Decorating a Christmas Pine Wreath Cookie Platter with Royal Icing

Written by Mike Tamplin • Nov 13, 2023

Take your cookie decorating to the next level!

Trace cookie designs with ease with the Akaso mini projector.

The holiday season is upon us, and what better way to usher in the festive spirit than by creating a stunning and delicious Christmas pine wreath cookie platter? Imagine a charming assembly of decorated pine branches, adorable pine cones, and sweet cranberry cookies, all seamlessly arranged on a tray to form a beautiful edible wreath.

In this blog post, we'll guide you through the art of decorating this Christmas cookie platter using royal icing, turning your ordinary cookies into a festive masterpiece that will undoubtedly be the centerpiece of your holiday gatherings.

Pine Wreath Platter Cookie Cutters

This pine wreath platter cookie cutter set includes a pine branches cutter, a pine cone cutter, a cluster of berries cutter, and a center circle cutter. You can purchase cookie cutters together as a set, or as a trio 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 Pine Wreath Cookie Cutter Set

To help with the decorating process, I made a PDF template available for this new Christmas pine wreath 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 pine wreath with pine cone and berry cookies, you will need the following suggested colors:

Dark Green royal icing (I mixed Forest green with a touch of Super Black and Leaf green .)
Light Green icing (I mixed the dark green icing above with more white icing.)
Dark Brown icing (I mixed equal parts Americolor Chocolate Brown with Americolor Super Black.)
Light Brown icing (I mixed the dark brown icing above with more white icing.)
Red icing (I mixed Americolor Super Red with a touch of Americolor Chocolate Brown.)
White icing (I used Americolor Bright White.)

Step 1

For the pine branch cookie, begin by first flooding the upper branch section with dark green icing, as shown. Let that icing set.

Then flood the remaining lower branch section.

Step 2

Next, add the brown stems of the branches.

Then go around the stems with light green needle lines, as shown.

Step 3

For a finishing touch, I added random snowy white dots to the cookie for a snowy feel and pops of color.

Step 4

For the berries cookie, flood each berry section one at a time with red icing. Quickly add a white highlight accent dot before the red icing sets.

Repeat until all 3 berry sections are complete.

Step 5

For the pine cone cookie, begin by flooding the entire cookie with dark brown icing. Let this icing dry completely.

Then with stiff light brown icing, scrap over the pine cone design with this pine cone stencil.

Step 6

For the center circle cookie, flood the entire cookie with white icing. Let this icing dry completely.

Then with stiff dark greenicing, scrap over a Merry Christmas design with this Merry Christmas Pine Circle Stencil.

Pine Wreath Cookie Platter Video Tutorial

The steps above are summarized in this time-lapsed video I put together below.

Here is the completed Christmas cookie platter all assembled. To create this entire platter required 19 cookies-- 10 pine branch cookies, 4 pine cone cookies, 4 cranberry 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.

pine wreath with cones and berries cookie platter

One secret weapon in our decorating arsenal that deserves a special mention is the use of cookie stencils. These clever tools make the process not only more efficient but also open up a world of creative possibilities, allowing even those new to cookie decorating to achieve professional-looking results.

As you put the finishing touches on your Christmas pine wreath cookie platter, it is sure to become a memorable centerpiece for your festive gatherings.

For more ideas for Christmas cookie cutters, be sure to check out our cookie cutter shop. And, for more tutorials on Christmas platters, visit the links below: