How to decorate gingerbread cookies with paintbrush icing
Keep little hands busy over the holiday break with simple edible crafts! Learn how to paint our gingerbread people with a batch of easy icing (whipped up with just three ingredients and your choice of food colourings). These are as fun to make as they are to eat.
Three basic ingredients, plus your favourite cookies and clean small paintbrushes are all it takes to create a family-friendly afternoon of fun in the kitchen! Here are the steps for success at the cookie-decorating table:
Step 1: Choose your holiday cookie
Bake your favourite holiday cookies at home, or pick up our In-Store Made Gingerbread People as an easy shortcut to your cookie-decorating bonanza. This icing is also perfect for decorating sugar cookies, if you like to keep a variety of Christmas cookies on hand over the holidays.
Step 2: Make our easy three-ingredient cookie icing recipe
In a flash, you'll have a tasty icing that's easy to work with. All you need is icing sugar, milk, and lemon juice, plus food colouring, to make this easy cookie icing recipe.
How to mix paintbrush icing
Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, then stir in the milk and lemon juice until the mixture is the consistency of honey. If it's too thick, add more milk. Too watery? You'll add more icing sugar. Adjust until you get the right feel. Portion out the icing into little bowls, stir your choice of food colouring into each, and begin!
Step 3: Paint icing onto cookies
Using a clean craft paint brush—one for each colour—brush icing onto cookies in any design you like. Tip: Wait 15 minutes until your first coat of icing is dry; if you paint additional colours on top of wet icing, the colours and design will mix and smear.
Step 4: Add extra decorations
If the kids want to add sprinkles, sugar pearls, metallic dragées, or other edible decorations, don't wait until the end. Add them while the icing is wet so they'll stick to the cookies. All that's left? Enjoy your edible art with your loved ones. Happy holidays!
