Christmas Tree Shortbread Cookies
Are you prepared for an additional enjoyable Christmas cookie thought? I had been in the midst of cutting and rolling my Easy Decorated Christmas Cookies if the inspiration for all these Christmas Tree Shortbread Cookies came flitting through my mind. I had been so excited , immediately, I needed to pull a Christmas tree cookie cutter along with a few green food coloring to provide the idea a go. As soon as I revealed my swirly small trees into Scott, he loved them and thought every one was a work of art. I thought you may like making (and giving) these simple cookies too!
In addition to tasting excellent and exhibiting excellent behaviour in the oven, this dough can be produced in 1 bowl with no mixer. I really love my KitchenAid mixer however once I am in a rush, (almost always) it is really great to pull out only 1 bowl and a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula. In minutes, my nipples is blended up and ready to roll!
ingredients
For the biscuits:
- 8 oz very soft butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
- 2 shades of green gel paste food coloring
Directions
For the biscuits:
- Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. Put aside.
- Put soft butter at a medium-size mixing jar. Stir with a wooden spoon or hardy spatula until smooth and nice. Mix together by hand for approximately 30 seconds until well mixed.
- The dough will be somewhat shaggy. Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface and gather into a ball.
- Knead 5-6 times before quite smooth and the tiny bits are worked . Form into a ball and flatten with your hands to make a flat diskdrive. Switch the disc to coat both sides with flour.
- Roll the dough out into an approximate 3/8-inch depth (see Café Tips over from the article ). Maintain work surface, dough and rolling pin lightly dusted with flour. Cut out Christmas trees (in a couple of dimensions ) and move to prepared pans using a slender, metal spatula. Re-roll scraps as many times as necessary to use the dough up.
- Place cutouts from the fridge for a minumum of one hour or up to 24 hours. Eliminate 1 teaspoon of cutouts in the fridge and bake for 12-14 minutes, or until just starting to turn gold at the edges. Repeat with the next pan of cutouts.
- Combine powdered sugar4 tablespoons half and half (or milk), peppermint and vanilla extract in a skillet. Mix until smooth. The glaze should be rather thick, but pourable. Add a bit more half and half if too thick. Taste the glaze and add more infusion, if a more intense taste is desired.
- Transfer the glaze to a tiny shallow bowl (a little larger than your biscuits ). Using a toothpick, swirl a small amount of 2 green gel colorings throughout the icing in the bowl. Do not swirl too much or the icing will grow to be a good colour. Use a light hand using the gel food coloring. A little goes a very long way!
- To glaze the biscuits, hold onto the edge of a cookie cutter and dip the surface to the glaze, making sure each the surface rolls the glaze. Bring cookie directly up and from this glaze. Permit excess glaze to trickle into a different plate or bowl (this can keep the glaze from becoming murky) for approximately 30 seconds. When glaze stops leaking, fast reverse the cookie to the perfect side and give it a more gentle jiggle to allow the glaze to flow evenly across the surface. Repeat with remaining biscuits.
- Place cookies on a cooling rack and let glaze to dry thoroughly.
Recipe Notes
Makes 10-20 biscuits, based on how big your cookie cutters. Watch Café Tips previously in article for much more detailed instructions and ideas. I received my Christmas tree cookie cutter cutters from Amazon.