Who else has seen those cool stacked Christmas tree sugar cookies floating around on the internet?
They looked so cool that I knew I had to give it a shot! After all, these stacked Christmas tree cookieswith buttercream frosting are so easy to make.
But of course, I didn’t want to keep this recipe to myself. So, I decided to put together this post for you to enjoy too!
If you’re looking for more homemade and easy Christmas cookie ideas, check out our top ten.
Stacked Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Butter at room temperature
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Tsp Vanilla extract
- 2 cup Flour
- 1 Tsp Baking soda
- ¼ Tsp. Salt
- Frosting (a tub of vanilla frosting w/green food coloring or make your own)
- Candies and/or sprinkles for ornaments
Instructions
First, Preheat the Oven
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Second, Mix Your Ingredients
Cream the butter and sugar together until it’s light in color and looks fluffy. Then, mix in the eggs and vanilla extract in the same bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together with a fork or whisk—flour, baking soda, salt. Once you’ve mixed the dry ingredients together, combine it with the wet ingredients.
Use a mixer to combine all of the ingredients until you get a thick dough.
Next, Roll the Dough
Roll the cookie dough into three different sized balls. Measure the dough easily by using the 1,2,3 method—1 tsp, 2 tsp, 3 tsp. Then, roll them into balls.
Make sure to make the same amount of each size. For example, you have three 1 tsp sized balls, three 2 tsp sized balls, and three 3 tsp sized balls.
Once you’ve rolled them into balls, place them on parchment paper and lightly flatten them into small disks.
You can use round cookie cutters if you want to perfectly shape them.
Finally, Bake the Sugar Cookies
Here’s a bit of a tricky part. You’re going to have to set a timer and pay attention.
Start by baking the 2 tsp and 3 tsp cookies first, either on the same or separate cookie sheets. Bake them for 7-8 minutes or until the edges become lightly golden brown.
The 1 tsp cookies only need to bake for 5-6 minutes or until their edges are lightly golden brown.
It’s totally up to you how you want to organize yourself. I placed them all in at the same time, then set timers for 5 minutes and 7 minutes accordingly.
Once baked, remove the cookies from the oven. Let them stand on the cookie sheet for about two minutes. Then, transfer them to cooling rack.
Expert Tip: While your cookies are baking and cooling, you can start to make the buttercream frosting!
Buttercream Frosting Recipe for Stacked Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies
Full Buttercream Frosting Recipe»
Stack the Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies
Now that we have our cookies baked and cooled and our green buttercream frosting ready to go, we can begin to assemble our Christmas Tree cookies!
Begin by lining up your cookies, one of each size.
Frost the two larger cookies with an even layer of frosting, making sure to go all the way to the outer edge.
Then frost the smallest cookie with a cone of frosting, because that will be the top of the Christmas tree.
Add colored sprinkles around the outside of the frosting.
Stack the cookies beginning with the largest on the bottom, then the medium, and finally the smallest on top.
Finally, add decorative candies for tree ornaments and the candy star to the top!
Can I put my cookies in without preheating the oven?
You technically can. But it’s important to preheat your oven for maximum baking. If your oven is heating up while the cookies are already in the oven, then your cookies will come out flat or worse, undercooked!
What’s the purpose of parchment paper for baking?
Parchment paper helps your cookies not stick to the pan, and reduces browning. Sugar cookies tend to be a lighter color. So, the parchment paper helps with that process.
Stacked Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Butter at room temperature
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1½ Tsp Vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cup Flour
- 1 Tsp. Baking soda
- ¼ Tsp. Salt
- Frosting a tub of vanilla frosting w/green food coloring or make your own
- Candies and/or sprinkles for ornaments
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper
- Cream butter and sugar together until light in color and fluffy
- Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract
- In another bowl, stir together dry ingredients with a fork or whisk, add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the mixer and mix until a thick dough has formed and everything is well incorporated
- Roll cookie dough into three different size balls; making the same amount of each size. Measure dough easily by using the 1, 2, 3 method — 1 Tsp, 2 Tsp, 3 Tsp and rolling them into balls. Place them on the parchment paper and lightly flatten them into small disks. Use round cookie cutters if you wish to help shape them
- Bake the 2 and 3 Tsp cookies on the same or separate cookie sheets for 7-8 minutes or until edges become lightly golden brown. Bake the 1 Tbs cookies for 5 to 6 minutes or until edges are lightly golden brown
- Remove from oven; let stand on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, transfer to cooling rack
- Line up your cookies, one of each size. Frost the two larger cookies with an even layer of frosting, making sure to go all the way to the outer edge.
- Stack the cookies beginning with the largest on the bottom, then the medium and finally the smallest on top.
- Add the candy star to the top!
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I made these tonight, and I love them! The sugar cookie is delicious and chewy in the center (I baked mine for about a minute more on all of the sizes, just looked for the lightly browning on the edge). The styling is adorable. I only frosted a ring around the outside of the bottom two layers to limit the amount of frosting, and it was perfect for me. I’m so happy I made these. Merry Christmas!
It makes about 16 to 20 complete tree cookies. The recipe makes about 48 regular size cookies, so when you break it down with the three sizes you can get up to 20 3x Stacked cookies. I hope that helps!
How many total stacked cookies does this recipe yield?
We are definitely making these Christmas tree cookies this year! Thanks for the inspiration (: