How to Cut Out and Decorate Cookies

[Narrator] Cutting out shapes.

When working with cookie dough,

most important thing to keep in mind

is that the dough will get soft

if it's left out for very long.

It needs to be well chilled.

Every time you cut out a cookie,

dip your cutter into flour to

keep the cutter from sticking to the dough.

Try to use up the space you have on your dough

by using various shapes, if you like.

You can always reroll, but you wanna

try to keep your dough as cold as possible.

You can work on parchment paper,

which will make it much easier to transfer your dough.

And, if you notice it's getting warm and therefore soft,

you can simply move it to

the refrigerator to get cool again.

Pull away the dough, leaving your shapes behind,

and then transfer them to a nice, cool baking sheet.

Be sure to leave a little bit of room between the cookies

as they will expand while they bake.

Decorating.

Cookie decorating is so much fun.

And it can be enjoyed year round,

not just at the holidays.

When you begin decorating cookies,

do make sure that your cookies are cool

so it doesn't melt the icing.

Royal icing is best for decorating.

It's beautiful on its own.

It can be dyed into hundreds of colors.

But it's also the best glue for decorating.

Having squeeze bottles available with different colors

makes your work a lot easier

and it keeps the royal icing from drying out too quickly.

Tools that are nice to have on hand

are tweezers for laying down small little baubles,

small little candies.

A toothpick can clean up little mistakes.

And even a small paintbrush is nice to have.

Simplest is usually best with these cookies.

And, although it may not look like

you've created a masterpiece at first,

when you step back and look at the cookies,

they look great.

They need about three hours to dry completely

and then stack them between layers of

parchment paper or wax paper.