Description
This Cookie Christmas Tree recipe offers a festive and fun way to celebrate the holidays with delicious spiced cookies decorated with royal icing. Perfect for holiday gatherings or as a charming gift, these cookies are cut into various sizes to assemble a beautiful tree shape, then adorned with delicate piping for a snowy winter effect.
Ingredients
Scale
For the cookies
- 110 g unsalted butter soft, at room temperature
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 250 g all-purpose flour + more to dust the surface for rolling
For the royal icing (option 1)
- 1 egg white or 30 g pasteurized egg white
- 200 g icing sugar
- Water (as needed)
For the royal icing (option 2)
- 150 g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- Water (as needed)
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Use a whisk to beat the butter, sugar and salt together until creamy. Add the egg and mix until fully incorporated. Stir in the vanilla extract and spices, mixing well.
- Add dry ingredients: Incorporate the flour and baking powder using a spatula, then knead slightly with your hands once the spatula can no longer mix the dough thoroughly.
- Chill the dough: Cover the dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes. If chilled longer, allow the dough to come to room temperature briefly before rolling to prevent cracking.
- Roll and cut cookies: On a floured surface, roll out the dough to 2-3mm thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes in sizes 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, and 4 cm, cutting three cookies per size plus a few extra smaller ones for decoration and snacking.
- Transfer to baking tray: Use a thin metal spatula to lift cookies and place them on a non-stick baking tray or a tray lined with baking paper or silpat.
- Bake the cookies: Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Bake cookies for 12 minutes or until slightly golden. Allow to cool completely before decorating to prevent icing from melting.
- Prepare royal icing option 1: Place egg whites in a bowl and sift in the icing sugar. Beat together until mixture comes together. Adjust texture by adding small amounts of water or lemon juice if too hard, or more icing sugar if too loose.
- Prepare royal icing option 2: Mix icing sugar with meringue powder, adding water gradually to achieve a thick paste. Test texture by drawing a line or dot; adjust by adding more sugar if too loose or water if too hard.
- Decorating preparation: Cover unused royal icing with two layers of damp kitchen paper to keep it moist. When ready to use, check consistency and adjust if necessary. Add food coloring if desired, noting it will thin icing.
- Decorate cookies: Fill a piping bag fitted with a small nozzle. Pipe icing onto cookies slowly and evenly, holding the nozzle about 3mm above the surface to let the icing drop naturally. Outline cookies leaving a 3mm edge, then add dots outside the outline, allowing about 5 minutes drying time between lines and dots.
- Dry and assemble: Let decorated cookies dry for 10 minutes before assembling the tree by sticking cookies together with small dollops of royal icing. Allow assembled tree to dry for 30 minutes before handling.
- Add finishing touch: Dust the assembled cookie tree with icing sugar to create a snowy effect, if desired.
Notes
- If your dough cracks during rolling, let it rest at room temperature a few minutes before continuing.
- Use pasteurized egg whites for safer consumption when making royal icing.
- Allow each stage of icing decoration to dry sufficiently to avoid bleeding of lines and dots.
- Use a small metal spatula for transferring delicate cookies to prevent breakage.
- For more vibrant colors, add gel food coloring to royal icing rather than liquid to minimize thinning.
- If you don’t have meringue powder, you may use option 1 with egg whites for royal icing.
- To store decorated cookies, place parchment paper between layers and keep in an airtight container.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie christmas tree
- Calories: 350 kcal
- Sugar: 35 g
- Sodium: 200 mg
- Fat: 15 g
- Saturated Fat: 9 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 5 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 50 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 55 mg
