Gingerbread Christmas Tree Sandwich Cookies Recipes

GINGERBREAD SANDWICH TREES

Steps:

• Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and molasses. In another bowl, whisk flour, pie spice, baking soda, ginger and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Refrigerate, covered, until easy to handle, about 2 hours., Preheat oven to 325°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 3-in. tree-shaped cookie cutter. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Gently press M&M's into half of the cookies. Bake until edges are firm, 8-10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely., If using vanilla frosting, tint with green food coloring if desired. Spread frosting over bottoms of plain cookies; covered with decorated cookies. Store in an airtight container.

GINGERBREAD COOKIE SANDWICHES

Steps:

• 1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars together until they appear light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix to combine. Add the molasses and mix to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl once if needed.
• 2. Working in three batches, add the dry ingredients, mixing between each addition until just incorporated. Remove the dough and turn it out onto a sheet of plastic wrap; form into a disk, wrap tightly and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours. (Dough can be made up to 1 day ahead.)
• 3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the dough and cut it in half. Re-wrap one half and place back in the fridge; let the other sit at room temperature a few minutes to soften slightly. Lightly flour a work surface and your rolling pin, and roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thick.
• 4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using cookie cutters, cut out the gingerbread men, and transfer to the prepared sheets. (If the dough feels very soft, refrigerate the gingerbread men on the baking sheet for 15 minutes before placing in the oven to bake.) Bake until cookies appear firm and like they're just starting to crisp, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove and let cool on the sheet 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.
• 5. Meanwhile, make the sandwich filling. Beat together the butter, vanilla, and salt until fluffy. Add the confectioners' sugar in 2 batches and beat on low speed until incorporated. Add the milk and beat until the mixture is thick but spreadable, adding more milk in 1 teaspoon increments as needed. Spread some of the icing onto half of the cooled gingerbread men; sandwich each with another cookie.

GINGERBREAD-COOKIE TREES

Steps:

• Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in egg, then molasses, spices, baking soda, and salt. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour. Divide dough into quarters; shape into disks. Wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours (up to 2 days).
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Transfer one disk of dough at a time to a lightly floured work surface. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes using a set of 11 fluted round cookie cutters in graduated sizes (3/4 inch to 3 1/2 inches). You will use each cutter once for every tree. Using a 1 1/4-inch star cutter, cut out 10 stars. Arrange cookies by size on parchment-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate 20 minutes.
• Bake until firm, about 6 minutes for small cookies and 10 minutes for large. Let cool 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks, and let cool completely.
• Assemble trees: Put frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip (such as Ateco #12). Pipe a dime-size dot of frosting in center of second-largest cookie; sandwich with largest cookie. Repeat in descending pairs with larger cookies on top to make 5 sandwiches. Pipe a scalloped 1/4-inch-thick border of frosting on top of larger cookie of largest sandwich. Top with the second-largest sandwich, larger cookie up, and repeat to make a tree of 5 sandwiches. Top with frosting, then smallest cookie, then more frosting and a star (standing upright). Cookie trees can be refrigerated up to 6 hours (they will soften). Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

CHRISTMAS GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Sift flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.
• Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
• Beat in molasses and egg.
• Gradually add flour mixture to make a soft dough.
• Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• On a lightly floured board, roll dough out to about 1/4" thickness. Do not roll too thin.
• Cut out shapes with cookie cutters.
• Place on lightly greased baking sheets.
• Bake for about 8 minutes, or until just firm when pressed. Do not overbake.
• Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet.
• Remove and place on racks to finish cooling.
• Frost if desired. (Optional.).

