Decorating Cookies Takes a Certain Touch (Okay, Craziness)

It's Christmas cookie time, when millions of home bakers pull out the mixer, cookie cutters and decorating supplies for the annual extravaganza of edible good cheer. If you're a sane individual who sprinkles colored sugar on your cookies and calls it a day, you can stop reading right now.

If, on the other hand, you are a crazy person who decides that elaborately decorated cookies are an essential part of the holiday experience -- the kind of baker who stays up until 3 a.m., tweezers in hand, placing gold dragees on a gingerbread reindeer -- honey, come sit next to me.

I realize I could make hundreds of gorgeous, sophisticated cookies in the time it takes to create a handful of decorated cutouts. But one big, beautiful cookie on the top of stocking is worth two dozen rum balls in my book. I've picked up a few tricks along the way, and share in the spirit of the season. Merry Craziness to you.

COOKIE DOUGH

My Holy Grail is the perfect cutout cookie dough: one that tastes wonderful but retains its shape after you spend all that time rolling and cutting. The perfect decorated cookie looks too pretty to eat -- and tastes as good as it looks.

I prefer a gingerbread recipe at Christmas because the spices in the cookie are a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of the icing, but a butter cookie works, too. The secret is to not use too much leavening (baking soda or powder), or else all those lovely shapes will puff up into an unrecognizable blob. I once spent two hours painstakingly cutting tiny designs into snowflakes, only to see the cookie expand into a weird, unattractive circle. I said bad words and scared the cats.

ROLLING, CUTTING, BAKING

Every expert baker recommends chilling dough overnight to let the moisture be absorbed and make it easier to handle. I divide the dough into four parts, flatten them like pancakes, wrap in plastic and plop into the fridge for a night or two.

When I'm ready to cut the cookies, I grab one of the pieces of dough, lightly dust it with flour, then roll it out between two pieces of wax paper. You can roll thick or thin, depending whether you like your gingerbread chewy or crisp. Peel off the top layer of wax paper, dip the cutter in flour, and cut designs into the dough. Slap the wax paper back on, slide the whole thing onto a baking sheet and put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

The trick is then to transfer the cutouts intact onto a baking sheet. You have to work fast -- if the dough gets too soft, put it back in the freezer. I take the dough out of the freezer and pop the cookies out onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper or Silpat. I re-roll scraps once, and after the cookies are baked, I let them cool for a couple of minutes on the sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack. This technique works especially well for big cookies with delicate designs, such as reindeer legs, and prevents most breakage.

ROYAL ICING

Royal icing is your best decorating friend. It dries to a perfect finish, and it lasts for decades. I always sift the confectioners' sugar to minimize those tiny pieces of sugar that clog icing tips. I use meringue powder instead of fresh egg whites because it's easier to store, and I add a bit of orange extract to cut the sweetness. After the icing is whipped into stiff peaks, I cover it with plastic wrap to prevent the surface from drying.