Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting
Make beautifully decorated Christmas tree cookies frosted with fluffy buttercream for a gorgeous and festive holiday treat.
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Equipment
- Food Processor or Pastry Cutter
- Rolling Pin and Cookie Cutters
- Small Palette Knife
- Piping Bags and Piping Tips (#18 & #22)
Ingredients
- 1 batch Vanilla Sugar Cookie Dough
- 2 cups American Buttercream, any flavor
- white, gold and silver sugar pearls, various sizes
- white sparkling sugar
- white sanding sugar
Instructions
Getting Ready
- Make the sugar cookie dough, then roll, cut and bake your Christmas tree cookies, as instructed in my Perfect Vanilla Sugar Cookies post.
- Make the buttercream, and organize your piping bags, piping tips, sparkling sugar and sugar pearls.
Style 1: Stars
- Fit a piping bag with tip #18 and fill with buttercream. Pipe small stars all over the cookies.
- Scatter with sugar pearls, then sprinkle lightly with sparkling sugar.
Style 2: Swooping Branches
- Fit a piping bag with tip #22. Starting at the bottom of the cookie, pipe a row of swoops to form the bottom row of branches. Repeat with a second and third row, finishing at the top of the cookie.
- Lightly sprinkle coarse sparkling sugar along the bottom edge of each row of branches.
Style 3: Sparkling
- Spread (or pipe) buttercream all over the cookie. You can smooth it out with a palette knife or leave it slightly textured.
- Sprinkle your larger sugar pearls onto the buttercream first, then your smaller sugar pearls.
- Holding the cookie over a bowl to catch the falling sugar, sprinkle it generously with sparkling sugar or sanding sugar (I like to use a combination of both).
Style 4: Textured Branches
- Starting at the bottom of the cookie, use a small pallet knife to spread on the buttercream, leaving it textured to look like tree branches. Repeat with two more rows, ending at the top of the cookie. The more textured you make the buttercream, the better this design will look.
- Sprinkle coarse sparkling sugar just along the edge of some of the ripples.
Notes
Store the frosted cookies in a single layer in airtight containers. Keep refrigerated for up to 1 week, letting the cookies warm up to room temperature before serving.
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