October Cutter Club -Welcoming Winter

There’s something magical about the start of winter — that quiet shift in the air when everything feels a little slower, a little cozier. The days get shorter, the evenings stretch longer, and suddenly we find ourselves reaching for the things that make us feel warm inside: fuzzy blankets, steaming mugs of cocoa, and the comforting smell of something sweet baking in the oven.

For me, this time of year has always been about gathering, with family, friends, and neighbors to share laughter, stories, and a little creative fun. Some people decorate trees or string lights; I decorate cookies. It’s my favorite way to welcome the season, a tradition that turns a simple afternoon in the kitchen into something full of joy and connection.

There’s nothing quite like spreading out trays of freshly baked cookies on the table, setting out bowls of icing in festive colors, and watching everyone’s personalities come to life through their designs. Kids dive in with wide eyes and sticky fingers, friends get competitive over who can pipe the straightest line, and by the end, there’s always a happy mess of sprinkles, laughter, and sugar-dusted memories.

This year, I wanted to create a winter cookie set that captured that same cozy, heartwarming feeling, the kind that makes you think of soft scarves, candlelight, and snowy mornings. 

My set includes five cookies inspired by simple seasonal beauty: a bird house, a cardinal, a gift tag with a flowy bow, a lantern, and chunky poinsettia.

I chose a color palette that feels both timeless and natural. The colors are red, forest green, brown, a greyish light blue, a  lighter green and to compliment it a little black, and white. These colors remind me of a winter walk through the woods. They blend together beautifully to create a look that’s festive but calm, cheerful but elegant.

For three of the icing colors I made, I used a combination of basic food colors to achieve the shade that I was looking for.

• Greyish Light Blue: I used Gourmet Green, True Blue and Black. For all of the gels I just used a touch of the color and as i was mixing I would adjust it adding more black if I wanted to tone it down a little or more green or blue to brighten it out.
• Light Green: I used Gourmet Green and True Blue. I started with just a tiny drop of each of them and as I did with the color before I adjusted accordingly as I was mixing it.
• Forest Green: For this one I started with a very dark green by adding a squirt of the gourmet green and then I started adding little touches of black until I got the shade that I wanted.

If there’s one thing that can make or break your decorating experience, it’s icing consistency. For this set, I used mostly hybrid consistencies, which are somewhere between flood and piping icing, thick enough to hold their shape for details, but thin enough to smooth out on their own. Hybrid consistency has become my go-to for most designs because it keeps things simple: I can outline and flood with the same bag, and I don’t have to constantly switch consistencies for small sections.

The hybrid consistency works beautifully for things like the bird house walls, the cardinal’s body, and the lantern Sections. It gives a clean, even surface without worrying about craters or uneven drying. It’s also forgiving when you’re working on multiple cookies at once, it stays workable just long enough to smooth before crusting over.

For the gift tag cookie, though, I switched things up. The bow needed structure and texture, so I left a little of stiff consistency icing, firm enough to hold its shape but still pipe smoothly through a petal tip. Using my Ateco 101 tip, I piped each loop of the bow and ribbon with light green icing. Stiff icing gives that crisp, realistic fold that softer icing just can’t replicate. It dries with dimension and creates a beautiful contrast next to the flatter, smoother sections of the other cookies.

Tip: When you’re testing your icing, a quick way to check consistency is with the “10-second rule.” Run a knife through your bowl of icing, if the line disappears in about 10 seconds, you’re close to a perfect hybrid consistency. For stiff icing, the line should hold much longer and the icing should feel like thick toothpaste when stirred.

That balance between consistencies, the soft flow of hybrid icing and the structure of stiff icing, really brings life to the set. It allows certain elements to pop while keeping others beautifully smooth and simple.

For a better understanding of icing consistencies refer to this blog here. We also have a very thorough online class here. However if you dominate the consistency game and want to try out different kinds of ribbon bows, then I suggest for you to go here. 

If you are comfortable cutting and piping/flooding with tipless bags, go for it! If you prefer tips I would recommend a #1 or #1.5 tip for details and outlines , and a #2 or 2.5 for flooding.

I used this beige marker for sketching out the sections and designs of the cookies. This is very helpful to keep everything straight and spatially correct. You can always use a mini projector to do this as well.

Below you will find step by step instructions for all the cookies. Followed by a video on how to decorate the Bird House. Feel free to have fun! Use different colors, or different techniques. Let your creativity shine if you want!

When all five cookies are finished, they come together like pieces of a storybook winter scene. The colors, the textures, and even the little details made with different icing consistencies all play their part in creating something that feels inviting and full of heart.

What I love most about sets like this isn’t just how they look when they’re done, but how they feel to make. Each cookie is a small moment of calm creativity, a pause in the busy holiday season where you can just focus on color, flow, and joy. Decorating becomes less about perfection and more about presence, about enjoying the process, whether you’re piping beside family, teaching a friend, or just treating yourself to some peaceful kitchen time.

These cookies aren’t just pretty treats; they’re little tokens of warmth in a chilly season, gifts that bring smiles, conversation, and connection. As the winter days go on, I hope this set inspires you to slow down, mix up some icing, and create something beautiful that feels like home.

So turn on your favorite winter playlist, pour a cup of something cozy, and let your creativity flow, one cookie at a time.

I would love to hear what you think of this set and see your cookies! You can post a pic and leave a review on the product page. It makes me so happy to see your cookies when they are completed!!

Happy Baking!

xo Hillary