Tartan Christmas Tree Cookies Food

TRI-COLOR CHRISTMAS SPRITZ COOKIES

Steps:

• Position oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
• Beat the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the almond and vanilla extracts and egg and mix until combined. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the flour and salt and mix until just combined.
• Remove all but 1/4 cup of the dough to a flour-dusted surface and reserve. Add enough green gel food coloring to the dough left in the bowl to color it a vibrant green like a wreath, 3 to 4 drops. Mix on low until the dough is completely green. Remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and gently fold until it comes together. Wipe the paddle and bowl of the stand mixer clean.
• Place 1/4 cup of the reserved white dough back into the bowl. Add enough red gel food coloring to color it a vibrant red like a fire truck, 3 to 4 drops. Mix on low until the dough is completely red. Remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and gently fold until it comes together.
• Tear off 2 Ping-Pong ball-size pieces of the white dough and add to the barrel of a cookie press; add 1 marble-size piece of the green dough and 1 marble-size piece of the red dough. Repeat this pattern until the barrel is filled (you will not use all of the dough). Place a wreath disc onto the cookie press barrel according to the manufacturer's instructions. Press the cookies onto an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat 2 more times in the same pattern with the remaining dough.
• Bake 2 of the batches until the cookies are firm but not yet browning on the bottom, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool the cookies for 1 minute on the baking sheets, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Bake the third batch and let cool. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

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.

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 TARTS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Unroll one of the pie crusts onto a cutting board. Using a 2 1/2-inch plain-edged round cutter, cut out 8 circles from the crust. Place the circles on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Discard the remaining dough.
• Unroll the second pie crust onto the cutting board. Using the same 2 1/2-inch round cutter, cut out 8 more circles. Then, use a 2-inch plain-edged round cutter and cut out 8 smaller circles from the larger circles on the board. Set aside the rings. Using a 1 1/2-inch Christmas tree cutter, cut out 8 small trees from the smaller full circles. You should now have eight 2 1/2-inch full circles, eight 2 1/2-inch rings and eight small Christmas trees of dough.
• Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Use your finger or a brush to brush the edge of the 2 1/2-inch circles. This will help the rings adhere during baking. Lay the rings on top of the egg-washed circles. Working carefully, spoon 3 cherries into the center of each tart. Place a tiny tree on top of each tart over the cherries. The trunk of the tree should be touching the outer ring. Using your finger or a pastry brush, brush the pie-crust ring and tree with the egg wash. Bake the tarts until the dough is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
• Create a bed of rosemary on a platter or cake stand and arrange the baked tarts on top of the rosemary. Dust with confectioners' sugar and enjoy!

MINTY CHRISTMAS TREE CUTOUT COOKIES

Steps:

• For the cookies: Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Mix the mint and vanilla extracts with the egg in a small bowl with a fork.
• Beat together the butter, granulated sugar and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on low speed until the butter has picked up the sugars, about 30 seconds. (If using an electric hand mixer, beat about 2 minutes.) Increase the speed to medium and beat, stopping halfway to scrape the bowl, until slightly creamy, about 1 minute (about 3 minutes with a hand mixer).
• Reduce the speed to low, slowly add the egg mixture and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture a heaping cup at a time in 2 additions, stopping a few times to scrape the bowl and beaters. (If using a hand mixer, increase the speed as the dough gets thicker to keep the beaters spinning.) Once all the flour is just incorporated, increase the speed to medium (higher with a hand mixer) and beat until the dough is very smooth, about 2 minutes (about 5 minutes with a hand mixer).
• Turn the dough out of the bowl and bring it together. Divide the dough into 2 even pieces, each about 11 ounces. Shape each piece into a 6-inch square and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least 3 hours and up to overnight.
• Remove one of the dough squares from the refrigerator and let soften until just pliable but still cool and firm, about 15 minutes. Position oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
• Dust a piece of parchment with flour. Dust the dough square with flour and roll it out on the parchment to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Lift the dough occasionally by sliding a metal spatula or bench scraper underneath to make sure it isn't sticking to the parchment. Cut out Christmas trees with a 2-inch cutter as close together as possible and transfer them to the prepared baking sheets, leaving 1 inch between the trees. Gather together the scraps and roll and cut more cookies. Chill the cookies on the baking sheets in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking.
• Bake, rotating the baking sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through, until the cookies are light golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool the cookies about 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, remove the second dough square from the refrigerator to soften until just pliable but still cool and firm, about 15 minutes. Repeat the rolling, cutting, chilling and baking procedures with the second dough square.
• For the green royal icing: Combine the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder in a large bowl. Add 3 tablespoons water and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the frosting thickens. The icing should be pure white and thick but not fluffy and bubbly. (If the frosting is overbeaten, it will get aerated, which makes it harder to work with. If this happens, let the frosting sit for a bit to settle, then use a rubber spatula to vigorously beat and smooth out the icing.) Add the green and red food coloring and beat until evenly distributed and the color is a deep hunter green. Put the icing in a resealable plastic bag and snip the corner to make a tiny opening (or put the icing in a piping bag with a 1/16-inch tip).
• To decorate: Pipe a dot of icing onto the top point of each tree. Stick a chocolate nonpareil candy on each dot. Pipe the icing onto the cookies in zigzags to make a tree design. Sprinkle white nonpareils around the icing as snow. Let the icing set at room temperature, at least 1 hour.