Hey Besties! Here in Minnesota, we’ve been shoved into a snowy, cold winter already and these hat and mitten cookies seemed like the perfect time to share! For those of you in warmer climates (super jealous), I hope you still love these. Here, hats and mittens are a survival necessity, but maybe warmer climates use them more for fashion accessories? Either way, these cookies are adorable and remind us of all the cozy feelings. They are surprisingly easy to make with countless design tweaks available! Let’s bite in!
Cutters, Colors & Design
These cutters were a part of the same cutter set I used for my Christmas sweater cookies, which you can see HERE. I knew I’d get a lot of use out of this cookie cutter set!
I used ChefMaster Sky Blue color (a little goes a long way) to make this sweet wintery blue. And actually, the photos don’t pick it up, but I also painted the blue with some iridescent blue luster dust too! I wish you could see it better, but the hat and mittens are actually very iridescent in real life! I LOVE using luster dusts either dry dusting or painting on for really unique finishes.
As far as design, there are countless options for super cute hat and mitten cookies, but I chose to use this easy cable knit design pattern. I love the texture and dimension it gives to the cookies. If you’re new to decorating or haven’t played with this technique before, first, you simply flood the sections that you’ll be knitting over. Once those are crusted over, use a STIFF icing consistency and a 1.5 tip (if you use tips) making a staggered heart-like pattern from the top to the bottom. Separating with a line in between, you will see the cable knit pattern appear. Now, there are many different ways to make a cable knit pattern with royal icing, but I have found this to be an easy, beginner-friendly way to achieve the look.
Once all my blue sections were dry, I flooded the white sections and added sanding sugar immediately. When everything was dry, I went back with the luster dust, mixed with a little bit of high-proof alcohol to paint onto the cookies.
Chocolate Cutout Cookie Recipe
When considering which flavor cookie to use for this adorable set, chocolate felt like the obvious choice. Not only because it reminds me of cozy, hot chocolate, but also the aesthetic contrast between the chocolate cookie and the icing colors is so pretty! This chocolate sugar cookie recipe is ridiculously easy and yummy! It also pairs amazingly with our go-to royal icing recipe, which you can find HERE.
I hope you love this recipe and have fun making your own hat and mitten cookies!
The Best No-Chill Chocolate Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227g) Salted Butter Chilled, Cubed
- 1 cup (200g) Granulated Sugar
- 1 Large Egg Chilled
- 1 tbsp (13g) Vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (60g) Dutch Process Cocoa Powder
- 2 tsp (9.5g) Baking Powder
- 3 cups (360g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp (1.8g) Espresso Powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- I bake on my favorite perforated baking mats to eliminate any chance of spread, for even baking and pretty undersides of our cookies!
- In your mixer bowl (or large bowl with hand-mixer) cream butter and sugar until smooth, about 1 minute
- Beat in vanilla and egg
- In a separate bowl. combine the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and espresso powder. Add to wet mixture a small amount at a time.
- Mix until dough is pulling away from the sides of the bowl
- Divide dough into 2 sections and roll out each on wax paper or other prepared surface to 1/4" thick. This dough should require very little additional flour to roll out. I love that it is not sticky!
- Cut into desired shapes; this dough does not spread! I always suggest baking similar-sized cookies together.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 7-8 minutes (depending on cookie size)
- Cool cookies on cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to cooling rack.
- Eat plain or decorate!
Notes
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