Every year I like to host a little Christmas get together for my son and his friends. Last year I did a Snowman Breakfast which I blogged about HERE. This year I decided to do a Christmas Cookie Workshop.
This was really fun to put together, not only for me, but also for my son. He helped me with everything!
Organizing this party was pretty easy. My son helped me bake all the cookies, and make the icing the night before. On the morning of, we wrapped our kitchen table with red wrapping paper, and placed a green plate at each seat for everyone's cookies. Next, we got muffin cups and filled them with all the Christmas sprinkles we bought, and placed the icing bags in the center of the table.
These shortbread cookies were sooooo good! So soft and buttery.
Here is the recipe I used for the shortbread cookies:
1 Cup of salted butter
1/2 Cup of sugar
2 cups of flour
Bake at 325 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until they are golden brown. I only needed to bake mine for 8 minutes, but every oven is different so just watch them. Makes approx. 12-18 cookies depending on how thick you are making them. I made mine pretty thick, so I tripled this recipe and got 3 dozen. This way each child got 3-4 cookies to decorate.
I made 10 different shapes of Christmas cookies. An angel, gingerbread man, Christmas tree, snowman, sleigh, candy cane, snow flake, bell, star, and a mitten.
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For the Royal Icing I used the Wilton Recipe.
Royal Icing:
3 tablespoons of Meringue Powder
4 Cups confectioners' sugar
5 tablespoons warm water
Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer).
I needed a lot more water than 5 tablespoons. I think I put in closer to 10. This recipe makes 3 cups, so I doubled it to make sure I had enough icing for the kids to decorate all the cookies.
I made 3 different colours. White, Green and Red. To make the green and red I used Wilton icing colour. Then I put them in the Wilton disposable decorating bags and tied them with a rubber band, and cut the tips with scissors.
For the sprinkles we went to the bulk barn and got an assortment of Christmas ones. We also cut mini marshmallows in half, and crushed up candy canes to add to the selection.
The kids had so much fun!
I also had an assortment of drinks and snacks for the kids and parents. Wine and pop for the adults, and juice boxes and milk for the kids.
For food, I had a veggie tray, dips, cheese and crackers, rice crispy squares and fruit.
Once all the children were finished decorating their cookies, we did a gift exchange. I did this last year as well and it was a huge hit. All the parents brought an unmarked wrapped gift under $10 and we played a game of hot potato. The kids were just so excited to open their gifts and see what they got.
As a Thank You for coming, I gave each child a goodie bag to take home filled with Christmas chocolates, stickers, a candy cane, a pencil and an eraser.
What a fun time we all had. I can't wait to host another one next year!
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