Christmas Cookies Decorations

Christmas Cookie Recipe

Christmas Tree Cookies

Recipe Type: Cakes & Baking

Cuisine: American

Author: Caroline Artiss

Prep time: 1 hour 30 mins

Cook time: 8 mins

Total time: 1 hour 38 mins

Serves: approx 20

Perfect cookies for Christmas time. Make these easy decorated cookies with the children as helpers and hang them on the tree.

Ingredients

• Cookie Dough:

• 1 cup / 225g soft butter

• 1 cup / 100g icing sugar

• 1 egg

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

• 1tsp almond extract

• 2 ½ / 300g cups plain flour

• big pinch of salt

• Icing:

• 3 cups / 300g icing sugar

• 6 tbsp butter / 90g

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 2 tbsp water

• icing colors, sparkly decorations

• chop stick

• Equipment:

• Cookie cutters

• Rolling pin

• Food processor / electric whisk / or large mixing bowl

• Baking trays

• Ribbon for tying the biscuits on the tree -optional

Instructions

1. Start by making the cookie dough as this needs time to chill.

2. Using a food processor blitz all the ingredients together until big lumps start forming. Bring together with your hands into a ball.

3. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

4. If you don’t have a food processor you can use an electric whisk.

5. Preheat oven before rolling out dough to 190c / 375f

6. Once dough is firm, lightly flour a work surface and rolling pin

7. Cut dough into half and place the other half back in the fridge while you roll out the first lot.

8. Roll out dough until about ½ cm thick, cut out with Christmas shapes.

9. If you want to hang the cookies on the tree make sure you make a hole in the top of the biscuit -using something like a chopstick

10. Place carefully on a non stick baking tray Bake in the oven for 7 – 8 minutes.

11. Leave to cool on the trays for 2 minutes then you can transfer them onto a wire rack to cool. Once all the biscuits have cooled you can ice and decorate them.

12. Icing / Frosting

13. I normally use the food processor for this, but you can use an electric whisk or beat by hand.

14. Whisk 1/3 of the icing sugar with the soft butter and vanilla until blended and smooth.

15. Add the remaining icing sugar bit by bit and the water until it has all been used up.

16. The consistency should be thick but spreadable.

17. You can always add an extra teaspoon of water if it’s too thick or goes hard.

18. You can separate and add food coloring to the icing sugar as you wish.

Notes

Have lot's of fun decorating the cookies with the kids and you can go to town on the sprinkles and sparkly edible decorations.