Decorating Halloween Cookies

Usually when one of my kids is away at a play date, I try to do something fun with the ones left at home.  More often then not, it ends up being food related.  One Saturday afternoon, Big L and I ended up making Halloween themed sugar cookies while Lil P was off with her friend.

We started with a basic sugar recipe and Halloween themed cutters.

I've found that the most kid-friendly way to decorate cookies is using a simple sugar cookie icing (see recipe below) in small squeeze bottles.  The trick to getting the icing into the small opening is first putting the icing into a zipper top bag, cutting a corner of the bag and then squeezing the icing into the bottle.  Having air in the bag helps to push out all the icing.  Sometimes I use food coloring to tint the icing into different colors and the kids can make designs and draw with the icing.  This time, we kept it white and went on a frenzy with an assortment of sprinkles.  

The nice thing about using the bottles is that it give more control to little hands.  They can outline the cookie and then fill the inside.  Or draw designs.  Using a bottle is also less messier, which I love. 

i love the simple look of this cookie

While the glaze is still wet go to town with the sprinkles.  Using a rack on a sheet pan will catch all the excess sprinkles so there is less waste.  Just remember to collect the sprinkles between each different one, otherwise you'll end up with a jar of what I call "hodge-podge" sprinkles which the kids love to use too.   

Sugar Cookie Icing
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2-4 tsp. milk
2 tsp. light corn syrup

Mix the ingredients together.  Adjust the amount of milk to the consistency you want.
* This icing will harden as it dries allowing you to stack the cookies.