Yarn Ball Cookies

I hope Santa is a fan of fiber because we’re leaving him a plate of yarn ball cookies next to the chimney! I’m no professional (in fact you can see my first attempt and fail at these HERE) but after some testing I found a quick and easy way to make these cookies look like yarn balls just by using store bought dough and icing!

Ingredients:
– Nestle Rolled and Ready Sugar Dough. I tried other pre-packaged doughs and they didn’t make nice round cookies like these. Of course you can always use a homemade dough!
– Circle cookie cutter
– 16oz Can of Vanilla Frosting (refrigerated is best)
– Food Coloring or Cake Mates Writing Icing (The picture above is deceiving. I discovered quickly that just the Cake Mates Writing Icing alone does NOT work. You will need to mix it with canned Vanilla frosting. Or just add food coloring to the vanilla frosting.
– Ziploc sandwich bag

Use cookie cutters to cut dough into circles. You could use different size circles if desired! Bake according to directions on package.

I thought I was going to be able to just use decorative icing. You will see several types of decorative icing sold in stores. They come in squeeze pouches, cans, and more. Don’t be fooled. They do not work. Believe me I tried almost all of them. The problem is that due to the consistency of most of these decorative writing frostings, they are too thin/liquidy and your lines will seep together.

This is when I discovered that mixing the writing icing with a spoonful of canned vanilla frosting worked perfectly. I was able to get a great consistency that kept it’s shape when pipped onto the cookie! I did refrigerate my canned icing first. Of course you can save yourself the money of buying writing icing and just add a couple drops of food coloring to the canned vanilla frosting.

Mix up the icing and scoop into a ziploc sandwich bag. Snip off a tiny piece of one of the corners.
Follow the video bellow to see how I make the yarn ball design on the cookies. It’s very simple. Just pipe the icing on back and forth in 3 different directions. Fill in empty spaces at the end if needed.

I love that these are easy enough for cookie decorators of all levels. The lines don’t need to be perfect. In fact, the more wobbly, the more realistic it looks! A fun treat for your next crochet or craft get-together!