Buffalo Plaid Christmas Cookies

I have been dying to make a buffalo plaid cookie for ages! Buffalo plaid is such a trendy fabric right now, and you see it all over every fashion blogger and lumberjack alike.

But it’s also pretty easy to make on a cookie, too!

With the right tools, of course.

It definitely helps to use a stencil to make these cookies. And it would be great if we all had an airbrush machine, too. But I don’t have those things laying around, and I wouldn’t expect you to, either!

Fortunately, I found some good workarounds so that you can makes your own buffalo plaid Christmas cookies at home with no special tools!

What You Need

The base of a good cookie is…the cookie, of course! I made these cookies out of my gluten free gingerbread cookie recipe! You could also make a regular gingerbread cookie, classic sugar cookie, or any of the 15 recipes in my Ultimate Christmas cookie guide!

You will also need a batch of royal icing in 2-3 colors: red, white, and green.

I recommend that you make a piping consistency and flood consistency in each color so you have some flexibility. (Although, because green is used more as an accent, you can probably get by with just a small amount in piping consistency)

Now for the fun part: the stenciling!!

Like I said, I don’t have an airbrush machine or professional stencils, but both can be substituted for cheap store-bought and/or homemade versions.

First, the stencils. I made these out of stencil film using my Cricut machine (I know, that’s sort of cheating). You could also make the same stencil by hand with stencil film, acetate, or card stock and an Exacto knife.

However, after the fact I found these relatively inexpensive stencils from Sweet Sugarbelle that would have worked perfectly if you don’t want to go through the hassle of cutting them yourself!

The next product that I do recommend regardless of what type of stencil you are using is a stencil frame. Again, this one is by Sweet Sugarbelle and worked great to hold the stencil in place over the cookie.

And finally, instead of airbrushing on the black food coloring, I just used this Wilton color spray that worked pretty well. It’s not as even as an airbrush, but for a rustic buffalo plaid pattern, I don’t think that’s totally necessary.

Plus, it’s so much cheaper!

How to Make Them

Which style is your favorite? I am partial to the stockings, because I think they are so sweet and I love mixing the textures.

I also think it would be cute to do a plain buffalo plaid stocking with a white cuff sprinkled with sanding sugar. No extra piping required!