Cookie Christmas Trees Recipe By Tasty Food

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 COOKIE FOREST

Steps:

• For the dough: Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat together the vanilla and 2 eggs in a small bowl.
• Beat the butter, granulated sugar and confectioners' sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed. Once they are incorporated, increase the speed to medium and, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, beat until slightly creamy, about 3 minutes.
• Reduce the speed to low, slowly pour in the egg mixture and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, increasing the speed as the dough gets thicker to keep the beaters spinning and scraping down the sides of the bowl and the beaters as needed. Once all the flour is just incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the dough is very smooth, about 5 minutes.
• Turn the dough out of the bowl and bring it together on a clean surface. Divide into 2 pieces. Shape each piece into a flat square and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
• To cut and bake the forest: Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment.
• Dust your work surface with flour and roll out a piece of dough until about 1/4-inch thick. Keep the other piece refrigerated while you work. Punch out shapes in the dough with tree cookie cutters of various sizes and cut off the dough trunks; for every 3D tree you will need 2 tree cutouts of the same size so punch out the shapes in pairs. For our forest we used 4-inch, 6-inch and 8-inch cutters. Put the trees on the prepared baking sheets and chill while you roll and cut trees from the remaining dough. Combine the scraps of the 2 squares. Chill again, reroll and cut out more trees You should have 8 to 10 pairs of trees, depending on the size of your cutters. Freeze the cutout cookies for at least 30 minutes.
• Rearrange the cookies on the baking sheets so that the pairs are next to each other. For the first cookie of each pair, use a sharp paring knife to cut a 1/2-inch-wide slot from the bottom to a little more than halfway up the cookie. For the second cookie of each pair, cut a similar slot but from the top of the tree down to a little past the middle. You will fit the cookies together with these slots after they are baked. Return the cookies to the freezer for 30 minutes more.
• Whisk together the remaining egg with 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl. Brush a thin layer of egg wash on the cookies right before baking.
• Bake the cookies, rotating the baking sheets front to back and bottom to top about halfway through, until golden brown and dry on top, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool completely on the baking sheets set on a cooling rack, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the royal icing: Combine the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and vanilla in a large bowl. Add 5 tablespoons water and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until the icing forms thick and glossy peaks, about 2 minutes, adding up to 1 tablespoon more water, if needed.
• Remove a third of the royal icing and place it in a pastry bag fitted with a small no. 4 round tip. Color the remaining icing with the green food coloring, one drop at a time, until it's a shade you like. If the frosting is still very stiff, add 1 to 2 teaspoons of water. Fill a second pastry bag fitted with another small no. 4 round tip with the green frosting.
• Use a sharp paring knife to shave the cookie edges so they are smooth and flat: Pay attention to the tree bottoms (so the trees will stand straight) and the inner edges of the slots. Assemble the trees by sliding the top-slot trees into the bottom-slot trees. Shave the cookies as needed for a smooth fit, then disassemble them and place the pieces on a flat surface. Don't worry if a tree breaks; glue the pieces together with green royal icing.
• To decorate the forest: Decorate each cookie with the green icing, leaving a blank strip up the center without icing; this is where the pieces will fit together. We used a zigzag line of green on each side. Sprinkle with white sprinkles while the icing is still wet. Let set
• until firm, 30 to 45 minutes. Turn the cookies over and decorate the backs in the same fashion. Let set until firm, 30 to 45 minutes.
• Assemble the trees. Pipe a thin line of white icing on the outer edges of the trees for snow. Let set before serving, 30 to 45 minutes. Arrange the trees on a serving platter to create a forest. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar for snow.

HOLIDAY COOKIE TREE CENTERPIECE

Steps:

• COMBINE flour and salt in large bowl. Beat shortening, sugar and vanilla in separate large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until blended. Beat in egg yolks and orange juice. Gradually stir in flour mixture to form a soft dough. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces, shaping each into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap. Chill 4 hours or overnight.
• HEAT oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out dough, one piece at a time, to 1/4-inch thickness on floured surface.* Keep remaining dough chilled until ready to use. Cut out a total of 24 cookies, using the 2 largest cookie cutters 4 times each and the 8 remaining cookie cutters 2 times each. Bake on prepared baking sheets, 16 minutes for small cookies, 18 minutes for large cookies, or until edges begin to brown and centers are set. (Group similar size cookies on same baking sheet for even baking.) Carefully slide baked cookies on parchment paper onto work surface. Cookies may be fragile while warm. Cool completely.
• STIR powdered sugar and meringue powder in large bowl until combined. Add water. Beat with electric mixer on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 5 to 7 minutes. If necessary, add additional powdered sugar or water to reach the desired spreading consistency. (Keep frosting covered with damp cloth to prevent hardening.) Reserve one of the smallest size cookies for later use. Spread icing over remaining cookies, immediately topping with decorator sprinkles.
• PLACE one of the largest size cookies on decorative platter to begin assembly. Spoon about 1 tablespoon remaining icing onto center of cookie. Repeat to stack additional 22 cookies on top, by decreasing size, rotating each cookie slightly to stagger points of stars. To complete decoration, hold reserved small cookie by its edges and coat both side with frosting. Decorate as desired. Stand upright on top of tree, securing with a small dab of icing. Let stand until icing is firm.

COOKIE CHRISTMAS TREES RECIPE BY TASTY

Steps:

• Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Stack each kind of cookie together in pairs, using about ½ teaspoon of white frosting to hold the cookies together.
• Dab ½ teaspoon of white frosting on top of a stack of 3-inch (7 cm) cookies, then place a stack of 2-inch (5 cm) cookies on top. Dab ¼ teaspoon of frosting on top of the 2-inch (5 cm) cookie, then place a 1-inch (2.54 cm) cookie stack on top. Dab another ¼ teaspoon of frosting on top, then finish with a stack of ½-inch (1.24 cm) cookies. Set on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the remaining cookies and frosting to make 12 "trees."
• Transfer the baking sheet to the refrigerator to firm up the frosting, about 15 minutes.
• Carefully pipe the green icing around the bottom ledges of each cookie tree, then decorate with white and red pearl sprinkles. Repeat with the remaining ledges between each cookie layer, then pipe a small circle of icing at the top of each tree and finish with a single sprinkle. Return the pan to the refrigerator to firm up the icing at any point if needed.
• Enjoy!

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:

• Allow butter to soften in large bowl. Add sugar and lemon zest, and cream until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Stir in flour gradually, mixing well after each addition.
• Chill dough for 30-60 minutes before rolling out. Cut into desired shapes, and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in pre-heated 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.
• Cool on rack. Cookies can be frosted after they are completely cool.

CHRISTMAS TREE SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar. Beat in egg and extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle., On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 4x3-in. tree-shaped cookie cutter. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 6-8 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. , For icing, combine confectioners' sugar and milk. Remove 1/3 cup icing to a small bowl; tint dark green with food coloring. Tint remaining icing light green; spread over cookies. Cut a small hole in the corner of a pastry or plastic bag; fill bag with dark green icing. Pipe zigzag lines onto trees for Christmas lights; decorate with sprinkles.