Sarah Romero, contributing writer
Decorating cookies with your kids is a fun activity to celebrate the holiday season. It’s also the perfect recipe for sticky faces, frosting-stained clothes, a messy kitchen and complete chaos. Here’s a list of seven things to help minimize the mess and stress:
1. Cover the table. Lay craft paper or a
disposable tablecloth on the table and fold
and tape it over the edges for an easy clean
up. You can almost guarantee sprinkles and
frosting will land on the floor too, so spread
one under the table as well.
2. Use pre-cut frozen cookies. To simplify the
process, try pre-cut frozen cookies. All you
have to do is bake!
3. Overcook the cookies. Harder cookies are
easier to decorate than softer ones. You may
want to slightly overcook the cookies you
decorate. (But feel free to undercook the
ones you eat, because they seem to taste
better that way!)
4. Use piping bags. Piping bags help minimize
the mess and make frosting cookies much
easier for children. If you don’t have piping
bags, simply spoon the frosting into large
Ziploc bags and snip the corner off about 1/4
inch up.
5. Get the right consistency. Make sure the icing
isn’t too thick, so the kids can squeeze it,
but thick enough, so it won’t run all over the
place.
6. Buy cheap sprinkles. A lot of the sprinkles will
end up on the floor. Buy them cheap. Also,
avoid buying sphere sprinkles that will roll.
7. Be prepared. Keep paper towels, paper plates,
wax paper and wipes handy.
These simple steps can help to minimize the
mess. Now sit back and watch the fun!
