How to Make Autumn Leaf Cookies

These festive Autumn Leaf cookies are almost as fun to make as they are to eat. Colorful and unique, they make a great addition to any Fall party, or even to your Thanksgiving dessert table!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sugar Cookie Dough
• Icing
• Yellow, Red, Orange food coloring (or ones of your choice!)
• Leaf Cookie Cutter
• Skewers or toothpicks
• Pastry bags or ziploc bags

1. 
    

   Using Sugar Cookie Dough of your choice, roll out and cut shapes with Leaf Cookie Cutter.

2. 
    

   (A) Place Leaf cut outs on baking sheet (I use a stoneware baking sheet, but any sheet will do). Bake according to recipe directions. (B) Place on cooling rack. Cookies must be completely cool before icing.

3. Using icing of your choice mix yellow, orange, red, and brown (or make your own colors for your leaves). Place each color in a pastry bag (or a ziploc bag). Cut off the very tip of the bag (or corner of the ziploc bag).

4. 
    

   Arrange the cookies on a cooling rack or tray to decorate them. Using one color at a time, pipe the icing onto the cookie in swirling patterns. They don't have to be perfect, just make sure you get some of each color distributed in different areas on the cookie.

5. 
    

   Now, using a skewer or toothpick, pull through the icing. You can draw a vein design, or you can pull the icing in any direction you want. You can be creative here.

6. 
    

   Allow the icing to set. Enjoy!

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure your dough remains cold while rolling. If it gets too warm, it will become sticky and hard to work with. Also, don't be afraid to use a liberal amount of flour when rolling.
• The consistency of the icing is important for this design. It needs to be thin enough so that the line made with the skewer will smooth away, but not so thin that is runs off the cookie. Also, don't let the icing sit too long before using the skewer, or it will set and the lines will not smooth away.
• You can find pastry bags at craft stores such as A.C. Moore, or the craft section of Walmart.
• If you don't have a sugar cookie and icing recipe that you like, use mine "How To Make Delicious Sugar Cookies".

[gailM]

on 12/13/2008 In Kansas you would have to make all different colored leaves this fall. Interesting tips.

[maryellen1001]

on 12/1/2008 Beautiful! You have some excellent ideas here.

[elkim]

on 11/25/2008 Very nice article and recipe!

[marissalew]

on 11/23/2008 Can't wait to make these for Thanksgiving!