Use Buttercream

• Frost cookies with a layer of sweet, buttery buttercream. Buttercream is made from a combination of butter or shortening, and confectioners’ sugar and milk. Make a medium to stiff consistency buttercream so it crusts over enough for decorating. Tint your buttercream using a gel food coloring before frosting your cookies. Frosted cookies can be stored at room temperature for two to three days.

Dip in Royal Icing

• Dip baked, cooled cookies in a thinned royal icing to coat the surface. Royal icing is a pure white frosting that dries hard and smooth for decorating. It is traditionally made using egg whites, lemon juice and powdered sugar, but some recipes call for meringue powder instead of egg whites. After preparing the royal icing, slowly add water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the icing thins. The ideal consistency is when you lift the spoon out of the bowl and ribbons of icing trail from your spoon and quickly disappear back into the icing. Tint icing using a gel color, if you wish. Dip the cookies face down into the royal icing, leaving the cookie to drip over the bowl for a few seconds. Place the cookie iced side up on a piece of wax paper until the icing hardens. The cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to one week in an airtight container.

Pour on Fondant

• Use quick-pour fondant to cover cookies in a sweet, satiny layer of icing. Poured fondant dries semi-hard and creates a smooth surface for decorating. Pourable fondant is made by mixing a sugar syrup -- a cooked syrup made from powdered sugar, water and corn syrup -- with flavoring extracts and gel food colors. Lay the cookies on a piece of parchment or wax paper and carefully pour the fondant over each cookie. Pour a small amount into the center of the cookie and allow it to spread towards the sides. Use a cake decorating spatula to push fondant over to each corner and let it set. For a moister cookie, cover the cookie in buttercream or an apricot glaze, then pour the fondant. Fondant-covered cookies can be stored for a few days in an air tight container at room temperature.

Use Rolled Fondant

• Cover cookies used rolled fondant. Fondant is a doughy icing that can be tinted to make colors that range from pastel to black. Cover the cookies in a thin layer of buttercream or piping gel. Knead the fondant and roll it out on a powdered sugar-dusted surface. Use the same size and shape cookie cutter as your baked cookies to cut out pieces of fondant. Place the cutout pieces on top of the cookies and smooth into place using your hand or a fondant smoothing tool. Fondant-covered cookies can be stored at room temperature for three to four days.