Thanksgiving Table Setting Leaf Cookies

These rustic Thanksgiving table-setting leaf cookies are a charming addition to any fall event or family and friends gatherings. What I love about this design is that it is easy and quick to create, can be used on any leaf shape, and doesn’t require advanced decorating skills.

updated from 2010

TABLE SETTING LEAF COOKIES STEP-BY-STEP

• Cookie Decorating Guide
• Beginner’s Guide To Cookie Decorating
• Ultimate Guide to Cut-Out Cookies (tips, tricks, troubleshooting)
• Royal Icing Recipe
• Small Batch Royal Icing Recipe
• Cookie Icing Recipes (includes vegan royal icing, glaze, fondant)
• Guide To Royal Icing Consistencies with Visual Help(what is stiff, flood icing, etc.)
• How To Freeze Royal Icing
• How To Make Royal Icing Transfers
• Royal Icing FAQ ( for example: how to make black icing, color bleeding, storage, and more)
• How To Make a Cookie Cutter Template
• Ultimate Guide To Cookie Decorating Tools

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THINGS YOU NEED

• Leaf Cookie Cutters
• Drinking Straw
• Gel Food Coloring: ivory (get creative and use your own color palette)
• Gold Luster Dust
• Food Only Paintbrushes
• Evercrear, Clear Vodka, Non-Alcoholic Activator
• Tipless Piping Bags
• Scribe Tool

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BAKE COOKIES

For this project, I used an old-time favorite sugar cookie recipe and fresh lemon royal icing. To make the cookies more seasonal, add 1 tsp of ground cinnamon to the flour.

Alternatively, if you prefer a soft cookie with buttercream, you can use my Soft Pumpkin Cookie Recipe with Maple Buttercream. Instead of painting with edible gold luster dust paint, use edible shimmer or luster dust in a pump and spray the buttercream after shaping the leaf veins.

ROYAL ICING COLORS AND CONSISTENCIES

• Ivory Icing: thick consistency

SPREAD ICING ON A COOKIE

Spread thick royal icing onto the cookie. Start by making a thick outline and then pipe icing inside of the outline. Use a lightly damp palette knife to spread the icing across the cookie (steps 1-8).

CREATE TEXTURE IN ROYAL ICING

I used three paintbrushes in this tutorial: a large rounded paintbrush with coarse bristles, a small rounded liner paintbrush, and a fine liner paintbrush.

In this project, when using a paintbrush to create texture in thick royal icing, you want to use a lightly damp paintbrush. Dip it in water and dab it onto a dry paper towel to remove access water. You don’t want the brush to be oversaturated with water.

Smooth the thick icing onto the cookie using a lightly damp large paintbrush (steps 1-6).

Use lightly damp paintbrushes to create leaf veins. Clean the brush frequently in water and dab it onto a dry paper towel to remove excess water (steps 1-8). Let the icing dry.

PAINT WITH GOLD LUSTER DUST

Mix edible gold luster dust with Everclear, Vodka, or McCormick’s Lemon Extract. Use a fine-tip food-only paintbrush and paint the veins with edible metallic paint.

PAINT WITH EDIBLE PAINT

In a food-only paint palette tray, mix a drop of gel food coloring with Everclear, Vodka, a non-alcoholic activator, or use readily available edible paints.

When you mix gel food coloring with clear alcohol/liquid, you’ll notice residue forming. This is normal. It will most likely stick to the bristles of your food-only paintbrush. Discard the residue (steps 1-5).

Paint the leaf veins with a fine-tipped liner paintbrush. Don’t oversaturate the paintbrush with edible paint. Have a piece of dry paper towel or kitchen towel on hand to absorb access paint as needed (steps 1-4).

DECORATE WITH A RIBBON

To complete the table setting leaf cookies project, use a pretty ribbon and thread it through the hole in a cookie and tie a bow (steps 1-4).

Are these pretty!? Use them to decorate your tablescape.

VIDEO TUTORIAL

MORE FALL-INSPIRED RECIPES

• Buttercream Mums Cake
• Marbled Pumpkin Cookies
• Easy Fall Leaf Cake
• Fall Cookie Platter via Semi Sweet Designs
• Decorated Acorn Cookies

THANKSGIVING TABLE-SETTING LEAF COOKIES FROM THE PAST

In the past, I’ve made leaf tablesetting cookies that were a bit more personalized. Personalization can be as simple as a piped monogram, or if you feel like it, you can pipe a name or use an edible marker and write it onto the icing

This cookie-decorating tutorial was published on November 25, 2010. On September 26 2024, I updated it with new step-by-step pictures, written text, and a video.