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Christmas Tree Cookies feature homemade sugar cookies stacked with festive green frosting to resemble little trees! Sprinkles act as adorable ornaments that make these scrumptious cookies even more picture perfect.
There’s no cookie recipe more festive than this one! And while these Christmas cookies are made entirely from scratch, don’t worry – this recipe is blissfully easy. If you’re trying to blow everyone away at the cookie exchange, you’ve come to the right place!
It doesn’t get cuter (or sweeter) than this. Sugar cookies are stacked and held together by vibrant frosting and the sprinkles of your choice serve as the ornaments. Decorating the tree is fun, but decorating these Christmas tree cookies is even more fun! They’re perfect to pair with Gingerbread Man Cookies and Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies at your cookie exchange.
Why You’ll Love These
- Easy: Yes, making these Insta-worthy cookies is easier than you may think! Just don’t put a ton of pressure on yourself, or you’ll likely end up angry at your piping bag/the world.
- Homemade: You just can’t beat homemade sugar cookies. And when they’re sandwiched with homemade icing? Swoon.
- Adorable: Let’s face it… You don’t make a recipe like this just because of how tasty the cookies are. You make it because of how adorable it is!
- Budget Friendly: The holidays are notorious for overspending. Luckily, this Christmas tree cookie recipe features inexpensive pantry staples that you may already have on hand.
How to Make Christmas Tree Cookies
- Make the cookie dough. Beat together the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat until combined.
- Shape the dough into balls. For the best tiered appearance (like a Christmas tree), you’ll need to make 3 different sized balls! The smallest ball is 1 teaspoon, 2 teaspoons makes the middle ball and 3 teaspoons makes the largest ball.
- Flatten. Place the small cookie dough balls onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Use a glass to flatten them a little. Place the medium sized balls on a separate sheet and also gently press them. Repeat this process with the large cookie dough balls.
- Bake. Bake the cookies at 350°F until the bottoms are just golden. Small cookies should only take about 4-6 minutes while the medium cookies will take 6-8 minutes. Large will take about 8-10 minutes.
- Cool. Once all cookies are cooked, let them sit on the baking sheet for just a little to cool slightly before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
- Make the frosting. This is great to do while the cookies are cooling! Beat together powdered sugar and butter in a medium bowl. Once it’s well creamed together, beat in the milk, vanilla and food coloring.
- Assemble. Make sure your cookies are fully cooled to room temperature! Then, use the frosting to sandwich the three cookies together. Add your sprinkles and enjoy!
FAQs
Please be careful how you measure your flour. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then use a flat edge like a knife to scrape the top and make it level. If you scoop the flour with your measuring cup you may get too much flour.
The easiest way to fix too-thick buttercream is to add milk, just a teaspoon at a time until you’ve reached the desired consistency. If your buttercream is too thin, add powdered sugar, 1 Tablespoon at a time.
Storage Instructions
In an airtight container at room temperature, these cookies will stay nice and fresh for up to 1 week. Since they stay fresh for so long, they’re perfect for making ahead of time for your party or cookie exchange!
They can also be frozen! I would recommend that you make all of the cookies and freeze them in freezer bags. Then, when you are ready to serve them, allow the cookies to come to room temperature and then assemble them with the buttercream. This way your decorations will still look fresh.
Christmas Tree Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 cup (227 g) salted butter, softened
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 ½ cups (313 g) flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
For the frosting:
- 3 cups (360 g) powdered sugar
- ½ cup (114 g) salted butter, softened
- 3 Tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Food coloring
- Sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (177 °C)
- In a medium bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Then add this mixture to the butter mixture and beat until well blended.
- Next, we will shape the dough into 3 different sizes of cookies. (Each cookie will be rolled into a ball.) Use a rounded 1 teaspoon of dough to make 1 small ball. Then you will use 2 rounded teaspoons of dough to make a middle size ball. And 3 rounded teaspoons of dough to make a large ball. You want to have the same number of each size of ball. You should be able to make at least 15 balls of each size.
- Place the small balls onto 1 parchment paper lined baking sheet. Use a glass to gently flatten them a little. Place the medium size balls on another sheet and again press them down gently. And place the large balls on a separate sheet and press them down slightly. (The different sizes of cookies should bake on different sheets as they will not bake at the same rate.)
- Bake until the bottoms are just golden. Small cookies will take 4-6 minutes. Medium will take 6-8 minutes. Large will take 8-10 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from the baking sheets and allow them to cool completely on wire racks.
- Prepare the frosting while the cookies are cooling.
- In a medium bowl, beat together powdered sugar, and butter. When this is well creamed together, beat in the milk and vanilla (and food coloring if desired).
- Use the frosting to “glue” together the 3 cookies (largest on the bottom, then middle sized, then the smallest on top) to make a christmas tree or snowman. Pipe (or spread) icing onto the top of the largest size cookie and place the middle size cookie on top. Pipe (or spread) icing on the top of the middle size cookie and place the small size cookie on top. Then continue decorating with the icing.
