CHRISTMAS TREE COOKIE STACKS
PG tested
This sugar cookie Christmas tree is as fun to decorate as the real one, especially if you get the kids involved. And it’s perfect for the holiday cookie exchange with family, friends and/or coworkers in the weeks before Christmas.
If you don’t have a pastry bag, use a large zip-close plastic bag with a corner cut off to pipe the icing on the cookies.
For cookies
¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
For frosting
1 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 3 tablespoons water or milk
Green gel icing color
3 tablespoons red and white pearl sprinkles
18 yellow star sprinkles
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment.
Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, 34 minutes. Mix in egg and vanilla and almond extracts. In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Dough will be thick.
Make three sizes of cookie balls with 1, 2 and 3 teaspoons of dough (an even number of each). Place medium and large cookies on a cookie sheet and press down slightly on each. Bake until center looks mostly cooked, 7-8 minutes. Place smallest dough balls on another cookie sheet and press down slightly. Bake until center looks mostly cooked, 5-6 minutes.
Remove cookies from oven and let cool 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a cookie rack to finish cooling.
Make frosting: Beat butter until smooth. Add half the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add vanilla and water (or milk) and mix until smooth. Add remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add green gel icing color to frosting and mix until your desired shade of green.
Assemble cookies: Get one size of each cookie. Fit a piping bag with a mediumsized star piping tip and fill bag with green frosting.
Pipe a swirl of frosting onto the largest cookie, add the medium-sized cookie, pipe frosting onto it and top with the smallest cookie. Pipe a swirl on top and decorate with a star and round ornament sprinkles. After building all cookie trees, refrigerate until ready to serve.
Makes 16 cookies.
— Delish.com For more holiday cookie recipes, see Wednesday’s Food & Flavor or go to www.post-gazette.com/food.