Christmas Tree Cookies
A recipe made especially for the holidays: the Christmas Tree Cookies, easy, beautiful to look at, but above all delicious.
Fun little treats to prepare to use as a centerpiece, to serve with tea during the holiday season, or to gift to friends and family wrapped with a pretty bow.
Preparing Christmas Tree Cookies is very simple: just knead all the ingredients, then once the dough is ready, it should be rolled out to a thickness of about 1/8-3/16 inches, cut into various-sized triangles with a triangular cookie cutter or star-shaped cutter, and baked. Once baked and cooled, they are assembled from largest to smallest using hazelnut cream as a glue, decorated with colored sprinkles and powdered sugar, and you’re done.
A cute and delicious Christmas recipe that can be prepared in advance, storing the cookies in a tin, and assembled at the last minute to decorate the table on Christmas Day, as a place card, or a sweet gift.
For decorating these Christmas Tree Cookies, let your imagination run wild: colored sprinkles (monpariglia), fondant, sugar glaze, or simply a dusting of powdered sugar will still be delicious and gone in no time.
Remember, you don’t need expensive gifts to impress relatives and friends at Christmas, it’s better to choose something made with heart and your own hands, so Christmas Tree Cookies for everyone: delicious, healthy because you know what ingredients you’ve used, but above all easy and quick!
For more ideas of CHRISTMAS COOKIES to gift, don’t miss
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: ABOUT 10 LITTLE TREES
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
- Energy 446.75 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 33.36 (g) of which sugars 15.40 (g)
- Proteins 9.04 (g)
- Fat 31.47 (g) of which saturated 8.04 (g)of which unsaturated 4.52 (g)
- Fibers 2.44 (g)
- Sodium 10.65 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 60 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup hazelnut flour
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- pistachio cream (about 1/3 cup to glue the cookies)
- hazelnut cream (about 1/3 cup to glue the cookies)
- to taste powdered sugar
- colored sprinkles (for the top decoration)
Tools
- Bowl
- Rolling Pin
- Baking Tray
Steps
Mix in the bowl of the stand mixer (with paddle attachment) or by hand, the butter, cold from the refrigerator, sugar, and a pinch of salt without working the ingredients too long. Add the egg and continue to mix until it is completely absorbed. Add the two flours (“00” and pistachio) and knead until you get a homogeneous dough. Shape the dough into a rectangular loaf, wrap in plastic wrap, and let it rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Retrieve the dough, work it a few seconds with your hands to get it elastic again, then roll it out with the rolling pin to a thickness of about 1/8-3/16 inches. Using a set of triangular cookie cutters (or star-shaped) of various sizes, cut the dough. Place the cookies slightly apart on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake in a static oven at a temperature of 340°F for about 10/12 minutes. Remove them from the oven and let them cool completely.
You are now ready to create the Christmas Tree Cookies. On a serving plate, place the cookies starting with the largest ones, put half a teaspoon of hazelnut or pistachio cream on each, then stack the smaller ones, always alternating with hazelnut cream, which will act as glue. Use colored sprinkles for decoration to place on top. Dust with powdered sugar for a snow effect. Here you have the Christmas Tree Cookies ready to serve or gift.
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NOTES
The butter should be used cold from the fridge to get a more elastic dough and a shortcrust pastry that won’t break or crack when you roll it out with the rolling pin.
I recommend using ready-made hazelnut flour as it performs better. Alternatively, you can toast the hazelnuts, wait for them to cool, then blend them in a mixer with 1 oz of sugar (which you should subtract from the total sugar in the recipe). The sugar helps to absorb the oily part they might release while being blended.
You can replace the hazelnut flour with an equal amount of pistachio, almond, or walnut flour according to your preference.
STORAGE
The Christmas Tree Cookies can be kept in an airtight container for up to 1 week. You can prepare the dough in advance and store it in the fridge raw for up to 4 days. Just remove it from the freezer the day before use.
