Looking for a new way to decorate some of your gingerbread this year? If so, then this tutorial for gingerbread wreath cookies is for you!

These cookies are a cute, creative way to make gingerbread. In addition to being delicious, they also make great party favours, hostess gifts, natural Christmas ornaments, or stocking stuffers!

Making the cookies

These adorable cookies can be made using homemade gingerbread, sugar cookies, chocolate sugar cookies, or any other type of flat, rolled cookie. The wreath shapes are created simply by using a round circle cookie cutter, and then another small circle cutter to cut out the centre hole. You can also use a donut cutter if you want, just to make the process a little easier; I’ll explain why I didn’t do that later on in this post, but hey – It’s an option!

When to make these cookies

These cookies are such a simple way to make Christmas a little cuter and sweeter. I recommend making them for any of the following reasons:

Make them just to eat them!
Party favours
Hostess gifts
Stocking stuffers
All other sorts of gifts: use them to decorate gift wrapping or to fill a box with something sweet for someone special!
Homemade natural Christmas ornaments
Gingerbread garland pieces
…Or any other reason you can think up!

How to package these cookies for favours or gifts

My favourite ways to package these cookies is in clear cellophane bags, with a white twist tie and a bit of satin ribbon or curling ribbon. I have also sometimes packaged cookies in individual boxes, which is a great way to do it for gifts. Check out the links below to see what I’m talking about:

Making natural gingerbread Christmas ornaments

Since gingerbread hardens completely, it makes a great option for a natural, homemade Christmas ornament! These particular cookies have a hole in the middle, so they’re an easy shape to add some string, yarn, or embroidery floss for an easy homemade ornament.

Just note that if you follow this tutorial with a cookie recipe that is softer, you may not have success making ornaments they same way that you would with gingerbread.

Creating a gingerbread Christmas garland

I created this tutorial for making a homemade gingerbread garland… Check out that post if you want to see how these little wreaths could be added to that simple Christmas kitchen decoration!

Tips for making perfectly decorated cookies

Making excellent cookies is all about following the recipes and reading the instructions carefully. Thankfully, these cookies are hard to mess up; if you use a good recipe for the base and frosting (I have a couple listed below that I recommend), and if you get the right supplies, you’re going to come out with something yummy and cute!

I have a list of “Things you will need” later in this post that will help to make sure you have the right tools for the job. Also, if you use my recipes (below), you will find that I have lots of tips on those posts to help you achieve success with your baking and frosting.

Some great recipes/tutorials to use:

You will need:

Ingredients for your recipes (see my recommendations above)
Round cookie cutters or a donut cutter
Rolling pin
Baking sheets
Parchment paper
(3) 12″ piping bags
#2 or #3 round piping tips (I used #3 for this tutorial)
Leaf piping tip (I used #67 for this tutorial)
Couplers (optional)
Spatulas
Mixing bowls
Toothpicks
Gel food colouring
Clean cloth

How to Make Gingerbread Wreath Cookies

These adorable wreath cookies are a great new way to decorate gingerbread for gifts or natural Christmas decor! For 12 cookies, I used about 1-1/2 cups of tinted green icing, and about 1/4 cup of tinted red icing.

Servings 12 cookies

Author Naomi

Ingredients

Recipe ingredients (see notes for recommendations)
Round cookie cutters or a donut cutter
Rolling pin
Baking sheets
Parchment paper
2 12" piping bags
1 #2 or #3 round piping tips I used #3 for this tutorial
1 Leaf piping tip I used #67 for this tutorial
2 Couplers optional
2 Spatulas
2 Mixing bowls
Toothpicks
2 red and green Gel food colouring
1 Clean cloth

Instructions

Make the Cookies

First, bake the cookies. I made this gingerbread recipe for this tutorial. To make the wreath shapes, you will need 2 circle cookie cutters, one large (about 3"-4") and one small (about 1"), or to keep it simple, a donut cutter. (I used the two circles, since that's what I had at the time). Cut out large circles for baking, and then the small ones out of the centre of those when they come out of the oven while the cookies are still warm. These will be your wreaths.
Note: You can cut the small circles before you bake the cookies, but if your dough spreads while it bakes, they might come out a little smaller than pictured in this tutorial. Cutting the centres out while the cookies are warm will ensure that the hole is the right size.

