Great fun for the giver and the receiver. These 3D Christmas tree cookies are a fabulous, edible gift this season!
I always look forward to baking cookies during the vacations.
This Christmas Recipe: 3D Cookie Christmas Tree will be your next adorable and delicious edible gift idea! Stacked Christmas cookie recipe with sugar icing and sprinkles that fits nicely in a gift box. Christmas is a great holiday to celebrate and family reunion. We decorate the house with Christmas lights, Christmas wreaths and make all the festive Christmas bouquets. The Christmas tree is a must both for decorating the house and for serving feasts. These 3-D cookie trees are perfect as a centrepiece for a table, as a decoration for a cake or simply on a plate to share with good friends and hot cocoa! There are many designs to serve a fine Christmas tree, and I recommend the edible Christmas tree plate appetizer and the recipe for strawberry Christmas tree brownie bites. It is a fabulous way to turn sugar cookies into wonderful Christmas tree gifts. There are different designs to choose from as well.
3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons half & half
Sprinkles and candy for decorating
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter softened (3 sticks)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line several baking trays with parchment paper and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer, stir lightly and foamy for 3-5 minutes. Scrape the bowl with a spatula and turn the mixer to a low setting. Stir in salt, eggs, vanilla and finally the flour. After mixing, turn the mixer off to avoid mixing too much. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
Once the dough is cold and firm, sprinkle a work surface with flour. Cut the dough in half and roll it out to an even 1/8 inch sheet. Using four sizes of star cutters (4-inch, 3-inch, 2-inch and 1-inch cutters), cut out two stars for each tree with each cutter, followed by a 1 1/2-inch circle for the base and seven semicircles for the connectors. You should have a total of 8 stars, 7 small connector circles, and one medium base circle per tree. Repeat the process with the rest of the dough.
Place the cookies on the baking trays at 1 1/2 inch intervals. Bake for 6-7 minutes until the edges are just golden. Allow to cool completely on the baking trays.
Once the cookies are cool, whisk 2 cups of powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons half and half. The mixture should have the consistency of school glue. If it is too thick, add a little more half & half.
Use the glaze to glue the 1 1/2-inch circles to the bottom of the biggest stars. Then glue a small round “connecting cookie” in the middle of the stars and add the second large star on top, moving the cookie so that the dots are offset. Continue stacking and moving the dots until you have stacked eight star cookies from the largest to the smallest to form a tree. Allow the cookies to dry before decorating. (See pictures above for orientation).
To decorate: Drizzle the remaining icing over the trees and sprinkle with sugar sprinkles. You can also dip larger candies into the icing and place them on the tops. Dry completely before wrapping as a gift.
