Drop In and Decorate Birthday Party

I am not sure if you have heard of the organization Drop in and Decorate, but they are a non-profit organization involving baking, decorating, and donating cookies. After hearing about them in a podcast by the Meal Makeover Moms back in December, I decided it might be a fun thing to do for Xavier's birthday party.

So we did.

We invited Xavier's little classmates and friends and family and did just that. Friday I made 5 batches of the Drop In and Decorate Sugar Cookie Recipe:

Recipe: sugar cookies

Makes 16-20 large cookies; see note below for making multiple batches.

3-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (we use table salt, but kosher salt would be fine)
1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) best quality unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 Tbsp milk
2-1/2 tsp best quality pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a couple of baking sheets with a Silpat (silicone mat) or parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. In another large bowl or the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar, until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla, and continue to beat until well blended and smooth. Beat flour mixture into the butter mixture, a bit at a time, until smooth. Form the dough into a ball, and divide in half.

Place one half on a sheet of parchment paper or wax paper; cover with another sheet and roll to 1/4 inch. Repeat with second half of dough. Refrigerate the sheets of dough for at least 30 minutes, or up to a couple of days (or, if making far in advance, you can freeze at this point. Wrap sheets tightly in plastic wrap).

Remove one sheet from the refrigerator; carefully peel off the top wax paper, then replace paper and quickly flip the dough. Peel off and discard what is now the top sheet of paper, and cut out the cookies. (Cookies will spread, so do not place too close together on the baking sheet; 6-8 cookies will do it). Reroll scraps, refrigerating if necessary to firm the dough.

Bake for 8-9 minutes, or until just lightly colored on top and slightly darker at the edges. (Rotate sheets halfway through for even browning.) Remove pans from oven and let cookies cool 2-3 minutes. Then transfer the cookies to a rack and let cool completely. (At this point, the cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to two weeks, in layers separated by parchment or wax paper.)

After the cookies are completely cooled, decorate with Royal Icing. Place the decorated cookies on a tray and leave out overnight, uncovered, to harden. The next morning, package in food-safe cellophane bags or cookie tins.

Production notes:

To make multiple batches, do NOT double the recipe. It’s hard to control proportions. Instead, make multiples of the original recipe, one batch at a time, for guaranteed success!

Rolled sheets of cookie dough can be made ahead and frozen (or, if you're going to use them within a day or two, you can stack the rolled sheets of dough on a cookie sheet in the refrigerator). Let defrost until dough is pliable enough to be cut without breaking cookies, but not necessarily completely defrosted.


The process was pretty easy once I got the rhythm going. We made cute little heart cookies (for Valentine's Day of course). Since it was freezing outside, I used the table on the deck to chill the dough between the rolling and cutting steps.

After baking about 120 cookies, I was done (at about 3am)!

I decided to make the icing in the morning:

Recipe: royal icing

Makes 2-1/2 cups, enough for one batch of large cookies.

1 lb + scant 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
5 Tbsp meringue powder
1/2 cup cool water (add more, a teaspoon at a time, if needed for desired consistency)
A few drops of paste food coloring

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, combine first three ingredients and mix on low speed until glossy and fluffy, 7-8 minutes. To color, place some icing in a small bowl or plastic cup, and stir in a few drops of food coloring until desired shade is reached. Royal Icing hardens quickly when exposed to air, so use immediately, or transfer to an airtight container; it will keep overnight at room temperature, or in the refrigerator for 2-3 months. Beat well before using.

Production notes:

If you're doing multiple batches of cookies, you'll need more icing. An easy way to do this efficiently is to make the icing, one batch at a time, and pour into a large airtight container. Make several batches of icing. Then, using a ladle or 1/2-cup measure, place a small bit of the icing in a plastic cup. Mix in food coloring to desired shade, and use a pastry bag to fill your squeeze bottles. Repeat until you have all the colors you need.

We had blue, magenta, light pink, green, brown, yellow, orange, white, purple, and I am probably missing some more. 

We used zip-top bags and squeeze bottles. I liked the squeeze bottles best, but I just was too frugal to buy 8 bottles when they were not on sale. 

We had tons of sprinkles (even Christmas ones) and a couple of icing tubes with sparkles in it. 

The kids arrived promptly at 10 and we got to work! We had a folding table set up - the kind that can be lowered to adult knee height - and it worked perfectly!

When the party was all done, we still had about 130 cookies left to decorate so my mom, Victoria, and I sat down to finish them up. 

It was fun and although I was counting on red icing from the kitchen to the playroom, the most I found was a little dab on my shirt. The plastic table cloth and zip-top bags full of icing made clean up a breeze!

Today, I will package them up and we will drop them off at the Arnold Food Pantry tomorrow.

Here are some of the cookies we made! Thanks for stopping by!

PS. Happy Valentine's Day!