Christmas Tree Cookie Forest Recipes

CHRISTMAS TREE COOKIE STACK

Steps:

• Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl. Cream using an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Stir into the butter mixture and mix to combine. Shape dough into a ball, cover, and refrigerate at least 1 hour to overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick. Cut out different-sized stars with cookie cutters; the height of the Christmas tree will depend on the number of cookies you stack, but you need at least 7 or 8 stars. Place cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cookies are lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer cookies carefully onto wire racks and cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Combine confectioners' sugar, meringue powder, and water in a bowl and beat at low speed using an electric blender until peaks form, 7 to 10 minutes. Pour icing into a piping bag with a star-shaped tip.
• Place the largest star onto a plate and pipe a little bit of royal icing into the middle. Add the second-largest star on top, turning the star slightly so the points are offset from the previous star cookie. Repeat adding smaller-sized star cookies and attaching them with royal icing. Decorate the cookie Christmas tree with royal icing, silver balls, and other holiday decor. Roll out yellow fondant and cut out a small star to place on top of the cookie tree and secure with royal icing. Decorate remaining cookies to your liking.
• Dust the finished tree with confectioners' sugar.

CHRISTMAS TREE COOKIE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Combine the cookie dough and all-purpose flour using a stand mixer.
• Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment until it is about 1/4-inch thick.
• Cut the shape of a Christmas tree and transfer the tree to a baking sheet. Combine the remaining scraps of dough and roll out to the same thickness as before. Cut the rolled scraps with assorted cookie cutters, these will be used as ornaments to decorate your tree. Place on a separate baking sheet. Bake the tree for 16 to 18 minutes and the smaller decorations for 12 minutes. Let cool completely and decorate as you wish.

CHRISTMAS TREE COOKIES

Steps:

• Mix confectioners' sugar, butter or margarine, egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Stir in flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide dough into halves. On lightly floured cloth-covered board, roll each half out to 3/16 inch thick. on lightly floured cloth-covered board. Cut into Christmas shapes.
• Bake on parchment lined baking sheets for 7 to 8 minutes. Let cool on wire racks and decorate as desired.

CHRISTMAS TREE COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. Combine flour and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well., Divide dough in half. Tint half of the dough green; knead well to distribute color evenly. Leave remaining dough white. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle., On a lightly floured surface, roll out each portion of dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Use tree-shaped cookie cutters with identical shapes, measuring 21/2 in., 3 in., 4 in. and 41/2 in. Cut out an even number of cookies with each size cookie cutter., Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately cut half of each size tree cookies in half from top to bottom. If tree cookie cutters have trunks, trim trunks off trees, creating a flat base. Remove to wire racks to cool., For frosting, in a large bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, water, meringue powder, vanilla and cream of tartar. Beat on high speed for 8-10 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Divide frosting in half. Tint half of the frosting green; leave remaining frosting white. Cover frosting with damp paper towels or plastic wrap between uses., To glaze trees: In a small bowl, thin 1 cup green frosting with 2-3 Tbsp. water until frosting reaches pourable consistency. Place matching pairs of whole and halved cookies on a wire rack over waxed paper. Pour icing over cookies; spread with a metal spatula to completely cover top and sides of cookies. Let dry completely. Assemble and decorate as desired. , To make a four-sided tree: Cut a small hole in the corner of a pastry or resealable plastic bag; insert round pastry tip #5. Fill with green or white frosting to match the tree you are decorating. Pipe a line of frosting along the cut edge of one of the halved cookies; press frosted edge along center of a matching whole cookie. Let dry until firm.Stand up partially assembled tree. Attach one matching cookie half to the opposite side of the tree by piping frosting along the center of the whole cookie. Let dry completely. Decorate as desired., To make an eight-sided tree: Assemble as described for four-sided tree, using white or green cookies. Using matching colored frosting, attach four more cookie halves; halves should be one half-size smaller than whole center cookie. Let dry completely. Decorate as desired., To make Christmas lights decoration: Using a pastry or resealable plastic bag, round pastry tip #2 and green frosting, pipe cords. Attach sprinkles for lights. Let dry completely. , To make snow-tipped decoration: Using a pastry or resealable plastic bag, large round pastry tip #8 and white frosting, pipe snow on tips of branches. Sprinkle with edible glitter. Let dry completely., To make garland decoration: Using a pastry or resealable plastic bag, medium star pastry tip #21 and either white or green frosting, pipe garlands around trees. Decorate with sprinkles if desired. Let dry completely.

CHRISTMAS TREE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Tint dough with food color as desired. Shape dough into 2 disks, and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
• Roll out 1 disk on a lightly floured piece of parchment to a 1/8- to 1/4-inch thickness. Repeat with remaining disk. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Using a tree cutter, cut out trees. Using a #12 Ateco pastry tip, cut out ornaments within trees. Working with dough in a contrasting color, use the same rectangular cutter to cut out puzzle pieces that fit within cutouts. Transfer all shapes and pieces to parchment-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Fit puzzle pieces into cookies. Refrigerate 30 minutes more.
• Bake until cookies are firm, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks; let cool completely.