Decorate beautiful Christmas tree cookies quickly & easily using just a couple piping tips with a fluffy delicious buttercream.
Wow your holiday guests, friends, & family with these gorgeous Christmas tree sugar cookies which are buttery and soft. They’ll be the main attraction at the holiday cookie table.
I also threw in some snowflake & reindeer sugar cookies to add some flair to the trees. The snowflake cookies were included in the tutorial but the reindeer cookies…well if you watch the video tutorial…You’ll see.
The scene reminds me of a forest with fresh snowflakes raining down and reindeer prancing around the fresh fallen powder.
I decorated the cookies above last year and never got around to posting the tutorial.
I decorated the Christmas tree cookies slightly different this year but you probably wouldn’t have even noticed. I reversed the direction of the cookie from bottom to top rather than from top to bottom.
The cookie overall just looks cleaner and much neater.
I also decorated reindeer cookies this year, but if I’m being perfectly honest they didn’t come out as nice as last years. I think I was rushing trying to finish up filming the video tutorial. They weren’t my main focus. Maybe next year I’ll try again and devote a full tutorial to just the reindeer.
You may also like this Whimsical Reindeer buttercream tutorial.
One thing is for sure though, all the cookies are delicious. I use my go to sugar cookie recipe & buttercream recipe. It was given to me years ago by a co-worker when I was a labor and delivery nurse.
I’ve tweaked the buttercream over the years and it’s not overly sweet. I use heaving whipping cream instead of milk and it whips up fluffy and delicious. It pipes like a creamy dream and complements the sugar cookie perfectly.
I put 2/3 cup less confectioners sugar in this time and I really loved that the buttercream frosting tasted just the right amount of sweet. Not overpowering at all.
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How to Decorate Christmas Tree Cookies using 2 Piping Tips:
Piping Tips Used in this Tutorial:
- Tip #18 x2 (For the white buttercream and brown tree trunk)
- Tip # 3B (for the green buttercream)
- You can find tip #18 and similar 3B (Tip #22) in the Wilton Decorating Master Set piping tips with case.
That’s it. Those are the only piping tips I used.
I also used a Juniper green coloring gel and white icing color to get the yellow tones out of the buttercream for a crisp white .
Another trick to get the yellow out of buttercream is to use a hint of violet gel, but if you’re using either the white icing color or violet gel, make sure to color your other buttercream first, because it will greatly affect the other icing colors you want to use.
I always separate my batch of buttercream into smaller bowls based on how much of each color I’m going to use. Then I color my icing. It is much easier that way.
One other tip before we get into the sugar cookie and buttercream recipe & tutorial is to place your buttercream in a piece of plastic wrap roll it up. Twist it at both ends. Snip off the piping end and place it in your master piping bag with the coupler attached.
This way, if you need to change out tips for any reason you can easily change them out. And if you need more icing you just pull out the empty plastic wrap and slip in a new clean icing refill right into the master piping bag.
It keep everything so much cleaner and makes decorating more enjoyable.
I also wash out my master piping bags and reuse them all the time which saves money as well.
Now let’s move on to the recipe and video tutorial.
Decorate Beautiful Christmas Tree Cookies using Buttercream and 2 Tips
Ingredients
- Sugar Cookies
- 1 stick salted butter slightly cool
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla.
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 1/2 cups flour.
- Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
- 1 cup salted butter (room temp around 72Ā° F)
- 3 1/3 cups confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- Gel or liquid food coloring
- Gold sugar crystals for dusting
Instructions
- In stand mixer using paddle attachment or using hand mixer room temperature butter cream butter to get any lumps out. You want your butter around 72 degrees.
- Add sugar and cream until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated
- Add vanilla & mix.
- Switch over to hook attachment.
- Add 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder and
- 2 cups flour.
- Mix and then gradually add Ā½ cup flour more.
- Dough should pull away from sides. It should be firm but not too sticky and should come together in a ball
- Wrap in plastic or ziplock bag and refrigerate
- Chill dough overnight or at least one to two hours.
- When ready to bake cookies preheat oven to 330 degrees
- Lightly flour your work space and roll out dough to desired thickness.
- Cut out cookies with your favorite cookie cutter or cutters
- Bake on middle rack at 330 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes or until bottoms are very lightly brown.
- Cool cookies on wire rack.
- Decorate/frost when completely cool.
- Store decorated cookies in the refrigerator until ready to eat.
- Butter Cream Instructions:
- Whip butter in stand mixer with paddle attachment to get any lumps out. You can also use a hand mixer. Start out on low speed and gradually increase.
- Add 2 cups confectioners sugar.
- Vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon whipping cream. Gradually increase speed so powder doesn’t fly out everywhere. Whip until well blended.
- Add remaining 1 and 1/3 cup confectioners sugar and whip until fluffy.
- Divide frosting and add color. If icing thins out add more confectionerās sugar. I use color gel/paste from Wilton.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season.
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