The magic of Christmas will soon shine in our homes and the smell of traditional delicacies that we love to prepare at this time of year will fill the air. The children are particularly enthusiastic about Christmas baking. Be creative and make 3D Christmas tree out of cookies. These can be made from either gingerbread or shortbread dough. Use these cute Christmas trees to add a special touch to your festive table. They are also a delicious dessert with coffee!
Baking a 3D Christmas tree: a perfect gift from the kitchen
WithRoyal Icingand decorated with sugar beads, a 3D Christmas tree is also perfect as an original Christmas gift for friends and family. You simply need suitable packaging to safely transport the edible gift. It doesn't have to be complicated at all. A piece of cellophane wrap and a nice bow – completely sufficient.
Bake shortbread Christmas trees
Preparation time: 2:40 minutes
Baking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients for 4 Christmas trees
200 grams unsalted butter, chilled, chopped
70 grams of powdered sugar
70 grams of rice flour
190 grams of flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
100 grams white chocolate, chopped
Silver sugar pearls for decorating
Powdered sugar for decorating
You still need star-shaped cookie cutters with the following diameters:
7,5 cm / 7 cm / 6 cm / 5,5 cm / 4,5 cm / 2,5 cm
How to prepare the dough:
1. Put butter, sugar, flour and vanilla in the bowl of a dough kneading machine and knead briefly until a smooth dough is formed. Press down the remaining dough on the sides with a spatula. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead lightly again with your hands.
2. Divide the dough in half and shape them into disks. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until the dough has set.
3. Preheat oven to 170°C/150°C. Grease 4 large baking sheets. Line with baking paper.
4. Roll out 1 portion of dough between 2 layers of baking paper to a thickness of 3 mm. Use the 7.5 cm cookie cutter to cut out 8 stars from the dough. Now roll out the dough again and cut out another 8 stars, this time with the 7 cm cookie cutter. Spread the stars 2 cm apart on two of the prepared baking sheets. Bake 1 baking sheet per baking time. After 10 minutes, remove the cookies from the oven, place them on a rack and let them cool completely.
5. Repeat the same with the remaining dough. You need 8 x 6 cm stars, 8 x 5.5 cm stars, 8 x 4.5 cm stars and 8 x 2.5 cm stars from the dough. Place on prepared baking sheets except for the smallest stars. Again, bake each baking sheet for 10 minutes each. The smallest stars need about 5 minutes of baking time.
6. Place the white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in the microwave on high for 30 seconds. Then stir with a metal spoon for 1 minute or until smooth. Let stand for 5 minutes to allow the chocolate to cool.
7. Place 1/3 of the chocolate in a plastic bag. Cut off 1 corner. Make small dots of chocolate on each star point and gently press the sugar beads into place. Allow the chocolate to harden for about 5 minutes.
8. Arrange 4 of the large stars next to each other on a piece of baking paper. Spoon a little of the remaining chocolate into the center of each star (re-melt the chocolate if necessary). Place another star of the same size on top so that the points are offset from one another. In this way, stack all the stars on top of each other (except the smallest stars) to form 4 Christmas trees.
9. Place a small blob of chocolate on the top of the tree and stick 2 small stars into the chocolate. Finally, drizzle the remaining chocolate over the trees. Set aside for 20 minutes. Dust generously with powdered sugar before serving.
3D Christmas tree made of gingerbread cookies
Gingerbread dough is also perfect for building 3D Christmas trees. Here is the classic recipe forGingerbread cookies:
Ingredients for 1 Christmas tree from 20 cookies
390 grams all-purpose flour
100 grams of honey
200 grams of brown sugar
200 grams unsalted butter, melted
1 No
4 tsp ground ginger
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 TL Chili pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 TL Backsoda
Gingerbread dough
Mix 2/3 of the flour with ginger, cinnamon, allspice, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Make a hole in the middle.
Beat the butter with the sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the egg and honey. Pour the mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir well until all the flour is incorporated. Stir in the remaining flour until the dough is no longer sticky.
Divide the dough into 4 portions. Shape into disks and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Then let the chilled dough rest at room temperature for 5 minutes before rolling out. It will be easier to roll. The gingerbread dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Instead of white chocolate you canfrostingand use royal icing. The icing is perfect for gluing the stars together, while royal icing is ideal for decorating. For the icing you only need two ingredients: 1 egg white and 200 grams of powdered sugar. And here is the recipe for the egg white icing:
Royal Icing Recipe
Beat 3 egg whites with 1/4 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer until fluffy. Add 640 grams of sifted powdered sugar. Beat the mixture for 3 to 7 minutes until dense and thick but foamy. Stir in 2 to 4 tablespoons cold water to thin the glaze. Transfer to a piping bag with a very small opening for decorating chilled cookies.
If you like to experiment, swap the star shape for that of a snowflake. As already mentioned, the cookies need to be of different sizes because then they will be arranged on top of each other in ascending order. The smallest snowflake sits right at the top. Decorate the cookies as you wish and create an unusual 3D Christmas tree.
If you don't have cookie cutters, you can simply use homemade paper stencils. Print out the selected templates in any size you want and make stencils out of them. Then place these on the dough and cut along the contours with a sharp knife. Try to make the cuts as clean as possible. This works best if you have chilled the rolled out dough. When the dough is soft, it tends to squash around the knife.
