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Stacked Christmas Tree Cookies
4.8 from 12 votes

Stacked Christmas Tree Cookies

Softy, chewy, buttery sugar cookies are stacked in the shape of Christmas trees and layered with buttercream frosting! Fun and festive for the holidays and EASY to make! No need to roll out the dough nor chill it. A great holiday cookie to make with kids!

Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Additional Time
30 mins
Total Time
1 hr 10 mins
Servings: 20
Calories: 301 kcal
Course: Baked Goods
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Cookies
  • ¾ cup butter softened, unsalted
  • ¾ cup confectioners' sugar
  • 1 egg large
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
Buttercream Frosting
  • 1 cup butter softened, unsalted
  • 4 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract pure
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • green food coloring as desired, drops
Garnishing
  • Sprinkles yellow star shaped
  • silver and gold pearl-shaped sprinklers

Instructions

Cookies
    Cup of Yum
  1. Preheat oven to 350F and line at least 2 baking sheets with Silpat liners or parchment paper; set aside.
  2. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or large bowl and handheld electric mixer, add the butter, and beat on high speed until creamy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  3. Add the confectioners' sugar and cream them together (beat until incorporated and creamy), about 3 minutes.
  4. Add the egg, vanilla, and beat until well incorporated. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  5. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and beat until just incorporated; don't overmix.
  6. Make balls of 3 sizes - 1 teaspoon, 2 teaspoons, and 3 teaspoons, respectively. You should make approximately 20 balls of each size, so 60 balls total. This will vary slightly based on the exact size you make the balls.
  7. For the large size (3 teaspoons of dough), bake for about 10 minutes. For the medium size (2 teaspoons of dough), bake for about 7 to 8 minutes. For the small size (1 teaspoon of dough), bake for about 5 to 6 minutes, or until done.* (See Notes) Cookies are done when they are set around the edges, even if they look a bit underdone in the centers because they firm up as they cool. Allow them to cool on the baking sheets for about 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely. Tip - If possible, I recommend baking one sheet of cookies at a time, on the center rack, and rotating your baking sheet midway through for the most optimal results.
Buttercream Frosting
  1. To the same large mixing bowl, add the butter, and beat on high speed until it's smooth and creamy, about 3 to 4 minutes.
  2. Add half the confectioners' sugar and beat on medium speed until incorporated. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  3. Add the remaining half the confectioners' sugar and beat until incorporated. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  4. Add the vanilla, salt, and beat to incorporate.
  5. Add the green food coloring, a few drops at a time, and beat on medium speed to incorporate. Keep adding food coloring until you reach your desired shade and intensity of green.
Decorating and Garnishing
  1. Fit a star tip in a piping bag (I like the 1M tip), fill it with frosting, and pipe frosting onto the largest cookies, followed by piping it onto the medium cookies.
  2. On the smallest cookies, pipe a swirl on top so it looks like the top of a tree.
  3. Decorate it with a yellow star to make it look like a Christmas tree.
  4. Stack together a large base, topped with a medium cookie, topped with the small ones; repeat until you've made and stacked together all the cookies.
  5. Decorate your cookie trees with gold and silver pearl sprinkles or any other sprinkles of your choice such as red and green jimmies or similar.

Notes

  • *Baking time is highly dependent on the exact size of your cookie balls, your oven, climate, brand of ingredients, etc. Bake until they cookies are done, watch them and evaluate your cookies, independent of whatever the time on the clock says.
  • Storage: After they’ve been decorated, these Christmas tree cookies will keep airtight in the fridge for 1 to 2 weeks, although they will taste best the fresher they are. However, I don’t like to store cookies in the fridge and am fine with storing them airtight at room temp for up to 4 days. For me personally, the high quantity of sugar helps preserve the butter but store them however you’re most comfortable. If you plan to freeze the cookies, I would freeze the baked but undecorated cookies in an airtight container or ziptop bag. Frost them after thawing (not before freezing them) is my advice.

Nutrition Information

Serving 1 Calories 301kcal (15%) Carbohydrates 37g (12%) Protein 2g (4%) Fat 17g (26%) Saturated Fat 10g (50%) Polyunsaturated Fat 6g (35%) Cholesterol 52mg (17%) Sodium 149mg (6%) Sugar 26g (52%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 20 Serving

Amount Per Serving

Calories 301

% Daily Value*

Serving 1
Calories 301kcal 15%
Carbohydrates 37g 12%
Protein 2g 4%
Fat 17g 26%
Saturated Fat 10g 50%
Polyunsaturated Fat 6g 35%
Cholesterol 52mg 17%
Sodium 149mg 6%
Sugar 26g 52%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.