°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Remove the dough from the fridge and let sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften slightly. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece out into a 10-inch (25 cm) round about ¼-inch (½ cm) thick, then trim the edges so you have an 8 x 10-inch (20 x 25 cm) square. Transfer the dough squares to the prepared baking sheets.
• Working with one dough square at a time, dip a holiday cookie cutter in flour and press into the dough. Repeat with the other 4 cookie cutter shapes, evenly spacing the cutouts. Remove the cookie cutters, then use a sharp paring knife to make cuts outside of each shape, forming a puzzle-like pattern from each corner.
• Using an icing tip, cut out an ornament hole from the top of each cookie shape and all of the puzzle pieces. Separate all of the shapes, spacing evenly. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges just barely start to turn golden brown. Let cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.
• Decorate the cookies as desired then allow the icing to set completely. Thread a piece of twine through each ornament hole and tie to secure.
• Enjoy!