Snowflake Ornament Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. In another bowl, whisk flour and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. , Divide dough into three portions. Shape each into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 3-in. snowflake-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1-in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Using a plastic straw, make a hole about 1/2 in. from the top of each cookie. Using small decorating cutters, cut out desired shapes to create designs in snowflakes. , Bake 5-6 minutes or until set. Use straw to reopen holes in cookies. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Repeat with remaining portions, using 4- and 5-in. cutters. Bake 4-in. cookies, 6-7 minutes; bake 5-in. cookies, 8-10 minutes., For glaze, in a small bowl, beat confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and enough water to reach desired consistency. Brush over snowflakes; sprinkle with glitter. Let stand at least 5 minutes or until set. , Thread ribbon through the holes.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Gradually add flour and mix well. Divide in half. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle., On a lightly floured surface, roll out one portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 4-in. snowflake-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. , Bake at 300° for 8-10 minutes or until firm. Repeat with remaining dough. Chill and reroll scraps if desired. , In a small resealable plastic bag, combine edible glitter and remaining sugar. Seal bag; crush mixture to break glitter into smaller pieces. Sprinkle over warm cookies. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. , Divide dough into fourths. Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours or until easy to handle., Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one portion to 1/8-in. thickness. (Refrigerate other portions until ready to use.) Using a variety of sizes of floured snowflake cookie cutters, cut out snowflakes. , Carefully place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Using small decorating cutters, cut out desired shapes to create designs in some of the snowflakes. Use a toothpick to help remove the cutouts. With a plastic straw, poke a hole in the top of each small cookie. , Bake medium and large snowflakes 6-1/2-7 minutes and small snowflakes 6 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Repeat with remaining dough., For royal icing, in a large bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and meringue powder. Add warm water; beat on low speed 1 minute. Beat on high 4-5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Tint half blue. Leave remaining icing white; cover and set aside., With blue icing and a round tip, outline half of the cookies; fill in centers with blue icing and let dry completely. With white icing and a round tip, outline each blue-colored cookie and create snowflake designs. Let dry completely., On the remaining cookies, repeat process using white icing on white frosted cookies. Thread a ribbon through the hole in each small snowflake and through the cutout in each medium and large snowflake.

Steps:

• Cream the butter in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer) until smooth. Add the sugar and mix. Add the egg 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 just until combined after each addition, 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.
• Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 1 or 2 sheet pans. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out 1/4-inch thick.
• Icing decorations:
• Stir the confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla together until smooth.
• To make snowflakes:
• Use a snowflake-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the cookies, rerolling the scraps as needed. If you plan to hang the cookies, use a toothpick to make the holes in the dough about 1/8-inch wide, keeping in mind that the holes will shrink as the cookies bake. Bake until firm, 12 to 15 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 in between them, making a spiderweb effect to make it look like a snowflake. 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, rerolling the scraps as needed. If you plan to hang the cookies, use a toothpick to make a hole in the handle about 1/8-inch wide, keeping in mind that the hole will shrink as the cookies bake. Bake until firm, 12 to 15 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. Sprinkle the sugar on the icing while the icing is still wet. 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, rerolling the scraps as needed. If you plan to hang the cookies, use a toothpick to make holes in the dough about 1/8 inch wide, keeping in mind that the holes will shrink as the cookies bake. Bake until firm, 12 to 15 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.

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:

• In a large saucepan, combine the butter, sugar, molasses and vinegar; bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; cool to lukewarm. Stir in egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt; stir into molasses mixture to form a soft dough., Divide dough into thirds. Shape each portion into a disk. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until easy to handle., On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 5-in. snowflake cookie cutter. Place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 7-9 minutes or until edges are firm. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. , For icing, in a large bowl, combine confectioners' sugar, water and meringue powder; beat on low speed just until blended. Beat on high until stiff peaks form, 4-5 minutes. Divide into thirds; tint 1 portion light blue, second portion light purple, and leave the third portion white. Keep unused icing covered at all times with a damp cloth. If necessary, beat again on high speed to restore texture., Using pastry bags and small round tips, ice cookies. Let stand at room temperature until icing is dry and firm, several hours. If desired, sprinkle with coarse sugar while icing is still wet. Store in an airtight container. Save remaining icing in an airtight container., For fondant, in a large microwave-safe bowl, combine water and marshmallows. Microwave on high for 30 seconds; stir. Microwave until completely melted and smooth, stirring every 30 seconds, about 30 seconds longer. Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer. Add shortening, beat until melted. Add confectioners' sugar, beat until combined., Generously dust counter and hands with additional confectioners' sugar. Turn marshmallow mixture onto counter. Knead until fondant is smooth and pliable, but not sticky, dusting hands and counter again as needed, about 6 minutes. , Roll fondant to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with assorted snowflake-shaped cookie cutters. Adhere snowflakes to cookies with remaining icing. Let stand until set. If desired, brush with luster dust. Store in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F and grease several baking sheets with nonstick spray.
• Stir together the flour, soda, tartar and salt.
• Cream together the butter, oil and sugar until well blended. Beat for 1 to 2 minutes until lightened in colour.
• Add the egg, lemon zest, juice and extracts. Blend well.
• Beat in the dry ingredients one half at a time until evenly incorporated. Dough will be soft, but let stand for 5 minutes or so to firm up slightly for easier handling.
• Put 2 Tbsp of granulated sugar into a saucer. Lightly oil the etched bottom of the glass tumbler (or salt shaker, small bowl or vase) making sure to coat all the grooves.
• With lightly greased hands form small portions of dough into 3/4-inch balls.
• Dip the top of each ball into the granulated sugar and place on the cookie sheets, sugar sides up, about 2 1/2-inches apart. Press down on cookie tops until design is imprinted and cookies are flattened to about 2-inches in diameter. (You may need to wipe sugar off glass peridically and re-oil)Garnish cookie tops with edible glitter if using.
• Bake one sheet at a time in the upper third of the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies are barely firm in the centers and faintly tinged with colour at the edges. Remove from oven, wait 2 or 3 minutes, then remove from cookie sheet to wire racks to finish cooling.
• Lightly dust tops with a little icing sugar to finish off. Let cool completely.
• Will keep in airtight storage at room temperature for up to 10 days or can freeze for up to a month.

Steps:

• Choose your pipe cleaner color and form into desired shape (remember you can cut and wire them together, especially for snowflakes!).
• Tie a string or thread to the top of the ornament and tie the other end to the middle of a pencil so that it looks like a letter 'T' -- there won't be much length between the pencil and the ornament, just enough to hang down from the top of the jar to the borax solution.
• Fill a wide-mouth jar/container with boiling water (we typically use large canning jars; the size of your container will depend on the size of your pipe cleaner creation).
• Add Borax in increasing amounts until water is cloudy even after the Borax is dissolved (this is why we use glass jars most of the time, although we have also made the mixture up in glass jars and poured it into empty margarine containers, etc, if their size worked better) -- this part is a bit science, a bit art and may take some adjusting to get the levels right.
• Balance the pencil across the top of the jar and suspend the ornament in the hot Borax mixture, making sure the pipe cleaner is completely immersed but does not touch the bottom or sides of the container.
• Put jar in an undisturbed place; as the solution cools, crystals will form on the pipe cleaner.
• The longer you soak it, the more crystals you will have and the less the original pipe cleaner will show through, so adjust time until you achieve your desired look -- overnight will give you very thick crystals, a few hours will give you just a gentle glittery look.
• Remove from solution and let dry.
• Spray with clear acrylic if desired.