Stacked Sugar Cookie Christmas Trees
These fun and festive sugar cookies are piped with green vanilla buttercream frosting and decorated with holiday sprinkles to look like cute little Christmas trees. Would you rather decorate a real tree or a sugar cookie tree?
Servings: 24 cookie trees
Ingredients
SUGAR COOKIES:
- 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 c. salted butter
- 1/2 c. granulated sugar
- 1 sm. egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:
- 1/2 c. salted butter
- 1/2 c. vegetable shortening
- 4 c. sifted confectioners’ sugar
- 2 T. heavy cream or milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2-3 drops green gel food coloring
DECORATIONS:
- 18-24 yellow star sprinkles for the treetops
- Small round colorful sprinkles for ornaments
Instructions
- SUGAR COOKIES: In a small bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder: set aside.
- In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract, beat until well combined.
- Turn the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Form the dough into a ball and place in a 1-gallon zip-top bag. Press the ball down to form a 1-inch-thick disc. Refrigerate for 1 hour or store for up to 7 days.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured flat surface to about a 1/4-inch thick, using additional flour as needed to prevent sticking. Use a 1-1/2 -inch round cookie/biscuit cutter to cut out the bottom of the trees, a 1 1/4-inch round cookie/biscuit cutter for the middle of the trees, and a 1-inch round cookie/biscuit cutter for the top of the trees (you will need 18-24 of each size).
- Arrange the cookie cut-outs on the prepared baking sheets. (Note: The cookies don’t spread out, so they can be placed pretty close together.)
- Bake one sheet at a time in the middle rack of the oven until puffy, about 5-6 minutes. Allow the cookies to rest for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- BUTTERCREAM FROSTING: In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter and shortening until combined. Add half of the sifted confectioners’ sugar, beat until smooth. Add the vanilla and 2 tablespoons heavy cream, beat until combined. Add the remaining confectioners’ sugar, beat until smooth. Add the green gel food coloring a drop at a time until the desired shade is reached, about 1-3 drops.
- Fit a piping bag with a Wilton #21 open star tip and fill the bag with green frosting.
- TO ASSEMBLE COOKIES: Get one size of each cookie. Pipe a swirl of frosting onto the largest cookie, then place the medium-sized cookie on top. Pipe a swirl of frosting onto the second cookie, then top with the smallest cookie. Pipe a swirl on top of the final cookie.
- Decorate with a star and round ornament sprinkles (I used tweezers to apply the sprinkle ornaments). Continue building all the cookie trees.
- Refrigerate cookies until ready to serve.
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