Seasons Greetings everyone! So I read in the news that an elementary school principal banned all things Christmas from the classroom! Seriously, what. the. literal. f*ck? Merry Grinch-mas! Apparently, she sent an internal memo to teachers detailing what was acceptable and unacceptable in the classroom as far as Christmas was concerned. Among them, she banned candy canes because they were shaped like the letter J for Jesus.
Just wondering what gave her the right to decide that her way of celebrating Christmas was superior over what other people choose to believe and celebrate during the holidays. Seriously, who died and left her in charge of Christmas. Thankfully, she was put on leave and hopefully will resign or be fired!
I’m just going to leave that where it’s at and move on. Aside from the fact that I think most of us, and especially small children, just see candy canes as a piece of peppermint candy associated with Christmas. I’m glad I can express my creativity and opinion here on my blog. Here at The Kitchen Prescription I’m still in charge of what is appropriate and inappropriate. I think. And I certainly don’t expect people to agree with my views. More importantly, I respect others’ opinions and diversity, even if I may not agree with them. That’s how grown rational adults should act.
That being said, can we talk about another symbolic treat of Christmas? The sugar cookie. On the Insta & inter webs I see so many beautiful and intricate shapes and patterns of lovely sugar cookies which are truly a work of art! Only thing is, I’m not a fan of royal icing at all. I use it only to hold my gingerbread house together. Other than making a great glue, I just don’t like the taste of it.
Therefore, I’m a die hard buttercream girl. Back in the day before cookie decorating became a fad and so competitive, you could just slather some colored buttercream on your sugar cookie representative of the cookie and call it a day. But not in these times. Cookie decorating is serious business.
And a business it has become. I’ve always wanted to sell my cookies as a small side business but I don’t think buttercream sugar cookies were meant to be shipped. At least not the intricate decorated kind. I’ve searched high an low on the internet for ideas how to ship buttercream cookies. There were a few instructional blogs and videos on the web explaining how to ship royal icing cookies but I didn’t find any specific for just buttercream sugar cookies.
Not being one to give up and welcoming a good challenge, I took some of the tips and decided I’m going to ship some test packaged sugar cookies to my daughter. I won’t waste time going into detail now, just in case they arrive a hot crumbled mess. If they make it intact and she doesn’t destroy them trying to get them out of the package I’ll share my tips and tricks with you.
Other than just wanting to wish you all a Happy Holiday season no matter how you celebrate, I also wanted to do a quick write up and show off some of my holiday creations. Cookie decorating is time consuming, hard work, and makes a mess, but it’s all worth it when you see someone bite into one of your cookies and the first thing you hear is “Mmmmmmmm.”
I’ll report back. If you have any specific tips or tricks for shipping buttercream cookies, feel free to leave them in the comments.
Hi! How did the buttercream cookies ship? Were they okay?
Hi Ana, surprisingly they arrived mostly intact and held up pretty well, but they were a pain in the arse to wrap. I wrapped them in bubble wrap and then put them in an airtight container and then shipped them in a USPS late rate box. It was very time consuming and not sure it would be worth it for customers. Let alone that once the cookies arrive, rather than dive into a box of delicious cookies they have to spend time unwrapping the cookie first. That said, if you want to send delicious cookies to family to enjoy, it nice to know they will arrive mostly intact.
Hi Sherri, I ship sugar cookie coated butter cream cookies with my family gift baskets every year for years now! I use cellophane gift bags stack 4 twist tie the bags, curly ribbon. Roll each bag in bubble wrap. I’ve also shipped them inside decorative tins or boxes with the cookies wrapped in saran wrap, but first I line the container with bubble wrap. The key is no movement inside the containers or the shipping box. Stuff tissue paper or bubble wrap along all 4 sides of shipping box. If you shake the box & hear movement, add more paper. I ship USPS 2 day. Merry Christmas!
Hi Terry. Thanks for all the pointers! Yes I found the key to getting the cookies safely to their destination was lots of bubble wrap and no room for movement. I think I had or two casualties, but overall a good outcome. I should probably do a step by step tutorial on this at some point.
So it says there are 4 comments, but I can’t see any of them. Just wondering if you ever found a good way to package and ship them.
Hi Diane. The comments were more than likely spam and I didn’t approve them. I ended up individually wrapping them in bubble wrap and then carefully arranged them in a plastic container making sure to pack so they couldn’t shift etc and shipped them to my daughter. They made it safely. Most were in tact. They sent me photos. However, they are such a pain to unwrap as far as doing this in a manner for a customer. It’s not pleasingly aesthetic.
That said, my daughter and her fiancé enjoyed the cookies.
Didn’t placing the in the cellophane bag mess up the frosting?
I was thinking about freezing them before I bagged them I shipped them. What do you think of that?
Hi Judi, No it really didn’t mess up the frosting very much. Mine frosting always stiffens up a bit. If I have decorations like flowers it obviously makes it more risky, but overall if I’m shipping to family members this is a good technique to get them there as safe and intact as possible. Freezing could work too, especially in colder climates. I live in south Florida so I don’t think that would be such a great option for me.
Did you ever do the follow up on how to ship buttercream cookies?
I explained in the comment section so I’ll refer you there if I may. Are you able to view the comments?
Thanks for addressing the butter cream dilemma. I was wondering if they went bad not so much if they arrived intact, I’m shipping from GA to CA, feeling like it’s probably a bad idea!
Hi Jackie, I guess it depends on how quickly you ship them. Overnight v. standard shipping etc. My cookies stay fresh (when wrapped) for about a week. It’s a personal preference as well.
I am sandwiching the buttercream in between two cookies. My buttercream is less the decoration and more the delicious buttercream. Then sealing them in a vacuum-sealed bags and filling the shipping box with popcorn. Crossing my fingers that they will arrive fresh and whole.
Hi Lynne. I honestly don’t think you will have any issues. Sounds like you packed it really well and sandwiching is probably the best way to go when shipping cookies. I know some love decorated cookies, but the stress of shipping them and hoping they make it to a particular event just isn’t worth the hassle or the money most times.
That said, at least I know how to pack them now when I want to ship them out to family for birthdays or holidays.
Thanks for commenting and sharing your great idea.