GINGERBREAD CHRISTMAS BROWNIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F and line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment, leaving an overhang on all sides to easily lift the brownies out of the pan. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine Brownie Mix, spices, orange zest, eggs, melted butter, and water. Beat on medium speed until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.
• Bake for about 32-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out almost clean.
• Allow the brownies to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack. Once cool, lift them out of the pan using the overhang on the sides and cut into 10 triangles (trees) like shown in the picture above.
• Transfer the Christmas trees to a parchment lined baking sheet.
• In a small bowl, combine Confectioners' sugar and 2 tsp water or rum. Add a little bit more water if needed. The glaze should be thick.
• Transfer the glaze into a piping bag (or ziplock bag) and starting at the top of the tree, gently squeeze the glaze out of the bag moving in a zigzag pattern as you go down the tree. Immediately add your favorite sprinkles after piping the zigzags. (The glaze will dry quickly!)
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

GINGERBREAD STAR TREE

Steps:

• Make star templates: Using a pencil and ruler, draw five-pointed stars in the following dimensions on waxed paper: 8-1/2 in., 8 in., 7-1/2 in., 7-1/4 in., 6-3/4 in., 6 in. and 4-1/2 in. Label each template with its dimensions. Cut out with scissors and set aside., Make dough: In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring brown sugar and molasses just to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; stir in butter until melted. Stir in eggs until blended. Combine the remaining dough ingredients; stir into brown sugar mixture. Divide dough into four portions., Make large stars: On a lightly floured surface, roll out each portion to 1/4-in. thickness. Using templates, cut one 8-1/2-in. star, two 8-in. stars, one 7-1/2-in. star, two 7-1/4-in. stars, one 6-3/4-in. star, two 6-in. stars and one 4-1/2-in. star. Place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 12-15 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool., Make circles and small stars: Cut two circles using a floured 2-1/2-in. round cookie cutter. Cut 12 circles using a floured 2-in. round cookie cutter. Cut two circles using a floured 1-1/2-in. round cookie cutter. Cut remaining dough using floured star-shaped cookie cutters, re-rolling scraps. Place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 10-12 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool., Make icing: In a large bowl, combine 3-3/4 cups confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons meringue powder and 5 tablespoons water; beat on low speed just until combined. Beat on high for 4-5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Keep icing covered at all times with a damp cloth. If necessary, beat again on high speed to restore texture., Assemble: Using icing and round cookies, make one 2-1/2-in. sandwich cookie, six 2-in. sandwich cookies and one 1-1/2-in. sandwich cookie. Let stand for 15 minutes or until set. Place the 8-1/2-in. star on a serving plate. Spread a small amount of icing onto center of star; top with 2-1/2-in. round sandwich cookie. Spread a small amount of icing onto sandwich cookie; top with remaining 8-in. star. Let stand for 15 minutes or until set. Repeat with remaining icing, sandwich cookies and stars, building tree using the largest stars and sandwich cookies first. After each star is added, let stand for 15 minutes or until set., Decorate tree: Prepare a second batch of icing. Cut a small hole in the corner of a pastry or plastic bag; insert a small pastry tip. Fill bag with icing. Decorate tree as desired with icing, candy and confectioners sugar. Decorate a 2-in. star cookie as desired; secure on the treetop with icing., Decorate small star cookies: Dip cookies in melted candy coating; place on waxed paper and let stand until set. Sprinkle white cookies with edible glitter. Leave some cookies plain if desired. Gently place cookies onto tree branches and on the serving platter.

GINGERBREAD CHRISTMAS TREES

Steps:

• In large bowl, stir first five ingredients until soft dough forms. Divide dough in half. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate 2 hours.
• Heat oven to 375°F. Unwrap dough; on lightly floured surface, roll half of dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with floured 5-inch Christmas tree-shaped cookie cutter. On ungreased cookie sheets, place cutouts 2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining half of dough. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are set. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Mix vanilla frosting and green paste food color until blended. Spread on cookies. Spread chocolate frosting on base of each cookie for tree stump. With white icing, starting at the top, pipe thin swooping lines to look like light strands. Decorate with light bulb candy sprinkles. Place star candy sprinkle at top of each cookie. Let stand until set.

TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Mix first bowl ingredients together until it becomes a creamy brown batter.
• Sift second bowl ingredients; add to the wet batter a little at a time.
• Mix together until it becomes a crumby dough.
• Make the dough into a ball and chill for an hour.
• When ready, cover the dough in flour and place on a heavy floured surface.
• Knead dough with the palms of your hand and roll it out.
• Cut into desired shapes.
• Cook for 10-15 minute until golden brown.