It's great fun making autumn-themed cookies for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and other fall events, so my leaf cutters number in the dozens. Besides maple, I especially like oak shapes, but also enjoy the plainer, ovalish birch or beech leaves, too. And, to go with the leaves, I ready pumpkin cookies as well. Some especially pretty pumpkin sugar cookies, plus some packaging ideas are here. (For pretty decorating ideas for another season, see my eye-catching iced Valentine's Day cookies here & here .) Or, see my very unusual, au natural "painted daisy" sugar cookies here.
A good approach to making leaf cookies is to make a powdered sugar icing in a whole palette of autumn colors—reds, bronzes, yellows, and moss greens (the more shades, the more natural the look)—and just dip into these and “paint” the cookies with a brush. To minimize the use of food dyes, I sometimes use orange juice, cranberry juice, and cocoa powder to obtain naturally pretty shades
Notice that for a natural look, the leaves shown are slightly mottled—just like the real ones drifting in my yard now. The painting part is easy and fun for even kids to do. To see the kids' cookie painting party we held in my kitchen click here. To get the mottled look, just dip into one color after another without washing off the brush.The final touch is to pipe on the veining with a piping cone or bag with a very fine tip, which, admittedly is easier for a grownup to do.
The cookies make lovely table decorations and super gifts. For giving, pack them individually or in eye-catching color-coordinated groups in clear plastic bags.
Any simple powdered sugar icing will do for creating autumn leaf cookies. For a glossy finish just add about a 1/2 teaspoon of light corn syrup, and stir it in well. With all that icing, the cookies themselves should not be too sweet. One of my favorite doughs for these cookies is posted here. For other cookie decorating techniques, go here.
If you're now in the mood, see some more painted pumpkin cookies including the one below and some packaged for giving here:
6 comments:
The icing looks so realistic. What a beautiful gift for this time of year!
Hi Nancy - the cookies look wonderful! I have several leaf and acorn cookie cutters that I can use to make these. How do you get the mottled effect with icing colors ?
I just dip into several different colors, one after the other, without washing off the brush. When you first try it you think it might look blotchy, but the icing shades kind of blend and look natural.
I'm a big fan of the powdered sugar icing for cookie decorating. But it never occurred to me to paint it on. Thanks for the tip!
Hi Nancy,
I've collected a lot of autumn cookie cutters but I've never seen such pretty ones! Thank you for the decorating tips.
You're welcome! I'm about to make some of these to give my grandkids for Halloween.
Post a Comment