Best Gingerbread Christmas Trees Recipes

GINGERBREAD CHRISTMAS TREES

Steps:

• In large bowl, stir first five ingredients until soft dough forms. Divide dough in half. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate 2 hours.
• Heat oven to 375°F. Unwrap dough; on lightly floured surface, roll half of dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with floured 5-inch Christmas tree-shaped cookie cutter. On ungreased cookie sheets, place cutouts 2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining half of dough. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are set. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Mix vanilla frosting and green paste food color until blended. Spread on cookies. Spread chocolate frosting on base of each cookie for tree stump. With white icing, starting at the top, pipe thin swooping lines to look like light strands. Decorate with light bulb candy sprinkles. Place star candy sprinkle at top of each cookie. Let stand until set.

GINGERBREAD CHRISTMAS TREE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180 deg Celsius.
• sift flour, baking powder and soda, spices and a pinch of salt into a bowl.
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add honey and egg. Beat until combined.
• On low speed, beat in sifted dry ingredients until mixture comes together.
• Divide the dough in half. Wrap separately in plastic. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Trace 19 cm, 15 cm, 10 cm, 7.5 cm and 4.5 cm stars on to cardboard and cut out. For the 2 smaller sizes cutters may able to used.
• Roll out dough halves until 4 mm thick. Using star templates and 7.5 cm cutter, cut out 3 stars of each size from dough. Using the 4.5 cm star, cut out as many stars as possible from the remaining dough.
• Place same sized stars together, 3 cm apart, on baking paper-lined oven trays. Bake larger stars for 8-10 minutes; smaller stars for 5-7 minutes or until deep golden. Stand biscuits for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
• Place eggwhite in a bowl. Stir in icing sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, until combined.
• Stack the largest stars at offset angles, placing 2-3, 4.5 cm stars in between. Glue each layer with icing.
• Continue stacking in decreasing size until all 7.5 cm stars are used. Finish with one 4.5 cm star flat and a second one upright. Use icing as 'glue' to decorate tree with cachous.
• Tie up remaining small stars to look like gifts. Leave tree to set for one hour. Serve dusted with icing sugar.

GINGERBREAD TREES

Steps:

• Whisk the flour, gingerbread spice, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat the butter, brown sugar and molasses in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to medium low and add the flour mixture in two batches, beating until just combined. Divide the dough between 2 large pieces of plastic wrap. Flatten into disks and wrap. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours or overnight.
• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350˚. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out 1 disk of dough on a lightly floured surface until about 3/8 inch thick. Cut out trees using 2- to 3-inch cutters. (If the dough becomes too sticky, refrigerate 15 minutes.) Arrange the cutouts 1 inch apart on the prepared pans.
• Bake, switching the pans halfway through, until the cookies are puffed and the edges are lightly set, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes on the pans, then remove the cookies to racks to cool completely.
• Roll out the other disk of dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out more cookies. Once the baking sheets have cooled, arrange the cutouts on the pans, bake and let cool.
• Make the icing: Whisk the confectioners' sugar with the water until smooth and very thick. Transfer the icing to a resealable plastic bag, snip off a corner and pipe on the cookies; sprinkle with sanding sugar. Decorate with the sunflower seeds.

GINGERBREAD TREES WITH LEMON ICING

Steps:

• Make cookies: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar on medium-high until creamy, 3 minutes. Add egg and beat to combine. Add molasses and beat to combine, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and beat until combined. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm, 1 hour (or up to 3 days).
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. With a sharp knife or cookie cutter, cut dough into small 2-inch-wide triangles. Arrange triangles, 1 inch apart, on two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until cookies are firm and golden at edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.
• Make icing: In a small bowl, combine lemon juice and confectioners' sugar and whisk until smooth. Drizzle icing over cooled cookies and sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired.