Christmas Tree Cookies
Creating Christmas tree-shaped cookies with Danish cookie dough can be a fun and festive holiday baking project. Here's a basic recipe and instructions to help you make these delicious treats.
Ingredients:
- 115g unsalted butter, softened
- 60g caster sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 medium egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream or evaporated milk
- 125g cake flour
- 15g corn flour
- 1 teaspoon matcha green tea or green gel food colour
- ½ teaspoon cocoa powder or brown gel food colour
- assorted colorful sprinkles, nonpareils, and edible decorations
- white candy melts for garland drizzle
Instructions:
1. Prepare the Cookie Dough:
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter, salt and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla extract, egg yolk, cream and mix to combine.
- Gradually add the cake flour and corn flour to the wet ingredients, mixing until the dough comes together.
2. Color the Dough:
- Divide the dough into two portions, 3 to 4 tablespoon dough for the tree trunk.
- Add matcha green tea or green food colouring to the larger portion of dough and mix it until you achieve your desired shade of green. You can make it as light or dark as you like.
- Do not add too much as it will effect the consistency for piping.
- Add cocoa powder or brown food colouring to the smaller portion of the dough and mix til combined.
3. Pipe the Christmas Trees:
- Preheat your oven to 170°C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Using a Large star tip like 4B fill the green dough in a piping bag. Pipe the tree as shown in the video below.
- Using a Small star tip like 22/32 fill the brown dough in a piping bag. Pipe the trunk as shown in the video below. You should be able to pipe 10-12 trees depending how big you pipe your trees. Approx: - tree 7cm/trunk 2cm
4. Baking:
- Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for about 15-17 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden. Keep a close eye on them as baking times may vary based on the thickness of your cookies.
- Once baked, let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Decorate the Trees:
- For decorations, use white candy melts as "glue" to attach colorful sprinkles, nonpareils, and other edible decorations to the trees. Get creative with your designs.
6. Cooling and Storage:
- Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They should stay fresh for several days.
Enjoy your festive baking!