Patchwork Christmas designs lend themselves really well to cookies. Stitches and plaid require straight lines and blocks of color, which makes them perfect for royal icing designs. The design for these cookies came to mind when I saw a friend’s Christmas quilt.
Another bonus for “patches” on cookies: they are very flexible. You can use any color, put them anywhere, and they still look great. Nobody will notice if a patch is a little off, or if the color doesn’t match exactly.
Plaid is a pattern you want to do while the icing is wet. Straight lines are much easier than curved lines, and if you pipe them while the flood icing is still wet, then the pattern will sink into the icing and give a nice flat look. Use different size tips, and alternate colors to get a plaid look.
This Santa cookie is pretty simple. He’s not patchwork cookie. I tried to give him a little patch on his hat, but didn’t like the look. It was too busy. Sometimes, the unifying factor of your design can just be the color palette.
When designing a batch of cookies, don’t forget to take into account the complexity of the cookies you are designing. The most complicated or time-consuming cookies are not always the favorites. I read some solid advice about 8 years ago that said that you always need some “bread and butter” designs. Something simple and fast that can balance out the more complicated designs. Snowman here is a bread and butter, and he doesn’t mind, because he’s going to be someone’s favorite!
One possible improvement, especially for snowman, would be a thicker icing. I was going for a 20-second icing, but it ended up a bit thin. He turned out a bit gloopy. Too thin or too thick (like these Tic Tac Toe cookies), the wrong consistency can make or break your cookies. Happy baking, friends! And happy holidays.
