A Tray Of Pretty Cookies

 It's holiday time and that means a tray of cookies. Why not make them eye catching and pretty. They can be delicious and exquisite, perfect for any Instagram or Pinterest picture. There are many different types to choose from.

One of the most popular and often made is a simple sugar cookie jazzed up with royal icing. The icing by itself is pretty bland but how you use it can be creative and lovely. One of the prettiest is creating simple straight piping on snowflake cookies. You can dye the icing a light powder blue and then pipe white icing using a round cake decorating tip number 2 (buy Wilton's for the best result). You can also first ice the cookie with royal icing and then use silver dragees and silver sanding sugar. Keep in mind that the dragees do have silver and really aren't meant to eat.One way of making snowflake cookies pop is just placing one dragee in the center and let the icing be the star. You can also color royal icing with either bought or homemade natural icing . Keep in mind that if you use natural colorants like spinach or onion, you will wind up with some of their taste. Again start off with a simple royal icing base which is usually powdered meringue or egg whites mixed with vanilla extract and confectioner's sugar. You can use aquafaba or chickpea water for a vegan version. 

Homemade Linzer tortes are beautiful gems on any cookie platter. These Austrian classics have a cookie base of almond flour and confectioner's sugar. This is what gives the base its' tenderness. The jam filling can be any kind of jam from apricot to raspberry. Use raspberry for a Christmas cookie platter. The middle of the top cookie is cut out to reveal the glistening jewel like jam. You could easily do an intricate snowflake or snowman cut out using a smaller cookie cutter or hand drawn template. Dust the cookies with a fine coating of confectioners sugar or for more prettiness use silver or gold sanding sugars.Oatmeal lace cookies are another exquisite addition to the holiday platter. This incredibly complex looking snap is just a simple mix of butter, dark brown sugar, flour, salt, and eggs with a dash of vanilla. The batter is very thin which produces a delicate candy like texture. They can be dipped in dark chocolate and then become florentines. Stained glass cookies are pretty too and the idea can be carried over to make stained glass windows for gingerbread houses and gingerbread churches. Use any brightly colored hard candy and then smash them in a plastic bag. Make an outline whether a circle or a star and fill the inside with the candy, The cookie is typical butter cookie which makes for a solid frame. 

These are the prettiest cookies to bake for a holiday treat platter. Bake them to impress , but also bake them to admire their beauty. They are true gems