Looks lovely....wish we lived closer....you could have borrowed my angel and cross cutters too.
I always say that everyone is happy with a cookie in each hand.

I think frosted and decorated sugar cookies might be my all time favorite desert. They look great!

Sharon, those are lovely, your granddaughter is very talented. And patient. I especially like the ones that say "fall".

My grandkids do NOT like the royal icing, which hardens so nicely that it can be painted, so my cookies are usually much less "polished", and although the kids love fondant, the parents do not. So, it's buttercream frosting on the cookies, although they are much less perfect. Royal icing lets you pipe that "edge" and then flood it with frosting, which sets up perfectly. Fondant is like playdoh, infinitely "formable" and lots of fun to play with. Buttercream, not so much. Ah well, it tastes good.

LindaC, I didn't even think about an angel, I have one of those for Christmas cookies, I wouldn't have even had to buy a new cutter!

Annie

Annie, I love your cookies! Decorating sugar cookies has been a hobby of mine for many years. I can appreciate the time you put into them. I do use royal icing but agree the buttercream tastes good...better than royal icing IMO.

Just recently I found these "watercolor" cookies online. Almost too pretty to eat!

I have a cross in with my Easter cutters that I got ages ago at RH (back when they were a cool store) but have never used it. Those are cool cookies and like you, I prefer buttercream but to stack and ship Royal icing is better but I have found a "glaze" that is sort of between the two. Sets up well enough to stack. These are the cookies I sent my grands for Halloween (all candy holidays require a package of frosted cutout sugar cookies from Nana)

Martha, would you care to share your glaze recipe?

Annie, your baptism cookies are beautiful. Just the right spot between festive and decorous. :) Given the prevalence of cookies served after church events, I'm not at all surprised that there are crosses! We have cookie cutters for all kinds of Jewish symbols. :) I love how the little flowers give them a happy baby, new life look. Just beautiful.

Chloebud, you're right! Those cookies are gorgeous, but they don't look like something to eat, the way Annie's and Martha's do. Maybe like the girl who was too pretty to be asked out?

Chloebud, those are just beautiful, and actually looks like something I could do. Although I probably won't, LOL, right now I'm spending my time working on a gluten free sugar cookie that can be rolled and cut. Not that Amanda cares, she's ecstatically happy with just a drop type sugar cookie with frosting, and I've got that pretty well. Well enough that Dave ate some and didn't know they were gluten free, until Amanda realized he had eaten ALL of her sugar cookies, and left all the regular, sprinkle laden/child decorated ones. (snicker)

Martha, I have a recipe for "glaze" that hardens, and it's more like buttercream, but it tends to "bubble". Maybe if I thickened it..... I second the request, would you post yours. Thanksgiving and Christmas is coming up!

Annie

"Chloebud, you're right! Those cookies are gorgeous, but they don't look like something to eat, the way Annie's and Martha's do. Maybe like the girl who was too pretty to be asked out?"

I agree, plllog! ;-) I'll just continue with my more 'traditional' way of decorating mine. My collection of cookie cutters is...um...pretty extensive. The copper ones are my favorites. I keep all my cookie cutters in plastic containers in cabinets in the garage organized by season/event.

Sure -- be back in a bit.

Phillog -- Annie -- Here it is:

Vanilla Sugar Cookie Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar (sift if it is lumpy)
2 TBS milk to start, add more as needed
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp light corn syrup

In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar and 2 TBS milk with a spoon. Slowly add more milk, 1 tsp at a time, till you get a thick glaze consistency. You want it spreadable so that it covers the cookies easily, but not so runny that it is dripping off. If you feel you went too far, just add more powered sugar. Very forgiving recipe! When you get the consistency you like, use a whisk and add in the corn syrup and vanilla. Spread on cookies and let them set up for 45 minutes before eating. I recommend leaving them out overnight to set up completely.

Thanks, Martha, that's similar to mine, but mine has a lot more corn syrup, it calls for 2 tablespoons, maybe that's why it is thin enough that the cookie shows through....

I'll try reducing the corn syrup and see if it helps. Thanks!

Annie

I think these cross cookies are just a lovely and fun idea. Such a special day welcoming a little one into the family.

As you can see the cookie doesn't show through. Sometimes I have to use more milk and other times more sugar . . . and I just stir it until I get it right. Those cookies (at least some of them) were mailed to Minnesota -- arrived in the same condition as you see in the picture above.

Agreed, fondant iced cookies taste better, but I do love the royal iced cookies. I've never really had the patience for flooding (go figure, I've spent weeks on fondant cakes, and fondant is nasty tasting to me but so much fun to sculpt!).

All the cookies posted here are beautiful, and chloebud, color me strange, but I'd eat those... after displaying them for a few days first : )

Chloe, those fall-themed watercolor cookies are lovely. I couldn't find them online. Would you please post a link?

Christine, I found it by browsing through the site in the first link below. She got the idea from the second link which is from the woman who made the cookies I posted. Just scroll through her instagram photos. You can also google "watercolor cookie tutorial" for various how-to links.

http://jennysteffens.blogspot.com/search?q=watercolor+cookies

https://www.instagram.com/elisabethandbutter/

Many thanks, Martha!

The syrup is the trick for me. I've made cookie glaze with just confectioner's sugar and milk, but never with corn syrup. I'm sure that must be the difference to make it so much less delicate. I started a frosting file for your recipe. :)

When I was a kid I didn't like the chalky egg taste of royal icing, but I adored German gingerbread cookies with the thick royal icing painting on them. I'd break off little unimportant pieces, and kind of scrape the gingerbread off with my teeth, and leave the icing. :) It's hard to get those nowadays. All the gingerbread display cookies I see are light brown (not enough molasses) and cakey puffy crumbly. Not worth bothering with.

At home, I prefer making my version of Moravian gingerbread cookies (basically the Betty Crocker recipe with additional spices), which are thin and crispish and not the kind of thing that wants icing. I might try a little glaze for grins and pretties if I can get it to set up that well. :)

Chloe, thank you! I'm not much of a decorator but I want to try them.

Christine, I'd like to try them, too. My guess is they're more time consuming than anything else.

Good job, Annie. I also expected to see angel cookies! but I've never had a cut-out cookie that was frosted with buttercream.... I'm surprised the cookie holds up. And I think that your new cutter would make a good sword cookie! :)

::snicker:: PM, I instantly had a vision of old B movie knights swearing fealty on the crosses made by the pommels of their broadswords, overlayed with frosted and beflowered sugar cookies. :)

PM, I didn't even think of that, they would make excellent swords! I keep the cookies kind of thick, and they seem to stay sturdy enough to transport to various family functions. I think if they were thin and crispy, though, they'd get soggy.

LOL, plllog, that's just a picture I can't get out of my head now.

Annie

Adding demerara sugar can make it more delicious!