Make the Frosting

Next, you'll prepare the royal icing according to the recipe instructions. Tint the icing with gel food colouring to the colours of your choice.
Spoon the icing into piping bags fitted with tips and couplers. For this tutorial, I used a #67 leaf tip with the green icing and a #3 round tip with the red.

Decorate the Cookies

To decorate the cookies, using a leaf tip, pipe a circle of leaves with the tips facing the centre of the wreath around the edge of the cookie.
Next, pipe several rows of leaves facing the opposite direction around the centre circle until the entire area of the wreath is covered in green leaves.
Pipe some red berries on top (and a bow if you like), and allow the cookies to dry completely (at least 3 hours).

Be creative!

Finally, be creative! Use sprinkles, gold dragees for ornaments, or whatever you want. Have fun with it, and make them your own!
Tip: When working with royal icing and piping tips, squeeze a bit of icing out of the piping tip so that it drys outside the tip rather than inside. Whatever is exposed to the air will dry completely hard, and quickly!
When you want to use it, break the icing off of the end of the tip and begin piping. If you don't do this, the icing will dry firmly inside of the tip, and you won't be able to pipe anything out.

Recipe Notes

These adorable cookies can be made using homemade gingerbread, sugar cookies, chocolate sugar cookies, or any other type of flat, rolled cookie. The best kind of icing to use is royal icing.

How to make gingerbread wreath cookies

For 12 cookies, I used about 1-1/2 cups of tinted green icing, and about 1/4 cup of tinted red icing.

1 – Make the cookies

First, bake the cookies. I made this gingerbread recipe for this tutorial. To make the wreath shapes, you will need 2 circle cookie cutters, one large (about 3″-4″) and one small (about 1″), or to keep it simple, a donut cutter. (I used the two circles, since that’s what I had at the time). Cut out large circles for baking, and then the small ones out of the centre of those when they come out of the oven while the cookies are still warm. These will be your wreaths.

Note: You can cut the small circles before you bake the cookies, but if your dough spreads while it bakes, they might come out a little smaller than pictured in this tutorial. Cutting the centres out while the cookies are warm will ensure that the hole is the right size.

2 – Make the frosting

Next, you’ll prepare the royal icing according to the recipe instructions. Tint the icing with gel food colouring to the colours of your choice.

Spoon the icing into piping bags fitted with tips and couplers. For this tutorial, I used a #67 leaf tip with the green icing and a #3 round tip with the red.

3 – Decorate the cookies

To decorate the cookies, using a leaf tip, pipe a circle of leaves with the tips facing the centre of the wreath around the edge of the cookie.

Next, pipe several rows of leaves facing the opposite direction around the centre circle until the entire area of the wreath is covered in green leaves.

Pipe some red berries on top (and a bow if you like), and allow the cookies to dry completely (at least 3 hours).

4 – Be creative!

Finally, be make them your own! Use sprinkles, gold dragees for ornaments, or whatever you want to make your wreath cookies look like they were made by you. Have fun with it!

Tip: When working with royal icing and piping tips, squeeze a bit of icing out of the piping tip so that it drys outside the tip rather than inside. Whatever is exposed to the air will dry completely hard, and quickly! When you want to use it, break the icing off of the end of the tip and begin piping. If you don’t do this, the icing will dry firmly inside of the tip, and you won’t be able to pipe anything out.

A few more easy recipes to make this Christmas:

And there you have it! Sweet and simple. If you make these cookies, or some variation of them, I’d love to hear about it! Feel free to drop a comment below or tag me in your photos on Instagram @naomicakesofficial… I always love to see what you’ve been making!

Back soon,

–Naomi

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NaomiCakes

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Easy Gingerbread Wreath Cookies [Tutorial]