Festive Cookie Tree

These cookies will make you feel extra festive

Makes 40 cookies

INGREDIENTS

For the spiced cookies:
1 cup (227g) butter, softened
(100g) cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups (320g) flour
tsp ground cinnamon
tsp ground nutmeg
tsp salt

For the icing:
3 cups (360g) icing sugar
1/3 cup milk, add more if needed
tsp vanilla essence

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a non-stick baking tray with baking paper.

For the spiced cookies:
2. In a large bowl, combine the butter with the sugar and beat with a hand mixer (we recommend the Kenwood Hand Mixer) on medium speed until creamy, light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the vanilla essence and beat on low until combined.
3. Sieve in the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat well at a low speed until combined. Once it comes together, divide the dough in half and shape each one into a disk-like shape. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. *Chefs Tip: Refrigerating the dough will help the cookies keep their shape!
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll each disk of dough out until it is about cm thick. Using star shaped cookie cutters (we like the Tescoma Star-Shaped Cookie Cutters), cut out stars in different sizes and place them on the baking trays. Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes until they are golden around the edges.
5. Remove the cookies from the oven and pack them on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing:
6. While the cookies are cooling, combine the ingredients for the icing in a medium sized bowl. Mix until combined and smooth, adding more milk if needed.
7. Transfer the icing into a piping bag (we recommend the Silicone Piping Bag Set with 16 Stainless Steel Nozzles for Cake Decorating) and apply the round shaped nozzle. Place the largest cookie on a plate and add a blob of icing to the middle of the cookie. Stick a slightly smaller cookie on top of the large one and repeat until you have a 4-5 cookies stacked on top of each other.
8. Pipe a filled-out star shape on 3-4 of the smallest cookies to go on top of your trees. Use the piping bag to pipe dots on the edges of the cookies until all exposed tops of the cookies are covered. Add icing to two of the bottom points of the smallest, fully piped stars and allow them to stand on top of the trees.
9. Serve alongside a cup of milk and ENJOY!

Make your Christmas ornaments!

1. Prepare your ornaments by rolling the Play-doh out into cm thickness and use the cookie cutters to cut out stars, baubles, Christmas trees and reindeers. Use a skewer to make a hole on the top of each star and place the stars on the baking tray. Bake for 60-65 minutes at 100C, flipping them over halfway. Allow the stars to cool completely until they are hard to the touch, about an hour.
2. String ribbon or twine through the hole and hang it on your Christmas tree along with your Christmas lights (we like the Portable Green Christmas Tree and LED String Decorative Wedding Christmas Party Fairy Lights 10M Extension).

Planning to try this?

If yes, please share your pictures with us on the Foodies Of SA Group on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/301933683643677/