Decorated Cookies

Directions

1. Heat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease four baking sheets with cooking spray.
2. On a clean counter, combine the cookie dough and flour by kneading until the mixture is smooth.
3. Cut the dough into four equal sections. Keep three sections chilled in the fridge while you work with one. On a floured surface, roll the dough to just under 1/4 inch thick. Dip your cookie cutters in flour and cut out shapes, placing them on the baking sheets with an offset spatula. Gather the leftover dough, re-roll, and cut more shapes.
4. Bake the cookies for 10–12 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden. Move them to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat steps with the remaining dough portions.
5. Prepare royal icing and split it into nine separate bowls. Use food paste coloring to dye each bowl a different hue; one bowl stays white. Cover the bowls with plastic wrap so they don't dry out. Transfer half of each colored icing into its own piping bag. To the remaining half of each color, add 1 teaspoon of water and stir until it reaches a consistency similar to softly whipped cream. Then spoon these thinner icings into separate piping bags as well.
6. With the thicker icing, pipe outlines for your designs on the cookies. Then use the thinner icing (often called flooding) to fill inside the outlines. Let the cookies sit for at least one hour to dry completely.
7. Once the base is dry, pipe additional details onto the cookies using the thicker icing. If you like, sprinkle colored sugars over the wet icing.