Decorate a Gingerbread House Cookie Platter for Christmas
Are you looking for a fun way to get into the holiday spirit? Decorating this gingerbread house cookie platter will definitely have you feeling holly jolly! With a few simple steps and some creative touches, you can craft an incredible gingerbread house cookie platter that will be as festive as it is delicious! So grab your cookies cutters, icing, and food coloring - I'll show you how to create something joyful for Christmas in no time.
Gingerbread House Platter Cookie Cutters
This gingerbread house and tree cookie platter set includes a gingerbread house cutter, a tree cutter, and a center circle cutter. You can purchase cookie cutters together as a set, or as a pair of cutters without the center circle.
(This is the same circle cutter used in all my platter sets, like this Snowflake set, Spiral Platter, and Floral Wreath, etc.)
There are two sizes available. When arranged as a platter, as shown in the example picture, the platter measures:
LARGE- 12 inches in diameter.
SMALL- 9 inches in diameter.
For this tutorial, I'll be decorating the large size.
Templates for the Gingerbread House & Tree Cookie Cutter Set
To help with the decorating process, I made a PDF template available for this new Christmas gingerbread cookie set.
You can download these cookie templates HERE.
If you have a Kopykake or Pico projector, just print it out (or pull it up on your mobile device) and you are good to go. For those without a projector, follow the suggested steps below by tracing the design onto the cookie with an edible food marker.
The Cookie Decorating Process
To decorate these gingerbread house and tree cookies, you will need the following suggested colors:
- Light Brown royal icing (I mixed Americolor Orange, Americolor Electric Green, with a touch of Americolor Chocolate Brown.)
- Dark Brown icing. (I added more color gel of the light brown icing above.)
- Red piping icing (I mixed Americolor Tulip Red with some of the light brown from above.)
- Green icing (I mixed two parts Americolor Egg Yellow and one part Americolor Mint.)
- White icing (I used Americolor Bright White.)
- Yellow icing (I used Americolor Egg Yellow.)
Step 1
For the gingerbread house cookie, begin by filling in the gingerbread cookie section around the door and window, as shown. Quickly add the darker dot accents. Let this icing set for about 20 minutes.
Next, fill in the door section with red icing and the window section with yellow icing. Then add the snow top on the chimney with white icing.
Step 2
Next, add the green outline around the door and to the window panes, as shown. Add a yellow door knob too.
Then add the white snowy roofline and window sill.
Step 3
For the tree cookie, begin by flooding the entire cookie with green icing. Let this icing set for at least an hour.
Then add the snow details, as shown.
Step 4
For the final, center message cookie, begin by flooding the entire cookie with white icing. Let this icing dry completely.
Then I used the Holly Jolly cookie stencil on top with super thick white icing. I used a Stencil Genie to hold the stencil in place while I swiped icing over the design.
Gingerbread House & Tree Cookie Platter Video Tutorial
The steps above are summarized in this time-lapsed video I put together below.
Here's the final Christmas cookie platter all assembled. To create this entire platter required 11 cookies-- 5 gingerbread house cookies, 5 tree cookies, and 1 center circle cookie.
This is the large, 12" version. For the tray it's on, I like to use the 12" pizza pans from Dollar Tree. They are cheap and sturdy for transporting around.
Creating a gingerbread house cookie platter is a wonderful way to incorporate the spirit of Christmas into your home this year. With these easy steps, you will be able to make and decorate amazing cookies for everyone to enjoy! We hope that you found this tutorial helpful in guiding you along your journey in turning your ordinary cookie platter into something extraordinary.
To help get you started on more fun activities of the season, why don’t visit our cookie cutter shop for more Christmas cookie cutter ideas? With creativity and the right cookie tools, there’s simply no limit as to what kind of festive and memorable platter you can create. Have fun, and Happy Holidays!
