Cookies of color New markers create many decorations: Decorated cookies are a homey holiday tradition. Buttery, sweet and colorful, they're a symbol of hospitality and good cheer. We give them as gifts and nibble on them at social occasions from early December to New Year's.

Yet how many of us ever realize our vision of the beautifully decorated cookie? It takes real skill - not to mention patience - to get bright colors and crisp lines out of tiny bottles of food coloring and unwieldy pastry bags. Help has arrived in the form of colored marker pens with edible food color for ink, available in local stores and online. Even the casual doodler can turn out striking designs in brilliant color with these handy pens. For true artists, the sky's the limit. Start with a tasty sugar cookie dough - Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe is one of the best - cut into holiday shapes and baked. Spread a coat of royal icing evenly over the cooled cookies, and let dry until hard and shiny. This is your canvas. Then let your imagination run wild with the colored markers. Large cookies make unusual, edible greeting cards. Small ones work as tree ornaments or culinary gift tags. Test-artists were inspired by the high-quality markers from Ateco, a leading brand in cake decorating supplies. Working in brilliant colors on simple, iced shapes, they created impressive bits of holiday art. The cookies would be welcome gifts packaged in cellophane with a bright ribbon. And don't worry about making mistakes. You can eat the evidence.Graphic: THE PEN IS MIGHTIER . . . Food-color decorating pens are available at a number of local stores, including Michaels arts and crafts stores. Online, pens are available at www.kitchenkrafts.com and www.sugarcraft.com, among others.

Graphic: Cookie-Decoration Tips

*Outline the cookie cutter on white paper and sketch out what you want to do on the paper before working on the cookie. *Think outside the box . . . or star . . . or snowflake. A star can be a penguin. A snowflake can be a poinsettia. *Don't press hard with the pens. You'll break the cookie. *Don't draw with a dark color like black or blue unless you know what you're trying to do. You can't take it back. *If the pen starts to dry out, close the cap and wait a couple of minutes. *Don't use the markers over and over an area or it will break through the sugar crust of the icing and create a blot. *If you accidentally crack the icing, the marker color you use in the crack will be darker than the color on the smooth surface. Use this to your advantage and create crackle art. * If you like to blend colors, put down a light color (like yellow) first, then dot on a few drops of a darker color (like blue or red). Then take the lighter marker and spread it over the area. Or blend with your fingers. * These markers often do not lay down the colors smoothly, but don't worry about it. For small areas of color, it won't be noticeable. For large areas, smooth the color with your finger while it's wet. From Mercury News artists and designers Tracy Cox, Becky Hall, Wes Killingbeck and Sylvia Ulloa.

Graphic: Traditional Rolled Sugar Cookies

Makes 4 dozen 3-inch cookies

INGREDIENTS

3/8 cup sugar

12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened

1 large egg

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Royal icing (see accompanying recipe on Page 4E)

Food-safe decorating pens DIRECTIONS In large bowl of electric mixer, cream together sugar and butter on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add egg, lemon zest and vanilla and beat until blended. In small bowl, whisk together flour and salt. On low speed, gradually add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix until incorporated. Add water, a few drops at a time, until dough starts to come away from bowl. Scrape dough onto sheet of plastic wrap and use the wrap, not your fingers, to press dough together to form a thick flat disk. Wrap well and refrigerate 2-3 hours. Place 2 oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut shapes using cookie cutters. Transfer cookies to prepared cookie sheets. Reroll scraps, chilling them first if necessary, and cut out as many cookies as possible. Bake 8 to 12 minutes or until cookies begin to brown around edges. For even baking, rotate cookie sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking. Use small, angled metal spatula or pancake turner to transfer cookies to wire racks to cool before decorating with royal icing and food-safe colored pens. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Adapted from "Rose's Christmas Cookies," by Rose Levy Beranbaum (William Morrow)