Holiday Cookie Decoration Workshop

 

Sometimes all you need is a little bit of sugar… and this past Saturday, River Arts was alive with bustling bodies crowded around tables covered in sugar, sprinkles, and colorful icing.

Earlier this fall, new clay studio member Lorie Woodruff walked into our office with the idea of a cookie decoration workshop. She said she’d love to volunteer to make a workshop happen. Whenever we are able to offer free workshops to families, we always have an outpouring of interest. We were astonished to see over 26 people sign up for this workshop and ended up having to split the group into a morning and afternoon section so that there would be enough tools (and better covid distancing) for every participant.

Lorie was heroic, baking 200+ delicious gingerbread cookies of all shapes and sizes for folks to use as their canvas. Her collection of decorative sugars and sprinkles was vast and inspiring. Best of all was her enthusiasm and generosity to share techniques for outlining, flooding, marbling, controlled sprinkle application.

We can’t thank you enough Lorie for making this fantastic workshop happen.

 

There were some really special moments - when two boys honed in on their marbled icing techniques, when one girl revolutionized the use of candy cane in decoration, and when Lorie and I at the end of the day began icing all the remaining cookies to give away for volunteers who have done so much for River Arts in the past year.

If you weren’t able to join us for this family event, don’t worry! We’re cooking up some fun workshops for the new year in partnership with Healthy Lamoille Valley so stay tuned!

Lorie’s Gingerbread Recipe

“I made 5 batches of this recipe which yielded about 230 cookies.”

Dry team:

  • 6 cups all-purpose flour, sifted with

  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Wet team:

  • 1/2 lb unsalted butter (2 sticks) beat with

  • 1 cup packed dark brown sugar

  • - Then add to the fluffy butter mix

  • 4 teaspoons ground ginger

  • 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

  • 1/2 ground cloves

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • - Mix in well

  • 2 large egg

  • 1 cup unsulfured molasses

Add flour at low speed

Divide in 3 - flatten into discs, wrap and chill overnight

I roll the dough still fairly firm between plastic wrap (or waxed paper) then finish rolling on a cutting board 1/8th inch - lightly flowered before I cut shapes. Chill trays for at least 15 minutes to prevent spreading. You can use a pastry brush to whisk away flour from cut cookie.

Bake @ 350 for 8 to 10 minutes - I transfer from a lower rack to a higher rack at 6 minutes to prevent burning bottoms of cookies.

Note: depending on the size of your cookie expect about 40 -50 cookies using a second roll from scraps. I save the 3rd roll for gingerbread houses or making gingerbread wreaths, etc. it does get a little tough for eating!

Royal icing: (I did 5 batches for cookie decorating)

There’s ton of recipes and techniques out there. I use ‘Sweet Sugerbells’ ( she has a website with pictures and tips, very helpful.)

  • 5 tablespoons meringue powder

  • 2 pounds powdered sugar

  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup room temperature water

  • Mix with paddle attachment 5 minutes - until you reach a thick honey’ like consistency

  • Keep bowl, piping tips and tools covered with damp paper towels to keep

  • The icing from drying out while working!

Good luck!


 
Lisa Wolfgang