Gingerbread Cookie Tree
Bake, stack and bite your way to a crowd-pleasing Gingerbread Cookie Tree. Soft gingerbread cookies cut into graduated-sized stars tower high for an edible holiday centerpiece. Steadied with raspberry jam and dusted with powdered sugar, this cookie tree is the perfect December dessert.
Equipment
- 10-piece Star-shaped Cookie Tree Cutter Set
Ingredients
Gingerbread Stars
- 3 1/4 cup all-purpose flour unbleached
- 1 Tbsp ground ginger
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp sea salt fine
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 2/3 cup dark brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla pure
Decoration
- 1/4 cup raspberry jam
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
Gingerbread Cookie Stars
- Whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves, nutmeg and salt until combined. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (approximately 2 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
- Add egg, molasses and vanilla and beat on high until combined (approximately 2 minutes).
- Incorporate dry ingredients with wet, mixing on low until combined. Note: dough will be sticky.
- Divide dough in half, cover each with plastic wrap then use your hands to flatten dough into disks. Refrigerate for three hours or overnight. (Overnight is preferred).
- After dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment and set aside.
- Remove one dough disk from the refrigerator and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness on a floured work surface. Cut into stars with graduated-size cookie cutters. I used the star-shaped Twinkle Tree 10-Piece Cookie Cutter set from Sur La Table.
- Place cookies on prepared cookie sheets 1 inch apart and bake for 8 minutes. Note: larger cookies may need an additional minute of bake time.
- Cool cookies for 5 minutes on baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process for second dough disk.
Assembly
- Stack gingerbread stars on a flat surface, largest to smallest, placing raspberry jam in between each layer for stability. Dust tree with powdered sugar.
- Store cookie trees at room temperature up to 2 days.