Stacked Christmas Tree Cookies are super cute, as well as delicious. Simple yet perfect sugar cookies in three stackable sizes, held together with some tasty green frosting make for the perfect holiday cookie in tree shapes for anyone's Christmas gathering.
These holiday cookies really are super easy to make, but they can be quite tedious with the rolling of the cookie dough. That's why I like to get McKenzie involved, it's so much fun and she loves cooking and especially cookies. She could help in the kitchen all day if I'd let her!
Next time try my Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies for another Christmas cookie treat.
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If you already have a good sugar cookie recipe, then you already have a good base. These cookies are made by rolling three different sizes and holding the three layers together with some green colored buttercream frosting (much easier than Royal Icing)!
Super cute Christmas Trees that are eagerly waited on.
These cookies make great gifts, as do my Chocolate Turtles, they are super easy to make too.
Christmas Tree Cookies Ingredients
See recipe card for quantities.
Recipe walkthrough: Instructions
This is an overview of the recipe steps. For more detailed instructions visit the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Hint: Use Christmas themed sprinkles to further add to the Christmas spirit. Try to find yellow stars to add to the top of each tree.
The sprinkles will adhere easier if you add them while the frosting is still wet (immediately after building one cookie - add sprinkles.)
Recipe variations and substitute ideas
- Almond Extract - instead of vanilla extract use Almond Extract, it works well and tastes yummy.
- Nuts - Add ¼ cup of finely chopped nuts to the cookie dough to add a little more texture/depth.
- Star cookies - use star cookies instead of round (using a star cookie cutter) with the largest star at the bottom.
Mel's kitchen notes
Make these Christmas cookies ahead of time, by making all the sugar cookies first. keep them fresh in an airtight container, then pull them out when you're ready to decorate and serve.
More Christmas Recipes
- Hot Chocolate Brownie Bites
- Banana Pudding Brownies
- Hot Chocolate Bombs
- Tik Tok Jam Heart Cookies
- Christmas Oreo Cookies
- Gingerbread Trifle
Stacked Christmas Tree Cookies
ANNOUNCEMENT
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Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 Cup Salted Butter softened
- ¾ Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Each Large Egg
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2-½ Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
Frosting
- 3 Cups Powdered Sugar
- ½ Cup Salted Butter softened
- 3 Tablespoons Milk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 4 Drops Food coloring green
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a medium bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until fluffy.1 Cup Salted Butter, ¾ Cup Granulated Sugar, 1 Each Large Egg, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder.2-½ Cups All Purpose Flour, 1 teaspoon 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).3 Cups Powdered Sugar, ½ Cup Salted Butter, 3 Tablespoons Milk, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract, 4 Drops Food coloring
- 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.Sprinkles
Storage Instructions
Place cookies in an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to one week. The cookies themselves will freeze well, but I recommend making the frosting fresh when you want to serve them. Place the cookies in a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.Notes
Nutrition
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Jenny says
Cookies had to bake longer than listed and with the breaking the recipe assures is normal when flattening the cookie they don't turn out like the pictures at all. Also super intensive to get sprinkles to stick to the icing.
Melanie Cagle says
Sounds like the cookies were not left to cool for long enough before handling? With regards to the sprinkles, it is important to sprinkle that on right away, while the frosting is still wet.