Red velvet and cream cheese frosting is a match made in heaven, and here we just changed the usual cake to a cookie for hand-held eating. The dark-red tree shapes get contrast from bright green frosting and are decorated with a gold star on top and colorful nonpareils. This recipe is written for decorations with a classic holiday motif, but feel free to use other candies or sprinkles if you like. Note that the butter and sugar aren’t creamed together until light and fluffy as they are in many other cookie doughs; adding too much air to the dough will cause it to rise and spread during baking and could change the cookies’ iconic Christmas-tree shape. Chilling the dough until very cold also helps prevent spreading; you can use the freezer to chill the dough faster if you’re in a hurry.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 2 hr 15 min |
| Active: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Yield: | 24 cookies |
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 sticks (1 cup) plus 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups plus 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tablespoon red gel food coloring
- 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or paste
- 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon green gel food coloring
- Small edible sugar gold stars
- Red, green and white nonpareils
Instructions
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of the kosher salt together into a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Cream 2 sticks (1 cup) of the butter and 2 cups of the confectioners’ sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on low speed until completely smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. Add the egg, condensed milk, red food coloring and 2 teaspoons of the vanilla and beat until smooth.
- Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl again. Add the flour mixture all at once and slowly mix on low speed until a dough starts to form with some dry spots. Leaving the mixer running on low speed, drizzle in the vinegar and mix just until combined.
- Divide the dough in half. Place half the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Roll out with a rolling pin until the dough is 1/4 inch thick. Lift off the top sheet of parchment. Cut the dough with a 3 3/4-inch-tall Christmas tree cookie cutter. Use a 1 3/4-inch mini-Christmas tree cookie cutter to cut out the centers of half the larger trees. Repeat with the remaining dough. Chill in the refrigerator until firm, about 30 minutes. Remove the excess dough around the trees and lift up the mini trees centers that you’ve cut out from half the cookies. Gather together the mini centers (they are now scraps) and any excess dough. Reroll, refrigerate and cut out more trees by following the same steps.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Transfer the cut and chilled cookies onto the prepared baking sheets spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake until the cookies are matte on top and slightly puffed, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Beat the cream cheese and the remaining 4 tablespoons butter until smooth with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Slowly beat in the remaining 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and remaining 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt until completely smooth. Add the green gel food coloring and beat until the frosting is evenly colored.
- Spread 1 tablespoon frosting on each uncut cookie, then top each with one of the cut-out trees. Decorate the cookies by placing a small dot of frosting on top of each tree and covering it with a gold star, then sprinkle the frosting showing through the middle of each cookie with nonpareils. Enjoy the cookies freshly made, or make them a day in advance for a softer texture. You can refrigerate them in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 24 servings |
| Calories | 250 |
| Total Fat | 14 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Carbohydrates | 30 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 16 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Cholesterol | 44 mg |
| Sodium | 121 mg |
Reviews
Delicious! But the cookie cutters I had were not identical which was an issue in making sure the top cookie was in one piece. Does anyone know where to get the correct ones?