Sukkot 2023
Sukkot Sugar Cookie Invitation
Create this large whimsical cookie as a sweet invitation to your Sukkot dinner,
or make a mini version to use as a place card by simply replacing the invitation message with your guest's name. What colorful addition to your holiday table!
What you need ...
Extra thick sugar cookie dough (1 recipe yields four 5" x7" invitations or eight 3.5" x 5" place cards)
Apple Sour Sticks
Pretzel Sticks
Edible food markers – yellow and black
Blue food coloring
Parchment paper
Safety Note: All steps using sharp knives, electrical appliances, and hot stoves and ovens are adult tasks
Let's do it ...
Cookie dough and royal icing
Prepare the cookie dough. . If you are using a commercial cookie dough, knead 3-4 tablespoons of flour into the dough to make a sturdy cookie.
Shape the dough into a short fat bar, and chill for 3 hours or longer.
Prepare the royal icing and set aside.
Rolling the dough, cutting and baking the cookies
To easily transfer the cut cookie to the baking sheet, I roll my dough on parchment squares which are larger than the cut cookie. After the cookie is cut and the excess dough removed, I transfer the cookie by lifting the edges of the parchment paper. For tips on rolling dough watch How to evenly roll out cookie dough
For the invitations cut four parchment paper squares 9” x 9”
For the place cards cut eight parchment squares 8” x 8”
Divide the chilled dough into equal size pieces.
Place the first piece of dough on a parchment square and roll to ¼’” thick.
For the invitation cut the rolled dough into a 5” x 7” rectangle. For the place card cut a 3.5” x 5” rectangle.
Remove excess dough and transfer cookie to baking sheet.
Bake cookies in a pre-heated 375-degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.
Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
Icing the cookies
Spread royal icing over cookie tops. If the icing drips over the sides, smooth with a spatula or plastic knife.
Set iced cookie on a wire rack. When the icing has crusted, pipe on the moon and stars, as shown above.
Set cookie aside to dry until the icing is hard. This will take about 6 hours. In humid areas it will take overnight.
Outlining the message...
Cut a piece of paper to block out the space for your message.
Place the paper on the iced cookie.
Use an edible marker to make dots all along the sides and top edge, as shown.
Use an edible marker to write your message inside the dotted lines, as shown.
Night sky, stars and moon...
Dilute the blue food coloring with a few drops of water or vodka.
Paint on the night sky using a brush or small piece of scrunched up paper towel. Avoid getting blue coloring on the stars and moon.
Color in the stars and moon with the edible marker.
Frame and s'chach..
For the sukkah frame, glue pretzel sticks to the cookie with royal icing.
For s’chach, cut small pieces of sour apple sticks and glue to sukkah frame with royal icing.
Add small colored candies to s'chach if desired.
Happy Holiday!
Sukkot 2022
Sweet, salty, and simple to make. Bright colorful fruits to decorate your sukkah, use as table setting place cards or simply enjoy as a delicious holiday treat. No baking required.
What you need ...
Makes 3 fruits
6 rice cereal bars 2.5" L x 1" H x 1.5" W
14 salted pretzel sticks
2 tablespoons crushed apple chips
1/2 recipe marshmallow fondant or 150 grams ready-made fondant
3 tablespoons corn syrup
Red, blue and yellow food colors
Red and yellow sugars
Green and red spice drops or soft chew candies
Let's do it ...
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Crush 12 pretzel sticks into small bits and mix with crushed apple chips. Set aside. Reserve remaining two pretzel sticks for stems.
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Press a soup spoon into a cereal bar to create a bowl like depression. Fill the depression with one tablespoon of the pretzel-apple chip mix. Top with the second cereal bar.
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Press edges together to seal and roll into a ball for apple and pomegranate. For pear, shape into a large tear drop.
For fruits without sugar coating, skip down to leaves and pomegranate crowns.
Decorating the fruit shapes
4. For each fruit, roll a large walnut size piece of fondant into a circle 1/8" thick. Drape the fondant circle
over the fruit, stretching to cover the fruit completely, smooth out any lumps. Set covered fruit aside.
5. Place colored sugars in shallow bowls or saucers. Set aside.
6. Place 2 tablespoons corn syrup in a custard cup and tint red. Tint remaining corn syrup yellow.
7. Paint the apple and pear with the tinted syrups and roll in colored sugars.
8. For the pomegranate, add 2-3 drops blue food color to the remaining red syrup. Paint pomegranate,
roll in red sugar.
Leaves and pomegranate crown
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For leaves, push a green spice drop inside out, so it becomes pliable. Roll into a tear drop shape and flatten. Use a toothpick to press lines into the leaf for the veins. Glue to fruit with a drop of corn syrup. Push a piece of pretzel stick into fruit for stem.
2. For pomegranate crown, push red spice drop inside out, roll into a ball and flatten into a circle.
Use a toothpick to make 8 cuts all around the outside of the circle. Leave the very center of the circle intact. Pinch the end of each of the 8 petals to form points. Glue to pomegranate with a drop of corn syrup.
Turn your Sukkot fruits into sweet invitations.