I saw a photo on Pinterest that made me fall in love: a small Christmas tree entirely made of SHORTBREAD cookies, with many holes filled with jam that look like colorful little windows. I couldn’t resist and recreated it in the ‘La Cucina di Asi’ version: homemade, not perfect, simple, genuine, fragrant, and cute as a gift idea or as a holiday centerpiece.
This Advent Tree of Shortbread is very easy to prepare, you just need good shortbread that holds its shape during baking, some jams of different colors, and Christmas-themed cookie cutters to make the central holes. The result is spectacular, delicate, and delicious.
N.B. I used fig, strawberry, and peach jam but …was hoping the taste change was more visible, DARN!
P.S. The number of cookies is equal to one stick as a trunk, one star as a top, and 16 whole triangles and 16 cut-out triangles!
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I have opened a channel of recipes open to everyone and free on WhatsApp with no notifications and no sound, which you can subscribe to by clicking on the link here https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaHbGIn9cDDig7Cw2x0F and every day you can read a sweet and a savory recipe!
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🎄 Clever tip
If some triangles are more golden on the edges, powdered sugar evens everything out.
With jams of different colors, the tree becomes even more spectacular.
It keeps perfectly under a dome for 4-5 days
Also on the TOPIC of Christmas cookie recipes I leave you some ideas just below:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 15 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 5 oz butter (cold and diced)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or also organic or untreated lemon zest)
- 1 pinch salt
- to taste jam (of various flavors and colors)
- to taste powdered sugar (to sprinkle over the tree triangles)
Tools
- Cookie Cutters
- Cookie Cutters
- Cookie Cutters
- Parchment Paper
- Baking Pans
Steps
Work butter and flour until a sandy consistency is achieved.
Add powdered sugar, egg, salt, and chosen aroma.
Knead all the ingredients quickly, then form a dough ball and let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour.After the time has passed, place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll it out with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 0.16-0.2 inches.
Cut many triangles all of the same size, a stick as a trunk, and a star for the top of the shortbread tree.
Using the mini Christmas-themed cutters given the season, cut out the central hole on half of the triangles (these will be the ‘covers’ of the double cookie top that will then form the Christmas tree).Now arrange on a tray lined with appropriate paper all the shortbread cookies and bake at 356°F static for 10-12 minutes, carefully checking that they remain light in color.
I watched closely, and honestly, I burned an entire tray, but here… I saved myself for a couple of covers by covering the too-golden parts with powdered sugar!
Let cool completely.
Sprinkle all the cut-out triangles with powdered sugar.
On the whole triangles spread a layer of jam, varying with different flavors if you like.
Place the cut-out ‘covers’ on top.Position all the double-filled triangles as in the photo.
Add the shortbread star as the top and the small rectangle as the trunk.Here is the shortbread tree filled with jam ready.
Enjoy! Annalisa
