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Heather Wolf

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.
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Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 8 minutes
Chill 3 hours
Total Time 4 hours 8 minutes
Servings: 2 cookie trees
Course: Cookies and Bars
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Equipment Method

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

Equipment

  • 10-piece Star-shaped Cookie Tree Cutter Set

Method
 

Gingerbread Cookie Stars
  1. Whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves, nutmeg and salt until combined. Set aside.
  2. 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.
  3. Add egg, molasses and vanilla and beat on high until combined (approximately 2 minutes).
  4. Incorporate dry ingredients with wet, mixing on low until combined. Note: dough will be sticky.
  5. 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).
  6. After dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment and set aside.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. Cool cookies for 5 minutes on baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process for second dough disk.
Assembly
  1. Stack gingerbread stars on a flat surface, largest to smallest, placing raspberry jam in between each layer for stability. Dust tree with powdered sugar.
  2. Store cookie trees at room temperature up to 2 days.