Holiday Cookie Train

This train’s destination is diversity! You’ll love it as Santa’s train, using traditional green and red frosting for its cheery messages. Make the train for any holiday—just change your color scheme and the messages to fit the holiday. Melted candy coating can be placed in a decorating tube with a No. 5 or No. 6 writing tip for printing your messages. Use the coating immediately, as it hardens quickly. If it should harden, just reheat until melted.

1/3 package (16-ounce size) graham crackers (one 5½ X 2½-inch packet)

6 ounces vanilla-flavored candy coating, melted

2 round cookies, such as chocolate or vanilla wafers

68 round hard peppermint candies (about 12 ounces)

Red, green and yellow paste food color

Assorted candies and decorations (colored sugar, peppermint candies, chocolate twigs or pretzels, licorice laces)

Reserve 1 graham cracker rectangle for train engine. Carefully break or cut remaining graham cracker rectangles in half into squares for train cars. Arrange crackers as shown in diagram or make shorter train as shown in photograph. Divide melted candy coating into 3 equal parts; reserve 3 parts.

To make engine, place 1 cracker square along top right of long side of reserved cracker rectangle. Break or cut another square in half into 2 small rectangles. Spread back of 1 small rectangle with some of remaining melted coating; attach to cracker square and reserved cracker rectangle to hold them together and resemble window (see diagram). Attach round cookie to bottom of reserved cracker rectangle under window for wheel, using melted coating. Let dry about 10 minutes. Turn over and attach window and cookie wheel to other side.

To make caboose, attach 1 small square of graham cracker to center of regular cracker square for window and 1 smaller rectangle on top of caboose, using melted coating (see diagram). Let dry about 10 minutes. Turn over and attach window to other side.

Tint 1 part of reserved melted coating with red food color. Or, ıf making small train, brush or spread over center of each square and immediately sprinkle with colored sugar. Print the letters for MERRY CHRISTMAS on one side of crackers, one letter on each cracker, with red coating; let dry. Turn each cracker over side to side except the engine and caboose.

Tint remaining part of reserved melted coating with green food color. Print HAPPY NEW YEAR! backward on other side of crackers, one letter on each cracker, with green coating; let dry. (see diagram) Decorate train as desired with remaining melted coating and assorted candies. For wheels, attach 2 peppermint candies to bottom of each cracker square, the caboose and the engine (attach candy to cookie wheel if desired), using melted coating; let dry. Turn crackers over. Attach peppermint candies to other sides; let dry. Stand up crackers on candy wheels so messages can be read from both sides.

 

It is a quote. Betty Crocker’s New Christmas Cookbook 1993