Description
This festive Cookie Christmas Tree recipe features spiced cookies baked to golden perfection and decorated with smooth royal icing. Perfect for holiday celebrations, these charming cookies can be assembled into a delightful tree centerpiece for a sweet and decorative treat.
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 30g pasteurized egg white
- 200 g icing sugar
- Water as needed to adjust consistency
For the royal icing (option 2)
- 150 g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- Water as needed to adjust consistency
Instructions
- Prepare the cookie dough: Use a whisk to beat the butter, sugar, and salt together until creamy. Add the egg and mix fully. Stir in vanilla and spices for flavor. Incorporate the flour and baking powder using a spatula, then knead lightly by hand once the spatula mixing is difficult. Cover and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
- Roll and cut the cookies: After chilling, let the dough return to room temperature if needed to prevent breaking. Roll out dough on a floured surface to 2-3 mm thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes in sizes from 13 cm to 4 cm for layering and extra cookies.
- Bake the cookies: Place cookies on a non-stick baking tray or lined sheet. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F) for 12 minutes or until slightly golden. Cool completely before decorating.
- Make royal icing option 1: Place egg whites in a bowl, add icing sugar through a sieve, and beat to a good consistency. Adjust by adding water or more sugar to reach a thick but pipeable texture.
- Make royal icing option 2: Combine icing sugar with meringue powder. Add water gradually until thick paste forms. Adjust consistency as needed with sugar or water to maintain pipeable texture.
- Prepare icing for decorating: Keep icing covered with wet paper to prevent drying. Adjust texture before piping. Food coloring may thin the icing; compensate accordingly.
- Decorate cookies: Fill piping bag fitted with a small nozzle with royal icing. Pipe lines and dots on cookies starting with an outline and allow drying for 5 minutes before adding dots to avoid blending. Use a toothpick for corrections.
- Assemble the tree: Allow decorated cookies to dry for 10 minutes. Stack cookies by sticking with small dollops of royal icing between layers. Let the assembled tree dry for 30 minutes before handling.
- Final touch: Dust the decorated Christmas tree lightly with icing sugar for a snowy effect if desired.
Notes
- Chilling the dough ensures easier handling and better texture for rolling and cutting.
- If the dough feels too hard after refrigeration, allow it to soften slightly at room temperature before rolling.
- Using a thin metal spatula helps lift delicate cookies off the surface without breaking.
- If you do not have meringue powder, use the egg white royal icing option carefully to avoid raw egg risks—pasteurized egg whites are recommended.
- Let royal icing dry slightly between decorating steps to prevent merging of lines and dots.
- For best results, allow the assembled cookie tree to dry completely before moving to avoid breakage.
- Extra small cookies cut from leftover dough make great individual treats or decorative accents.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie christmas tree
- Calories: 450 kcal
- Sugar: 40 g
- Sodium: 300 mg
- Fat: 20 g
- Saturated Fat: 12 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 60 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Cholesterol: 60 mg
