Merry Christmas
Snowy trees are one of nature’s most beautiful sights. Although that beauty can never be entirely captured in a cookie, it most definitely inspires the effort. An added bonus is that if you don’t quite match Mother Nature’s artistry, you can always eat your attempts and share them with a friend..or two or three.
“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields that it kisses them so gently?” Lewis Carrol
To a certain extent, my tree cookie cutters themselves inspired this winter snowy tree theme. Each shape suggested to me the possibility of recreating the stillness that you find in a forest the morning after a snow storm. This time of year always makes me long for a white Christmas...at least in my imagination, if not in my front yard. Shoveling the walkway is never as appealing as munching on a “snow”-covered sugar cookie with a cup of hot chocolate.
Cookie specifics
Snowy Tree Cookies. The trees are made with a delicious Lofthouse-Style Sugar Cookie recipe. It produces a soft and chewy cookie that’s perfect for cutting out any shape, even the most delicate ones. I decorated them with a thick vanilla-bean glaze that dries hard enough to stack but keeps its shine and glass-like appearance. The “snow” is a thicker version of the same glaze and is brushed on, to make the branches look as if they are snow-laden. The tree trunks are chocolate royal icing.
Shapes
Lots of tree shapes: tall and skinny, fat and wide, cheerful and whimsical, iconic and noble; some with a star on top, some simple...all worthy of becoming a winter cookie.
Sizes
Sizes range from mini (1-2 inches) to large (4-5 inches). 2½ to 3 inches is my favorite size for decorating and eating!
My Family Recipes
Lofthouse-Style Sugar Cookie. Recipe based on several sugar cookie recipes from family and friends. My goal was to make a cookie full of flavor that would hold its shape for delicate cutouts but not end up hard as a rock. This is it! Replacing the all-purpose flour with cake flour (or replacing just a few tablespoons of all-purpose flour with cornstarch) helps achieve cookie greatness.
Glaze for Piping: This glaze/icing dries hard enough that you can stack or package the cookies without damaging the embellishments. I used it for the “snowy” specs on the trees and for the clumps of snow on the branches.
Glaze for Piping Recipe
Cookies
Lofthouse Style Sugar Cookies: flour, cornstarch, baking powder, sugar, confectioners’ sugar, butter, eggs, pure vanilla extract, salt
Icing & Decorative Embellishments
Glaze: sugar, water, corn syrup, food coloring (very dark green and a few drops of white-white to make the snow brighter), vanilla bean paste for flavoring; the flecks of falling snow was added with the tip of a scribe tool.
Chocolate Royal Icing (for the tree trunks): confectioners’ sugar, Hersey’s Special Dark Cocoa, meringue powder, corn syrup, almond extract, food coloring
Plate, Box or Bag?
Christmas Plate. I arranged this “forest” on a colorful Christmas plate and wrapped the whole thing in clear plastic wrap. This is a safe way to get them from my house to where they need to go.
Box. My favorite way to gift my cookies is to package them in a cardboard bakery box with a clear window on top that makes the contents visible to anyone who wants to peek. I was able to fit a baker’s dozen of these in a Christmas-themed box.
Bags. I also wrapped some of them individually in clear, food-safe bags, secured with a twist tie and gave them to friends. This protects the decorations and makes each one a little present.
What I’ve learned...
These cookies were made with the best ingredients I could find and baked in a small batches of two dozen. I’ve experimented with less expensive ingredients, but have come to the conclusion that flavor is best when I use the best. Why spend all this time baking and decorating if taste and texture are just so-so? Decorating the cookies takes time, but it’s an enjoyable process for me and I know that those who receive them appreciate that. Life is just better when you can share something you love with someone you love. Don’t you agree?
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