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Fun and Festive... FAST and FRUGAL Copywrite 2003 by Mary Ann Ross ...Simple and easy cookie decorating ideas without baking! Each idea includes photo and directions!   My oldest grandson and I made the FIRST four overly simple and oh so cute cookies below. We made everything below by using already-made cookies from the grocery store and bakery, undecorated white and chocolate candies from See's Candies, filled cookie cutters with fudge and decorated them... (no mess, no fuss, just decorating fun!) We got our ideas from many sources, all credits listed at the end of this article. Santa Claus Nutter Butter Cookies Using store-bought peanut butter sandwich cookies       Ingredients: Nutter Butter Sandwich Cookies PillsburyCanned White Frosting Red Sanding Sugars (hat) Vanilla Chips (mini size) (decoration for hat) Chocolate Chips (mini size) (eyes) Red Hot Candies (nose) Directions: Here's what we did... Hat: Spread white frosting or melted white chocolate over top part of Nutter Butter cookie. Beard: Spread bottom of Nutter Butter cookie. While still moist, sprinkle part of hat with red sanding sugars, leaving a brim of white. Add vanilla chip on hat for decoration, chocolate chips for eyes and red hot candy for nose -- use a dab of frosting as the 'glue'. WE ALSO MADE: Snowman Nutter Butter Cookies Here's what we did... We covered the entire cookie with canned Vanilla Frosting. We used a rolling pin to flatten various colors of Gum Drop Candies and cut in strips for scarfs, pieces for hats, eyes, etc. These were really really cute! Thanks to Better Homes and Gardens "Holiday Baking" Cookbook although we did our own thing!         Sugar Cone Spruce Trees Using pointy-tip sugar ice cream cones Ingredients: Ice Cream Cones with pointy ends Pillsbury Can Vanilla Frosting 1 can Green Spray Mist Confectioner's Sugar Green Food Coloring (we used the paste) Mini assorted color candies Directions: Here's what we did... We sprayed each cone with Green Spray Mist to cover. Add Confectioner's Sugar to canned frosting to thicken (if you use frosting out of the can, it will be too soft to hold the star decorating -- ask us, we tried it!) Using a pastry bag with a star tip, we quickly covered the entire cone (put tip close to ice cream cone, squeeze bag and pull up and away quickly). White the frosting is still moist, push candies into the frosting. http://thepartyworks.com/shop/index.php? sid=&pwaff=&action=getcat& category=+Cake+Decorating+ Supplies&subcategory=Spray+Color+Mist     Sleds (pictured above) Using Graham Crackers     Ingredients: Graham Crackers Pillsbury Canned Vanilla Frosting Mini Candy Canes Candy Jimmies Sprinkles Red Licorice Laces Directions: Here's what we did... Cut each Graham Cracker in half (trying to break the cookie was usually disasterous and we had to just eat them, dipped in frosting first, of course!) We spread white frosting over Graham Cracker, leaving some of the cookie showing around all sides. While the frosting is still moist, we added various colors of Candy Jimmies and even added some crumbled Christmas candies (used a Zip Lock Bag and a rolling pin to get mini chunks) We added the red licorice laces. Simple for a children's craft. http://thepartyworks.com/shop/index.php? sid=&pwaff=&action=getcat&category=+ Cake+Decorating+Supplies&subcategory= Edible+Candy+Confetti+Sprinkles Christmas Tree Round Cookies Using already-made round cookies or Cookie Dough from Deli Section of your grocery store Ingredients: Round Sugar Cookies Pillsbury Canned Vanilla Frosting Confectioner's Sugar Green Food Coloring (we used paste) Red Hot Candies Directions: Here's what we did... We added some Confectioner's Sugar to the canned Vanilla Frosting, then added a dab of green food coloring, mixing well, until we got the color green we wanted. I used a pastry bag with a writing tip and my grandson cut the tip off a Zip Lock bag and we started at the top of the cookie, making one continuous line of zig-zag frosting to form the tree. White frosting was still moist, we added one Red Hot Candy to the top of the tree. Can't get much faster than this! food coloring http://thepartyworks.com/shop /index.php?sid=&pwaff=&action=getcat&category=+ Cake+Decorating+Supplies&subcategory=Icing+Color+Kits Santa Cookies Using already-made Madeleine Cookies from the Cookie Section of your grocery store   Ingredients: Madeleine Cookies Red Spray Mist Pillsbury Canned Vanilla Frosting Confectioner's Sugar Red, Blue and Green Food Coloring (we used paste) Cherry or Red Candy for the nose Directions: Here's what we did... We sprayed the top third of the Madeleine cookie with Red Spray Mist. We colored a small portions of the vanilla frosting: Ggreen for holly leaves, Red for holly berries and Blue for eyes I dabbed on white frosting for brim of the hat, tip of the hat, eyes and beard just to cover the cookie. Using a pastry bag with a writing tip, I added touches of white lines and squigglies to accent the brim and tip of the hat to resume fur and smaller squiggly lines to resemble Santa's curly beard. Add blue eyes, green leaves and red holly berries. Using a star tip, add mouth and rose red cheeks. Add cherry or red candy piece for the nose using a dab of frosting to hold it to the cookie. These cookies took more work then the cookies above but were very dramatic and fun to do.     