Hello! Hello! Greetings from my world which this week means recovering from oral surgery (no pain, yay!) and two weeks of bland "soft foods" (boo!). I had no idea how many things I regularly eat that are crunchy, seedy, nutty, or spicy. Or all four! 

Anyhoo, I asked on Instagram this week, "What are your Christmas cookie questions?" I'm still getting questions in my DMs. I wanted to share them here as well. 

Your Decorated Christmas Cookie Questions Answered!

Can you freeze cookies? 

YES! You can actually freeze them at any point along the way. Freeze the dough, freeze the cut shapes, freeze the baked shapes...you can even freeze them fully decorated! I have a post all about the details on freezing cookies here. 

What is your favorite, best-tasting rolled cookie recipe?

My Perfect Every Time Cut-Out Cookies. I've made thousands of these over the years. No chilling, no spreading...and they are delicious! 

Have you used royal icing transfers?

Royal icing transfers are small details that you pipe and let dry ahead of time. They can then be placed onto wet royal icing when decorating. I used them here on graduation cookies. 

You can also BUY royal icing transfers, which I love to do this time of year. They make for the cutest - and easiest - ugly Christmas sweater cookies. (This is really fun for a cookie decorating party.)

What's your favorite gingerbread cookie recipe?

I developed this gingerbread cookie recipe for my book, Decorating Cookies, published in 2012. Since then, I've made SO MANY of these cookies - and it's the recipe I look forward to every Christmas. I like them best piped simply so that the gingerbread color shows through and the flavor really shines. 

You might know The Pancake Princess website. She and her team conduct bake-offs of recipes. Here's what she said about my gingerbread cookie recipe: "A BEAUTIFULLY TENDER AND CHEWY COOKIE THAT HAS A MILD BUT FLAVORFUL SPICE MIX... texturally, it's a dream to roll out and bakes up into a neat cookie with a soft texture and good chew." 

How long is gel paste food coloring good for?

So, I did some digging on this one. The consensus is that it doesn't really go bad, unlike liquid food coloring. If it's clumpy, dry, or grainy, I'd buy a new bottle. I recommend Americolor and Chefmaster food coloring.

Do your cookies work with buttercream? Do you have a buttercream recipe?

For Christmas, I use royal icing because the cookies can be stacked, packaged, and mailed. But, yes! Cut-out cookies pair beautifully with buttercream! Here's a post where I used buttercream for decorating.

Have you tried edible printers? Is that how people get such precise designs?

Edible printers are one tool cookie decorators use, along with projectors for tracing. When you see a perfectly perfect logo, chances are that one of those tools was used. YEARS ago, I bought an edible printer. These are my favorite cookies I ever made with it. After that, I found it to be a nightmare to use...maybe because I didn't use it often. Today's printers seem more user-friendly, but I would only recommend one if you're going into business.

How thick do you roll your cookies?

1/4 inch. 

How many grams is the egg in your recipes?

I apologize in American...the grams are whatever is in the large egg I happen to crack open that day. :)

Do you have a gluten-free cut-out cookie recipe?

I sure do! Easy gluten-free cut-out cookie recipe here! 

If I only have unsalted butter, how much salt should I add to your cookie recipe?

Add 1/4 teaspoon total to the recipe. (If using one of my cut-out cookie recipes.)

Do you have tips for using royal icing?

Oh boy, do I! You can find my royal icing recipe, plus lots of tips and FAQs, here. 

Have more cookie decorating questions? Send them to me on Instagram or Threads!

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