This Easy Christmas Tree Cookies recipe is made from scratch with fondant, icing, and sprinkles! These are some of the cutest Christmas cookies you’ll find!
Christmas Tree Cookies Recipe From Scratch
I love a good and classic from scratch sugar cookie recipe! We’ve made Christmas Tree Cupcakes, Christmas Tree Cake Pops, and Christmas Tree Whoopie Pies previously with great success, I think it’s about time we made Christmas Tree Cookies too, don’t you think? Especially these from-scratch sugar cookies that are fool-proof every time!
Easy Christmas Tree Cookies Recipe
Have you ever used a sugar cookie recipe that didn’t come out the way you expected when you baked it? Too dry? Didn’t roll well? This from-scratch sugar cookie recipe is legit! I gravitate towards this basic sugar cookie recipe every time I have to create cookies like this for those exact reasons! Why reinvent the wheel when perfection already exists, you know? Easy ready-made fondant is the real MVP here, too – fresh from the package it’s ready to roll and ready to decorate!
From-Scratch Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies Recipe
This is Christmas cookie perfection right here, friends! From-scratch cookie recipe that’s fool-proof and comes out perfectly every time? ✓ Ready-made fondant making it easy to decorate? ✓ Simple, easy to follow instructions? ✓ Break out the baking tools and ingredients, friends! This recipe’s a winner winner Christmas dinner (err dessert)! ✓
Simple Christmas Tree Cookies
Desserts for me are a work of art, a blank canvas if you will. It’s a way for me to express myself in an artistic way using food. I’ve often talked about how fun it is to create with fondant, even though the fondant we’re using here is just rolled flat, I still maintain that cooking is just as artistic as painting or drawing is! But this Christmas cookie recipe is done in a minimalist style. Sure, I’ve done more decorating with other cookie recipes before, mind you. (Remember my Penguin Cookies, anyone?) Heck, even my Christmas Tree Whoopie Pies were a more decorated than this! But I believe the simplicity in this particular Christmas Tree Cookie Recipe is its charm! Rustic, even?
Tips to Make These Christmas Tree Cookies
- When creating baked goods with fondant or any other decor, be sure to use the Wilton decorating mat. Because it’s coated plastic, it’s easy to work on! It provides you a safe clean surface with which to work, and helps you gauge sizes as you create because of the markings right on it!
- As with all sugar cookie recipes you roll out and cut with a cookie cutter, be sure to have extra flour on hand, not just for your work surface, but also to coat your cookie cutter as well! Helps make clean and even cuts into your sugar cookie dough!
- When cutting the fondant with the round cookie cutter, if you want to prevent sticking, use powdered sugar! If you used flour, it would give the fondant a bitter taste. Powdered sugar works the same way
How to Make Christmas Tree Cookies
To make these delicious Christmas Tree Cookies from scratch, you will need the following ingredients:
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Softened unsalted butter
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- White fondant
- Green decorating frosting
- Multicolored nonpareils (sprinkles)
- Brown edible marker
You will also need the following kitchen tools and equipment:
- Sifter
- Baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat
- Mixing bowl set, one small and one large
- Whisk
- Plastic wrap
- Rolling pin
- Wilton decorating mat
- 2-inch round cookie cutter
- Wire rack/s
- Wilton tip #21
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and eggs until creamy.
Add softened butter and vanilla extract. Mix until all ingredients are well-combined and set it aside for now.
In a smaller bowl, sift together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until your cookie dough starts to form. Roll cookie dough into a large ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour or more. After an hour (or more) has passed, remove the chilled cookie dough from fridge to prepare your work surface.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or a silicone baking mat) and set aside for now. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Dust your clean working area with all-purpose flour and roll out dough with a rolling pin so that it’s about a quarter of an inch thick. Using your round cookie cutter, cut out twelve circles out of the cookie dough. Place each one gently on your lined baking sheet. Save any remaining cookie dough and refrigerate it to use for another time.*
Bake cookies for about 6 to 9 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. You need to cool your cookies completely on a wire rack so you can decorate them without the fondant or icing melting off.
To decorate, roll out white fondant onto the Wilton decorating mat so that it’s about a quarter of an inch thick. Use the same round cookie cutter you used before to cut out twelve fondant circles.
Press one fondant circle on one fully cooled cookie. Repeat for the rest of the cookies.
Attach Wilton tip #21 to the green decorating frosting and pipe out a triangular shape in the middle of each cookie. To achieve this look, use dollops of frosting starting with the top (point) of the tree, and add dollops on the way down. This frosting tip gives you a somewhat grassy look.
Use the brown edible marker to draw in tree trunks at the bottom of each of the green frosting tree decorations.
Sprinkle with your rainbow nonpareils, which act like tiny ornaments for your trees! Serve and enjoy these, they are simply delicious!
NOTE: The recipe for the sugar cookies themselves yield more than one dozen cookies, but we recommend making these one batch at a time and refrigerating any remaining cookie dough for other holiday recipes.
What do you think of this delicious Christmas Tree Cookie recipe? Will you make this for any cookie exchanges you attend?
Easy Christmas Tree Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 stick unsalted butter softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and eggs until creamy.
- Add softened butter and vanilla extract. Mix until all ingredients are well-combined and set it aside for now.
- In a smaller bowl, sift together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Slowly add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until your cookie dough starts to form.
- Roll cookie dough into a large ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour or more.
- After an hour (or more) has passed, remove the chilled cookie dough from fridge to prepare your work surface.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or a silicone baking mat) and set aside for now. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
- Dust your clean working area with all-purpose flour and roll out dough with a rolling pin so that it’s about a quarter of an inch thick.
- Using your round cookie cutter, cut out twelve circles out of the cookie dough. Place each one gently on your lined baking sheet. Save any remaining cookie dough and refrigerate it to use for another time.*
- Bake cookies for about 6 to 9 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. You need to cool your cookies completely on a wire rack so you can decorate them without the fondant or icing melting off.
- To decorate, roll out white fondant onto the Wilton decorating mat so that it’s about a quarter of an inch thick.
- Use the same round cookie cutter you used before to cut out twelve fondant circles.
- Press one fondant circle on one fully cooled cookie. Repeat for the rest of the cookies.
- Attach Wilton tip #21 to the green decorating frosting and pipe out a triangular shape in the middle of each cookie. To achieve this look, use dollops of frosting starting with the top (point) of the tree, and add dollops on the way down. This frosting tip gives you a somewhat grassy look.
- Use the brown edible marker to draw in tree trunks at the bottom of each of the green frosting tree decorations.
- Sprinkle with your rainbow nonpareils, which act like tiny "ornaments" for your trees! Serve and enjoy these Christmas Tree Cookies, they are simply delicious!