Cookie Cutter Gifts Using inexpensive tin or plastic cookie cutters Fill with fudge and decorate! You can make your own homemade fudge or buy it pre-made I made these holiday gifts for many years... oh so easy and the cookie cutter is a lasting gift after the fudge has been eaten! After frosting decorating has dried, wrap each one in clear cellophane bag and tie with ribbon. Directions: Here's what to do.... Snowman Spread white frosting over entire Snowman fudge. Color a little white frosting: Black for the hat Red for the scarf and mittens Using black frosting, dab on the hat and while still moist, sprinkle with White Sanding Sugars. While the white frosting is still moist, sprinkle with White Sanding Sugars. Dab on red frosting for mittens and scarf and add star candy confetti sprinkles, one at a time. Add mini candies for eyes, mouth and coal buttons. Holiday Light Bulb Tree Ornament Holiday Tree Decorate as the photo shows or let yourself go and be creative! Christmas Cookie Decorating Kit Everything to decorate cookies for the holidays without making any frosting! Ready-to-Use (no mix/no fuss) Frosting Tubes (Red, Green, White), 5-piece plastic Decorating Tip Set (can be used on the frosting tubes), Decorating/Writing Gel Tubes (Red, Green, White, Black), Sanding Sugars (1 jar each of Red, Green, Yellow) and 1 jar of White Candy Jimmies Frosting Tubes are 4.25 oz.; Decorating/Writing Gels are .75 oz., Sanding Sugars and Candy Jimmies are 1.5 oz http://thepartyworks.com/shop/ index.php?sid=&pwaff=&action=getcat&category= Cookie+Decorating+Supplies&subcategory= Christmas+Cookie+Decorating+Kit       Santa Crackers Using Graham Crackers Ingredients: Graham Crackers Pillsbury Canned Vanilla Frosting Red and Rose Food Coloring (we used paste) Mini Red Hot Candies (eyes) Red Gumdrop (nose) Mini Marshmallows Directions: Here's what we did... We frosted the entire cookie with "pink" (use Rose colorant) frosting. We snipped off the corner of a ZipLock Bag and put a dab of "red" frosting on one corner of Graham Cracker, then using a small butter knife, spread the frosting to make the hat and while frosting was still moist, we added one mini marshmallow for tassel. We then added mini marshmallows for the beard, red-hot candies for the eyes and red gumdrop for the nose. If frosting dries out before you can add the accessories, just gently pat with a wet finger. Simple and easy craft for the kids!   Cookie Cutter Gifts Using cookie cutters and store-bought fudge Ingredients: Fudge (or brownies) Betty Crocker Canned Vanilla Frosting Confectioner's Sugar Red and Pink Food Coloring (we used paste) Black Writing/Decorating Gel Tube White Sanding Sugars Pencil with rounded eraser on top Cookie Cutters Clear plastic bags Ribbon Directions: Here's what we did... We placed cookie cutter over fudge and brownies and pushed through. We carefully lifted the 'filled' cookie cutter up using a spatula to keep fudge inside the cookie cutter and set it on waxed paper. We mixed some of the white frosting to make red and pink frosting. We added Confectioner's Sugar to make the frosting stiff and spread over the fudge inside the cookie cutter. Let dry completely -- we waited till the next day. Loosely wrap in clear cellophane and tie off with a ribbon. Snowman: Using the eraser part of the pencil, we made slight impressions for the checks and filled in with pink frosting. Using the black writing/decorating gel, we made eyes and mouth. Used red frosting for the big nose. Use same decorating idea for round cookies. Candy Cane: We used red frosting to create the stripes. Use same decorating idea for tree shaped cookies. Star: This was a brownie. We wet our finger with water (very very little) and moistened the top of the brownie (very very little), and sprinkled with white sanding sugars. REALLY easy! Use same decorating idea for star shaped cookies.     Candies Using regular chocolate and white chocolate covered candies we purchased from See's Candies   Self explanatory -- use photo for ideas or create your own unique holiday candies using colored frosting and mini candies. Easy and Cute Decorations for Bakery Bought Cookies Using only white frosting and assorted mini candies You don't have to be an expert cookie decorator. White frosting only -- so no big messes. Outline the cookies, make dots, swirls, stripes, etc. While the frosting (we used Betty Crocked canned frosting) we pushed in mini candies so the frosting acted like "glue". Christmas Edible Sugar Decorations http://thepartyworks.com/shop/index.php? sid=&pwaff=&action=getcat&category=+Cake+Decorating+ Supplies&subcategory=Edible+Sugar+Shape+Decorations     Lickety-Split Spoons from Betty Crocker Using plastic throw-away spoons, these were so much fun to make... and use!   