It doesn't get any cuter than these cookies. I've taken my classic gingerbread cookie recipe and turned it into these festive, colorful, and wonderfully delicious Christmas Tree Gingerbread Cookies.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Christmas cookies, cookies, gingerbread, royal icing
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar for 3-4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the egg, molasses, and vanilla. Mix to combine.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix to combine. Cover and refrigerate the dough overnight or for at least 4 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Divide the chilled dough in two. On a lightly floured surface, roll out half of the dough so it is about 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick. Cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place the shapes about 1-inch apart on a cookie sheet. Place the baking sheet of cookies into the freezer for about five minutes.
Remove the cookies from the freezer and bake 9-11 minutes or until the edges of the cookies barely start to brown. Cool for 30-60 seconds on the cookie sheet. Then transfer the cookies to cooling racks to cool completely.
Repeat with the remaining dough.
While the cookies cool, prepare the royal icing. Add the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder to the bowl of a stand mixer. (You can also use a hand mixer.) Whisk to combine.
With the mixer on low, add one tablespoon of warm water at a time. Once all six tablespoons have been added, add in the corn syrup.
Continue to mix on low-medium speed adding more warm water, one tablespoon at a time, to achieve the desired consistency. The ideal consistency is something that is a bit thicker than corn syrup.*
Divide the icing into four separate bowls. Add food coloring to each of the bowls (except for one) to achieve the desired color. I used teal and green.
Transfer the icing to a piping bag or piping bottle. (I've linked the bottles I used in the notes section below.**)
For the dotted trees, pipe the colored icing onto the cookies first and then immediately add the white dots. Once that has hardened you can add the white tree trunk.
For the trees with the garland / lights. Pipe the colored icing onto the cookies first. Let it harden, then add the garland and white tree trunk.
Allow the icing to completely harden. Then pack and store these cookies in an airtight container.
Notes
*Making "proper" royal icing takes time and practice. You need to get a feel for it to know the consistency you need. It took me 30 minutes to figure it out and I still needed to adjust things. Have patience and take your time.*You can find the icing bottles I used HERE.*Yield size will vary on the size and thickness of your cookie. For this particular size cookie, I made a bit over 4 dozen cookies.