Gingerbread Christmas Cookie Tree

Stack star-shaped cookies for an easy and edible centerpiece perfect for a Christmas party.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• ⅛ tsp. nutmeg
• ½ cup butter, at room temp.
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 Tbs. corn syrup
• 1-2 Tbs. milk
• Red and green food coloring

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; reserve. On medium speed, beat butter and brown sugar until combined, 1–2 min. Add eggs and molasses; beat until blended, 1–2 min. On low speed, gradually beat in reserved flour mixture until smooth dough forms; shape dough into disk. Wrap in plastic wrap; chill until firm, at least 30 min.
2. On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to ¼” thickness. Using star-shaped cookie cutters, cut out 3 cookies of each of the following sizes: 5″, 4½”, 4″, 3½” and 3″. Using large spatula, transfer cookies to baking sheets, placing 1″ apart; reserve scraps. Bake until golden brown, 12–14 min. Transfer from pans to racks; cool. Reroll reserved scraps; using 2″ star-shaped cutter, cut out mini stars. Transfer to baking sheets. Bake until golden brown, 8–10 min. Cool.
3. Stir together confectioners’ sugar, corn syrup and enough milk until smooth and thin enough to pipe. Transfer to pastry bag fitted with small round tip; pipe outlines onto cookies, reserving about 2 Tbs. icing in bag. Divide remaining icing between two bowls; tint one bowl red and other bowl green with food coloring. Transfer to separate plastic sandwich bags; snip tiny hole in one corner of each bag. Decorate cookies as desired. Let dry.
4. For tree, reserve mini stars. Using reserved white icing as glue, stack and attach remaining graduated sizes of cookies on small serving plate. Serve with reserved mini star cookies.