Frosted “Watermelon” Gingerbread Cookies

After the recipe for frosted sugar cookies was posted, reader Marty Jones sent this variation on the theme.

Decorating holiday gingerbread cookies together is a long-standing tradition in the Jones-Augenstern home, she reports. Their process was perfected years ago for small children, but it’s appropriate for anyone.

Here are her instructions:

Use a favorite gingerbread cookie recipe (they always use the one in Magic Spoon Cookbook by Suzanne Gooding).

Make a simple icing from confectioner’s sugar and water. (Start with a small bowl of confectioner’s sugar and stir in a teaspoon of water at a time until it’s the spreading consistency you like. Divide the frosting into smaller bowls and add food coloring to get various colors.)

Use chopsticks and toothpicks to “paint” the frosting on the cookies.

For a watermelon cookie, one design is to use a round cookie with red, green, and chocolate sprinkles on the frosting (shown).

Have fun creating various watermelon designs!

Daughter Julia Augenstern designed and iced this sprinkle-toped watermelon cookie and took the photo, while Jones and daughter Elise Augenstern helped with the cooking.