Cookie decorating: precise yet playful

Karen Costa is more relaxed when decorating cookies than cakes. Working on the smaller "canvas" is less intimidating and more fun, says the woman who has passionately pursued a career in confectionery art for 33 years. If you mess up, you can simply move on to another cookie. And you can even eat your mistakes.

That's why cookie decorating is an ideal activity for children. "With kids, cookies don't have to be perfect," says Ms. Costa, whose handiwork draws longing looks to display cases at Daniel's Bakery in the Brighton section of Boston.

But it's adults who flock to Costa's classroom at Minuteman Regional High School in Lexington, Mass.

The Monitor recently dropped in on one of the cookie-decorating workshops she teaches there.

Students who previously took her cake-decorating class are relieved to discover that cookie decorating lends itself to playfulness. They can either try something new each time or refine techniques for a particular design.

Hand-decorated cookies are always a big hit with family and friends. They are a popular snack at scout meetings, school events, and children's parties. And they typically cost less than their commercial counterparts. One national franchise, for example, sells decorated cookies for at least $6 each.

Yet one of Costa's students notes that heavily frosted cookies, while they look great, are too sugar-laden for some adult palates.

Their candylike sweetness might be more appealing to kids, admits Costa – but, she adds, not all decorated cookies have to be consumed. They make attractive table decorations or name cards at wedding and baby showers, dinner parties, or holiday gatherings.

Costa realizes that baking the cookies and then decorating them can be time-consuming. As a shortcut, she suggests buying cookies instead of baking them.

For the class, she provides graham crackers and plain chocolate cookie rounds. The rounds are turned over and frosted on the bottom, which is usually flat and therefore easier to decorate.

While many cookie bakers decorate with what's commonly known as royal icing, Costa prefers what she calls regular white icing. (See recipe.)

Her recipe produces frosting that, unlike royal icing, doesn't harden. In fact, she says, when the cookies are left at room temperature, the icing stays fresh for a week. Frosted cookies should not be stored in the refrigerator, Costa adds, because they will become soft.

Iit's important to place the cookies on metal baking sheets that have a deep lip. This keeps plastic wrap from draping across the cookies, sticking to them, and ruining the decoration.

For the class, she divides the frosting into bowls and creates a rainbow of pastels by mixing in commercial coloring pastes, available from cake-decorating supply stores or online. (See suggested web sites.) The tubes of liquid dye sold in supermarkets, she says, won't produce color that is as vibrant.

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