Ingredients: Plastic spoons, assorted colors Betty Crocker Canned Frosting Milk Candy Confetti Sprinkles Clear plastic bags Ribbon Directions: Here's what we did... We scooped the frosting out of the can and put it into a microwave-safe bowl. We microwaved it for 30 second intervals, adding a smidgen of milk, stirring and microwaving until the frosting was a thinner consistency. We dipped one spoon into the thinned warm frosting and moved it around until the entire "bowl" of the spoon was covered. We quickly sprinkled or dipped the frosted spoon with candy confetti sprinkles. We then had butter knives laid out on waxed paper and placed each decorated spoon over the butter knife so the chocolate wouldn't get smooshed on the back side of the spoon. We let these dry overnight, then placed inside clear cellophane bags and tied with ribbon. OK, OK.... we licked a few until all the frosting and candies were gone because they tasted so good!     Snowman 3-Dimensional Cookies Using Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Vanilla Frosting and white fudge-covered cocolate sandwich cookies from the grocery store...   Ingredients: 1/4 Cup Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Vanilla Frosting (from a 16-ounce can) 1 (14-ounce) pkg. white fudge-covered chocolate sandwich cookies 1 tablespoon mini semisweet chocolate chips 10 small gumdrops 2 orange slice jelly candies, flattened slightly Red writing/decorating gel Directions: Here's what we did... We actually followed the Pillsbury directions because they were so simple, so easy! www.pillsbury.com Place frosting in a small resealable food storage plastic bag. Cut tiny hole in bottom corner of the bag. On each sandwich cookie, use small amount of frosting to attach chocolate chips for the eyes. Cut each gumdrop in half; attach cut sides with frosting to sides of cookie to resemble earmuffs. Attach small wedge cut from slightly flattened orange jelly candy for the nose. Draw mouth with red writing/decorating gel. Let stand about 30 minutes or until the frosting is set. Makes 20 cookies. You'll get lots of ooohs and aaaahs from these cookies!   Cereal Holly Wreaths Another Pillsbury oh-so-easy holiday idea using Cheerios Cereal...   Ingredients: 2 cups Cheerios Cereal 1 cup (6-1/1 oz.) green candy melts 1 tablespoon red cinnamon candies Directions: Here's what we did... We actually followed the Pillsbury directions because they were so simple, so easy! www.pillsbury.com We covered a cookie sheet with aluminum foil to hold the wreaths. Place cereal in a large bowl and pour melted candy melts over cereal. Wet your hands with cold water and shake off excess (at least that is what we did) and toss to mix until well blended. For each wreath, drop about 3 tablespoons of the mixture onto the aluminum foil wrapped cookie sheet and mold into about a 3-inch wreath, remembering to leave the center open. Immediately add red hot candies. We left our wreaths dry for a couple of hours, then six wreaths into small clear cellophane bags and tied with holiday curly ribbons.     Crispy Tree Treats Yet another Pillsbury treat using Rice Krispies Cereal!   Ingredients: 1/4 cup margarine or butter 1 (10-oz.) pkg. regular sized marshmallows 1/4 teaspoon green food color 5 cups Rice Krispies Cereal 16 small gumdrops, flattened 1/2 cup small gummi candies Directions: Here's what we did... We actually followed the Pillsbury directions because they were so simple, so easy! www.pillsbury.com We covered a cookie sheet with waxed paper to hold the trees. We melted the butter and marshmallows in a large soup pot over very low heat, stirring constantly until it was a smooth satiny mixture. We removed the pot from the stove and stirring constantly, added a smidge of green food coloring (we used paste) until we got the color we wanted. The colored paste goes a long way, so use only a teensy bit at a time. We added the Rice Krispies cereal into the colored mixture. We rinsed our hands with cold water and shook off the excess, then mixed the cereal until it was well coated. We continued to use cold water on our hands as we formed the cereal mixture into cone shapes (resembling trees). We cut small star shapes from the flattened gumdrops using a small sharp paring knife. and add to the top of each tree. We then added the gummi candies in various places on the trees to resememble holiday decorations. Be sure to immediately add the gumdrops and gummi candies while the cereal mixture is still warm so the candies will stick. We couldn't work fast enough to form all the trees while the mixture was warm and soft, so we would put back on the stove for a brief moments, stirring constantly to warm up the mixture.   Well, that's it... we had such a great time over a couple of weekends making simply easy, frugal and festive treats. I'm not stepping on the scale till after the holidays!   Mary Ann and Richie December 2003                     I am a subscriber of Quick Cooking Magazine (a wonderful monthly magazine) where the ideas came from! Visit their site at http://www.quickcooking.com/dycon.asp?parent= 26046&RefURL=&KeyCode=&PMCode=&OrgURL= Better Homes & Garden www.bhg.com