Need sugar cookie decorating ideas that are QUICK

Hi everyone,

I need some advice. Our NEWLY formed cake club (YEAH!) has decided to decorate cookies at our next meeting and donate them to the local childrens shelter. EXCELLENT IDEA! The only issue I'm having is that my cookies usually take, at least, over night to dry. This will not work in this case. What suggestions can you give as far as what to decorate with? We are going to bring in our own cookies and our own type of icing and decorating items. The idea is in part to show each other our different ideas. HELP, what else can I use to decorate them that won't take over night to dry? I thought about just doing them ahead of time and then maybe leaving a couple to do there just to show them but somehow, that doesn't feel ... fair. I would appreciate ANY advice. The meeting is on the 12th and I thought about doing stocking shapes. THANK YOU

I thought about the chocolate idea but there isn't anyway to keep it melted. If I use buttercream on the cookies, how long before they could be stacked?

kerririchards, I'm getting more interested in cookies now too. I just seemed to be being drawn to that. Not sure if that's a "sign" for me to pursue or not.

sofiasmami, Thank you, I made the cookies using the no fail recipe, replacing butter with shortening. The icing is Toba garretts recipe for royal, thinned it with corn syrup. The hardest part was trying to remember the pattern on the ball. I kept forgetting which was white and which was black. Then I just outlined the blacks and filled, then filled the whites. It took over night and then some for them to dry enough to bag. I would love to see a picture of your cookies if you can easily do it.

antonia74, before anything else, thank you for your tutorial and other questions you've helped with. You are the BEST. What are sanding sugars? This sounds interesting.

JoAnnB, I like the ideas of painting a small coat of icing but then you just sprinkle on it? I thought about doing stocking so I wonder should I use white royal and then use red sprinkles that sparkle. I LIKE THAT IDEA. Think it would look okay?

When most of you do X-mas cookies, do you just frost and sprinkle? I really think that is what I'm going to have to do because otherwise, I just won't have time. I really would love to show a technique that I usually use, but maybe I'll just save that for a demo some other meeting. Not that I'm that experienced but I've DEFINITELY learned ALOT from everyone here and... trial and error.

katiebug, those are awesome!! How thin do you roll the fondant? Wow, I might have to give that a try. How do you treat the edges of the fondant? Do you just smooth down with a tool or hand, they appear rounded. These are really great.

Thank you for all your help and suggestions. I'll let you know what my end result was. Thanks again.

Thank you, RAVUN2003, that sounds like a good idea too. mmm.. I have alot of ideas to think over. Thank again everyone, I knew you'd help get the juices flowing!