Decorating a Gingerbread House Cookie with Royal Icing

Directions

• 1

  Bake and cool cookies before decorating. Get Ann Clark's no-fail sugar cookie recipe here. Or, keep it classic with Ann's Gingerbread Cookie Recipe. Make sure cookies are fully cooled. If they are warm, the icing will run off of them. Make royal icing. Learn how to mix different consistencies of royal icing here>>
  
  Prepare the following icing colors:
  
  Piping Consistency:
  White
  Red
  Green

  
• 2Using the white detail consistency icing, pipe an outline around the house and roof sections, as shown in the photo. Create a crisscross design for the chimney.
  
• 3Using the white detail consistency, pipe the "snow" onto the top of the house and roof sections, as shown in the photo. Don't worry about these sections needing to be completely smooth. We want it to look realistic, with the texture of snow.
  
• 4Carefully place the cookie onto a clean plate. Sprinkle the white sanding sugar onto the "snow" sections you just piped.
  
• 5Using the fluffy fresh, carefully brush away any excess sanding sugar from the cookie. Don't worry about getting every piece. A little snow on the house adds charm!
  
• 6If you have one on hand, use a large metal piping tip to gently imprint a circle in the cookie. We'll use this to trace a circle to make a peppermint candy design. If you do not have a piping tip available, you can pipe a circle by freehand.
  
• 7Pipe the eight small sections within the circle as shown. It should look like a swirl.
  
• 8Fill in every other section of the circle with white icing and use your scribe tool or toothpick to smooth the sections.
  
• 9Pipe the windows and door with white icing. The arch around the door should be filled in and smoothed with your scribe tool or toothpick.
  
• 10Using the red royal icing, fill in the remaining sections of the peppermint candy and smooth out with your scribe tool or toothpick.
  
• 11Pipe lines of the red icing on the door arch, creating the look of a candy cane.
  
• 12Pipe "snow" on the bottom of the window and house with white detail consistency icing.
  
• 13Carefully transfer the cookie to the plate used for the sanding sugar. Sprinkle the sanding sugar on the snow sections you just piped and carefully brush the excess away using the small fluffy brush.
  
• 14

  Finish the design by piping a small green dot as the door handle and alternating red and green dots across the house.