There’s something especially charming about mini cookies; bite-size and adorably small, they’re generally easier to decorate (with a few tips I’ll share below), and people seem to go ga-ga over them. These Autumn Mini Cutters by Sweet Sugarbelle and American Crafts are hands-down my favorite mini cutters I’ve used so far. So versatile and such a great array of shapes, it’s a perfect set to have in your collection.
Decorating minis does mean considering a few factors when planning your cookies. First up, baking…
Tip 1 – Preventing Spreading
No matter what recipe you use, these tips on preventing cookies spreading are good to put into practice to ensure your cookies keep a nice, crisp shape. If your dough spreads during the baking process, your cookies may not end up looking like the cookie cutter shape. If you’d like to try it, here is the sugar cookie recipe I use.
Tip 2 – Baking Mini Cookies
Make sure you bake your mini cookies on a separate try from the larger sized cookies. The minis will bake faster and over bake if you have them on a tray with regular or larger sized cookies.
Tip 3 – Decorating Mini Cookies
Have fun with the shapes, you don’t necessarily need to stay with what the cutter was originally created for. These Autumn Minis by Sweet Sugarbelle and American Crafts incidentally are designed as dual-purpose. For example, the candy corn could be a piece of pie, the acorn a turkey head (upside down), the skull a scarecrow (upside down), or a potion bottle etc.
I ended up going with mainly the same designs as pictured on the box, but changed a few… the skull, upside down, became a nice backdrop for an apple, the bone, trimmed off on one end, some autumn berries, and the grave stone a perfect backdrop for a mini bear.
Tip 4- Keep the Designs Simple
It’s harder to keep your piping neat and clean on smaller cookie designs than larger ones. If you keep your designs fairly simple, you’ll likely have greater success at achieving your ideas.
Tip 5- Piping Tips
The two main piping tips I used for these were PME tips #1.5 and #2.5. (Any Amazon links are affiliate links; I only share products I use and love with you).
#1.5 is perfect for smaller details and #2.5 is great for flooding or filling in. You’ll need a smaller piping tip to work with the tiny details, and you may also want to try tipless piping bags with a teeny tiny hole opening for very fine details. I still prefer the #1.5 and my details weren’t too fine, so stuck with the #1.5.
Tip 6 – Icing Consistency
I used one main icing consistency for all of these cookies. I did use different tips, as mentioned earlier, but using the one consistency worked well for these minis, saving preparation time. I used the medium consistency. You can find more on icing consistency here and this is the royal icing recipe I use.
Tip 7 – Packaging and Presentation
If preparing your cookies for a party or some sort of gathering where you’ll need them on a platter or cake stand, I love using a white backdrop for minis. I find it makes them pop.
You can also use cute packaging to dress them up. I love these little treat boxes by American Crafts. They’re called Homemade with Love and can be found here. Three little mini cookies can go a long way in these sweet packages, such a perfect thank you or any time gift!
Thanks so so much to American Crafts for providing these Sweet Sugarbelle Autumn Mini Cutters and the Treat Boxes, I’m honored to be a part of the American Crafts Food Crafting Team!
Happy fall and happy baking!
xo,
Marian
p.s. You may also be interested in these:
Melody Reno says
Can you give names of gels
Colors of gels
marian says
Hi Melody,
I used:
Wilton – Buttercup Yellow, Orange, Ivory
From the Rainbow Pro Gels – https://amzn.to/2mrvzHW I used:
– Leaf Green and Gooseberry
-Brown
-Strawberry and Poppy
-Sun Flower
Americolor – Black, White
Christine Shen says
Oh my goodness these are so adorable Marian!!! I must have these SSB mini cutters!!! Thank you for sharing your tips!
marian says
Hi Christine,
They are such cute cutters, I’m so glad I have them in my collection too! Enjoy!
Barb says
Great information and you did such a GREAT job of decorating! Your photos are exceptional. Thank you for sharing!
marian says
Hi Barb,
Thank you so very much! They were easy to decorate with such cute shapes!
Lori-Anne says
Need to get me some of these and try my hand at decorating. You make it look easy. Definitely fun!
marian says
Thanks Lori-Anne,
These are definitely fun, and a good place to start as a beginner! Let me know if you need help!
Anna says
I started not that long ago for decorating cookies… I need extra help to get better.. Any suggestion?
marian says
Hi Anna,
Please check out my videos on YouTube.
All the best!