Create the sweetest little forest imaginable with these Stacked Christmas Tree Cookies. Buttercream frosting is sandwiched between deliciously simple butter cookies to create picture perfect cookie trees. While they look impressive, they are quick and easy to make. Make up a batch of these darling treats and wow your friends and family!
Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
- While the presentation is impressive, they are surprisingly easy to make.
- No chilling required, the only wait time involved is for the cookies to cool.
- Mix and match frosting colors and sprinkles to create unique and colorful combinations.
- While shown as Christmas Trees, with white frosting you can easily make these into snowman cookies.
- To save time, you can make and freeze the cookies in advance, then frost and assemble when ready to serve.
Stacked Christmas Tree Cookies
If you are looking for a creative yet easy to make treat for your Christmas dessert table, look no further! These absolutely adorable little Stacked Christmas Tree Cookies are cute as buttons and surprisingly simple to make. Buttercream frosting is sandwiched between butter cookies to build these festive little cookie trees.
How To Make Stacked Christmas Tree Cookies
Let’s discuss the ingredients you’ll need, and the steps you’ll take, to make these cute little Stacked Christmas Tree Cookies. If you want to skip my discussion, tips and answers to frequently asked questions, just scroll to the bottom for the printable recipe.
Ingredients
- Salted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Powdered sugar
- Milk
- Food coloring
Directions
Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until light and fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Add this mixture to the butter mixture and beat until well blended.
- Next, shape dough into 3 different sizes of cookies. Use a rounded teaspoon of dough to make 1 small ball. Then use 2 rounded teaspoons of dough to make a middle size ball. Use 3 rounded teaspoons of dough to make a large ball. There should be at 15 balls of each size, resulting in 15 cookie stacks.
- Place the small balls onto 1 parchment paper lined baking sheet. Use a glass to gently flatten them slightly. Place the medium size balls on a separate sheet and again press them down gently. Finally place the large balls on a separate sheet and press them down slightly. Due to the different sizes, the cookies will take different amounts of time to bake therefore each size of cookie should have it’s own baking sheet.
- Bake until the bottoms are starting to brown. Small cookies will take approximately 4-6 minutes, medium will take 6-8 minutes and large will take 8-10 minutes.
- Remove cookies from the baking sheets and allow them to cool completely on wire racks prior to frosting.
Frosting
- Prepare the frosting while the cookies are cooling.
- In a medium bowl, beat together powdered sugar, and butter. When this is well combined and light and fluffy, beat in the milk and vanilla. Add food coloring if desired.
- Use the frosting to “glue” together the 3 cookies (largest on the bottom, then middle sized, then the smallest on top) to make a christmas tree or snowman. Pipe or spread frosting onto the top of the largest size cookie and place the middle size cookie on top. Next, pipe or spread frosting on the top of the middle size cookie and place the small size cookie on top. Finish with a small amount of frosting on the small size cookie to finish.
- Add sprinkles if desired.
Tips and Advice
Make Ahead Of Time
If you would like to make these cookies ahead of time, the best option is to bake the cookies, cool them completely, then store in an airtight container and place into the fridge for a few days, or freezer for a longer period of time. When ready to serve them, bring them to room temperature, frost and decorate.
Storage
Store cookies in an airtight container for five days. They can be frozen for up to three months. If freezing, it’s ideal to freeze the unfrosted cookies, then thaw and decorate when ready to use.
Tools
While you can spread on your frosting with a butter knife or offset spatula, I highly recommend using a pastry bag and open star piping tip. Not only does it give you the perfect look, but honestly I find it to be far less messy. The minute or two it takes to load the frosting into the pastry bag will save you time in clean up at the end.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes To Try
If you enjoy these fun Stacked Christmas Tree Cookies, make sure to check out all of my Christmas Cookie Recipes. Here are some favorites to start with.
- Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies
- Melted Snowman Cookies
- Soft Gingerbread Cookies
- Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe
- Christmas Tree Brownies
- Gingerbread Man Cookies
- Eggnog Cookies
- Candy Cane Cookies
- Christmas M&M Cookies
I love to hear from readers like you! If you’ve tried this, please leave a comment and review below. If you have photos, tag me @lovefromtheoven #lftorecipes on Instagram and Pinterest. Thanks!
Stacked Christmas Tree Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup butter (softened )
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Frosting
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup butter (softened)
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- food coloring
- sprinkles
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Add this mixture to the butter mixture and beat until well blended.
- Next, shape dough into 3 different sizes of cookies. Use a rounded teaspoon of dough to make 1 small ball. Then use 2 rounded teaspoons of dough to make a middle size ball. Use 3 rounded teaspoons of dough to make a large ball. There should be at 15 balls of each size, resulting in 15 cookie stacks.
- Place the small balls onto 1 parchment paper lined baking sheet. Use a glass to gently flatten them slightly. Place the medium size balls on a separate sheet and again press them down gently. Finally place the large balls on a separate sheet and press them down slightly. Due to the different sizes, the cookies will take different amounts of time to bake therefore each size of cookie should have it’s own baking sheet.
- Bake until the bottoms are starting to brown. Small cookies will take approximately 4-6 minutes, medium will take 6-8 minutes and large will take 8-10 minutes. Remove cookies from the baking sheets and allow them to cool completely on wire racks prior to frosting.
Frosting
- Prepare the frosting while the cookies are cooling. In a medium bowl, beat together powdered sugar, and butter. When this is well combined and light and fluffy, beat in the milk and vanilla. Add food coloring if desired.
- Use the frosting to “glue” together the 3 cookies (largest on the bottom, then middle sized, then the smallest on top) to make a christmas tree or snowman. Pipe or spread frosting onto the top of the largest size cookie and place the middle size cookie on top. Next, pipe or spread frosting on the top of the middle size cookie and place the small size cookie on top. Finish with a small amount of frosting on the small size cookie to finish. Add sprinkles if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
Meet Christi, Love From The Oven
I’m Christi I love sharing easy & delicious recipes that your family & friends will love. I’m a mom, baker, cookbook author and lover of sprinkles.
Question. After the Christmas trees are ensambled, what is the best way to pack to transport them. Thanks