A few days ago, we shared a post in which we told you how to prepare the icing for cookies. Christmas is here and it's time to put it into practice! Simple decorations for Christmas cookies, but defined and elegant. That is what we want to focus on in this post. I hope that the ideas for making Christmas cookies that I bring you today inspire you to prepare some of the most beautiful, homemade and original cookies.

The decorated cookies can be used for:

• To enjoy! At breakfast and snacks, or with the midday coffee.
• To decorate the Christmas tree: when you prepare the cookie dough, make a hole (not too small or it will close up during baking), so that you can thread a string and use your decorated cookie to decorate your Christmas tree or on some nail you have in the wall.
• To give away! Whether it's for friends, neighbors and family or the day you're visiting someone's house, cookies are the perfect and delicious treats to give and look good. Those who receive them will adore you! Tie them with a string as a package, or use a cookie box to have the detail ( Laura Ashley's are ideal for this).

Christmas cookie ideas

1) With chocolate and chips, decorative elements or chopped nuts

Dip the cookies in melted chocolate and spread white chocolate shavings, or colored chips, grated coconut or chopped nuts on top (chopped pistachios, ground almonds, chopped peanuts...). If you use colorful decorations, they will be more festive and cheerful, and if you use nuts or sober colors they will be more elegant.

They are beautiful if instead of dipping them whole you partially cover them with chocolate, dipping only part of the cookie in the chocolate .

2) Outline your cookies or apply simple decorative touches with royal icing

Do not get complicated, outlining the cookies is the most practical, and if you want apply some more detail that defines or is significant in the way the cookie has (the eyes and mouth in a gingerbread man, the nose and horns in a reindeer, the door in a little house...). If you haven't experimented much with icing and want to make something that looks good, less is more.

I leave you some ideas of shapes and decorations so you can find the ones you like the most or inspire you in your own.

Remember that in this post you have all the details of how to prepare the icing for your cookies.

3) Add cocoa to your cookie dough

If you make dark cookies, simply by applying a few tablespoons of cocoa or carob to the dough, the contrast with the white icing is more marked. You can also apply gold decorations if you have them, like sugar balls or similar, you will see that the contrast is wonderful and elegant. You can also apply small details of gold or silver icing.

4) Fill your decorated cookies with icing

Fill your cookies completely, and apply different colored icings. Remember that the colors red, green and gold are the ones that most transport us to Christmas.

5) Make embossed cookies

Instead of decorating the cookies, make them pretty for starters! Use Nordic Ware cookie stamps to make the most defined and beautifully embossed cookies. Greetings and Snowflake molds are a Christmas classic.

If what you are looking for is to make traditional Christmas cookies, without a doubt a must-have at home are the gingerbread man cookie molds and the beautiful Speculoos Cookie mold from Lurch. After having them ready, you can also decorate the cookies with icing, outlining their drawings.

6) Use jam to fill your cookies

You can apply jam between 2 cookies, especially raspberry or strawberry jam: being red and combined with icing sugar, it reminds us of a snowy Christmas, and if the cookie is made of butter, it results in a delicious sweet.

6) Use decorative color accessories

Using colored chocolates, chips, and sugar balls will make the most festive and cheerful cookies. You can apply white icing, so you will remember the cold snowy winter of Lapland, where Santa Claus comes from, while all the chips and details you add stick.

7) Combine different types of finishes

Bring to the table plain sugar cookies, others with icing details, and others filled to the brim. Your guests will be delighted with each of the options.

I hope this post has inspired you to make your decorated cookies! If you need material to make your cookies, I encourage you to see the Cookie Stamps and Guns section and the Baking Trays section, they will help you make perfect cookies.

If you are looking for the ideal Christmas cookie recipe, without a doubt the essential and most elvish cookies of all are gingerbread cookies. Look at this recipe for gingerbread cookies , they are delicious cookies.