Shortbread Christmas Tree Recipes

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F. Spray or lightly grease 2 large cookie sheets. In large bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and food color. On low speed, beat in flour just until mixed. Stir in chopped pecans.
• Divide dough into 4 equal parts; shape each into ball. Place 2 balls of dough on each cookie sheet, on opposite ends. With rolling pin or floured fingers, gently flatten and shape each ball into 6-inch circle. With large knife, divide and cut each round into 8 wedges, slightly separating each cut with knife. Poke tops of wedges with fork, and place 1 pecan half in middle of each outer edge to make tree trunk.
• Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until firm but not brown. While still warm, cut into wedges again. Cool completely on cookie sheets, about 30 minutes.
• Place cooled tree wedges on cooling racks or waxed paper. Place baking chips in small resealable freezer plastic bag. Microwave on High 40 to 60 seconds, turning bag over after 30 seconds. Squeeze bag gently until chips are melted and smooth. Cut small tip off one corner of bag, and drizzle side to side over wedges to make tree garland. Sprinkle with sugar Top each tree with star.

Steps:

• All of the shortbreads are made in the same manner using an electric mixer. If you're making a shortbread with two kinds of flour, whisk the flours together.
• Working in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter, confectioners' sugar, salt and zest, if using, together on medium speed until soft, creamy and homogenous, scraping the bowl as needed. One by one, beat in the yolks, followed by the vanilla.
• Turn off the mixer, add the flour(s) all at once and mix on low speed only until incorporated. If you've got wheat germ, chocolate or flax seeds or nuts, mix in now.
• Scrape the dough out onto the work surface and divide it in two; the dough will be soft and sticky. Put each piece on a sheet of parchment and cajole it into a log that's 6 to 6 1⁄2 inches long, tightening the log with the paper and twisting the ends. Refrigerate the logs for at least 3 hours (overnight is better) or freeze them for 2 hours. (The logs can be frozen for up 2 months; slice when they're still frozen. You might need to add a minute to the oven time.)
• When you're ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.
• Using a chef's knife, cut each log into 1⁄2-inch-thick rounds. Lay them out on the baking sheet, leaving about an inch between them.
• Bake, rotating the cookie sheet after 10 minutes, for 21 to 23 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown around the edges and set. The cookies will still be soft, so leave them on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack and allowing them to cool to room temperature. DO AHEAD: The cookies can be packed in an airtight container and kept at room temperature for at least 5 days.

Steps:

• Beat butter, rind and sifted icing sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Transfer to large bowl. Stir in sifted flours and spice, add hazelnut meal in 2 batches.
• Knead dough on floured surface until smooth. roll dough between sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick, refrigerate 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 180/160°C fan-forced. Grease oven trays or line with baking paper.
• Using 3cm, 5cm, 7cm star shaped cutters cut 24 of each size star from dough. Place small stars about 1cm apart on an oven tray, place remaining stars about 2 cm apart on oven tray.
• Bake small stars about 10 minutes, Bake larger stars about 15 minutes, Stand 5 minutes, cool on wire racks.
• Meanwhile, make brandy butter cream.
• Sandwich two of each size cookie with butter cream. Assemble trees by joining three different size stars together with butter cream.
• Decorate trees by joinin cachous to stars with a tiny dot of butter cream, Dust trees with extra icing sugar.
• Brandy Butter Cream.
• Beat butter, rind , sifted icing sugar and brandy in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl; with a pastry cutter, chop in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir the rum extract and almond extract into the water in a small bowl. Mix into the dry ingredients, a little bit at a time, until the mixture holds together in a ball when you squeeze it.
• Place the dough onto a floured work surface, and sprinkle with flour; roll out into a sheet 1/4 inch thick. Cut into shapes with floured cookie cutters, and place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Cover with a layer of plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Bake the cookies just until the edges are lightly browned, 15 to 18 minutes. Allow to cool on sheets for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to finish cooling. Cool completely before decorating.
• For frosting, whisk the confectioners' sugar and milk in a bowl until smooth. If desired, divide frosting into small bowls, and tint each bowl a desired shade with food coloring. Frost fully cooled cookies, and sprinkle with edible glitter before the frosting sets.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. In another bowl, whisk flour, rosemary and sea salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture., Divide dough in half. Shape each into a disk. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 4-1/2 by 2-1/2-in. tree-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. If desired, decorate with colored sugar., Bake until edges begin to brown, 14-16 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. , For frosting, beat confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and enough water to reach desired consistency. Divide frosting and add food coloring. Decorate cookies with frosting and nonpareils.