Everyone makes gingerbread houses around Christmas but why not try something a little different like these adorable Christmas trees? You can have fun adding decorations like candied snowflakes or sprinkles or keep them simple like I did with silver balls.
I love the idea of using each tree as a place setting for a holiday dinner party or packaging them up in clear boxes to give as gifts to your guests. The best part about these gingerbread Christmas trees is you can make them well in advance so you have more time to enjoy a hot cup of cocoa with friends.
Ingredients
Each Christmas tree is made using a classic gingerbread recipe full of bold, rich molasses and spices like ginger, cinnamon and cloves. The icing is a simple royal icing that I purchased as a pre-mix from my local Bulk Barn store. The icing is easy to whip together by just adding water and you can make as little or as much as you like.
- All-purpose flour
- Ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Fancy molasses
- Blackstrap (cooking) molasses
- Royal icing mix
- Candied silver balls (decorative, optional)
What You Need to Make Gingerbread Christmas Trees
- A set of 5 or more descending star cookie cutters. Here is a similar set to what I use, click here.
- Royal icing mix. I get mine from my local Bulk Barn Foods store.
- Piping bag.
- Candied silver balls
- Basic baking tools, rolling pin, cookie sheet, etc.
How To Make Gingerbread Christmas Trees
Step One: Make your cookie dough and let rest in the refrigerator for approx. 30 mins. Once your dough is ready, roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface about 1/4 inch thick. Using 5 star cookie cutters (that descend from large to small) cut out stars and place them on your baking sheets. You should have a total of 10 stars for each tree. Bake and transfer to a cooling rack. While the cookies cool, make your icing.
Step Two: You’ll be using 2 cookies of each size to make one tree, a total of 10 cookies. Stack cookies to make a tower of 10 from large to small. Take one of the smallest stars, cover the entire surface in icing and add silver balls. Set it aside to air dry.
Step Three: Starting with the bottom large star, add a dollop of icing in the middle. Then press the next star on top and continue until all the 9 stars are stacked. Add a big dollop on the top star and place your decorated small star on top. Continue with the rest of the trees and let them set.
Step Four: Now pipe dollops on each star tip to create a snowy looking branch. Dust with icing sugar if you like and let the cookies sit for 20 minutes before moving.
Gingerbread Christmas Cookie Trees
These fun gingerbread Christmas cookie trees make an adorable edible gift for the holidays. You can dress up place settings, holiday buffets or just enjoy making and decorating them. The cookie trees are a classic gingerbread recipe and topped with snowy royal icing.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Cookies, Holiday
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup fancy molasses
- 1/4 cup blackstrap (cooking) molasses
- 1 bag of royal icing mix from Bulk Barn Foods
- candied silver balls (decorative, optional)
Instructions
- In a large bowl add flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, and salt. Mix together and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer add butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add egg and both types of molasses until well combined.
- Add the flour mixture in 2 to 3 batches to the butter mixture and mix well until dough rolls into a ball.
- Divide dough in half and flatten into discs. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 – 60 minutes or until firm.
- Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 325˚F, line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside.
- Once your dough is ready, roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface about 1/4 inch thick. If your dough is too cold to roll let it sit at room temperature for 5 minutes before rolling.
- Using  5 star cookie cutters (that descend from large to small) cut out stars and place them on your baking sheets. Place small stars on one sheet and larger stars on the other sheet. Each tree needs 2 stars of the same size. You should have a total of 10 stars for each tree.
- Bake for approx. 8-10 minutes, or until the bottoms are just starting to turn brown. They will harden as they cool.
- Transfer to a cooling rack.
- While the cookies cool, make your icing (you’ll only need half the bag of royal icing). Simply add water to the powder and mix until you reach your desired consistency. You want the icing pliable, soft and a little thick. Add icing to a piping bag and set aside.
- Assemble your cookies. You’ll be using 2 cookies of each size to make one tree, a total of 10 cookies. Stack cookies to make a tower of 10 from large to small. Take one of the smallest stars, cover the entire surface in icing and add silver balls. Set it aside to air dry. Starting with the bottom large star, add a dollop of icing in the middle. Press the next star on top and continue until all the 9 stars are stacked. Add a big dollop on the top star and place your decorated small star on top.  Continue with the rest of the trees and let them set. Now pipe dollops on each star tip to create a snowy looking branch. Let the cookies sit for 20 minutes before moving.
- Enjoy.
Notes
Gingerbread has a long storage life and will last up to a month but after 2 weeks the cookies will not be quite as fresh. They don’t require refrigeration. Store in a container until ready to use.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Tree no icing
- Calories: 400
- Sugar: 26.4g
- Sodium: 255mg
- Fat: 12.6g
- Saturated Fat: 7.6g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 66.7g
- Fiber: 1.6g
- Protein: 5.9g
- Cholesterol: 51mg
FAQ’s
Gingerbread has a long storage life and will last up to a month but after 2 weeks the cookies will not be quite as fresh. They don’t require refrigeration. Store in a container until ready to use.
Royal icing is a specialty type of icing that is used to decorate gingerbread houses, cookies and other baking like cakes and scones. It’s widely used in baking as a ‘cement’ to hold pieces together (like gingerbread houses) and used to decorate sugar cookies to create beautiful designs. It consists of eggs whites, icing sugar, hot water and sometimes has flavouring added like lemon or almond.
Blackstrap molasses is also known as cooking molasses and has more of a bitter taste than the commonly used fancy molasses. Because blackstrap molasses is boiled three times instead of the two like other molasses it has more nutrients, essential vitamins and minerals. It’s used in recipes like barbecue sauce and baked beans.
This blog post has been sponsored by Bulk Barn Canada where you can find all your baking needs! All opinions are my own and I’m so happy to work with brands I love so I can continue to share these recipes with all of you! I hope you guys get to a Bulk Barn soon and try out this recipe.
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