3D Gingerbread Christmas Tree

3.90 (14)
⏱ 15 mins 🍽 Serves 2 🏷 Butter

This festive gingerbread Christmas tree is a wonderful alternative to traditional mince pies. It is a fun and impressive edible decoration, perfect for the holiday season. The recipe involves making a spiced dough, cutting it into star and round shapes, then baking and assembling them into a three-dimensional tree with royal icing. The entire project can be completed in about 15 minutes of active preparation and baking time.

3D Gingerbread Christmas Tree

Ingredients

  • 125g unsalted butter
  • 100g dark muscovado sugar
  • 4 tbsp golden syrup
  • 325g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • For the decoration
  • 200g icing sugar, sifted, plus extra for dusting
  • 1 large egg white
  • Special Equipment:
  • Set of 5 star-shaped cookie cutters, ranging in size from 4 to 8cm
  • 2cm round cookie cutter
  • 3cm round cookie cutter

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 170°C, gas mark 3. Prepare two large baking trays by lining them with baking parchment. Place the butter, sugar and syrup into a medium saucepan and melt them together, giving an occasional stir. Once melted, take the pan off the heat.
  2. Sift the plain flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger into a mixing bowl. Pour the melted butter mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to combine, forming a firm dough. Tip the dough onto a work surface dusted with flour and roll it out to approximately 5mm thick.
  3. Use your cutters to stamp out the biscuit shapes. You will need 6 of the smallest stars, 4 of each of the other star sizes, 8 of the 3cm rounds and 10 of the 2cm rounds. Place the shapes onto your prepared trays, ensuring they are well spaced. Chill the trays in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up the dough.
  4. Bake the biscuits in your preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until they turn a light golden colour. Move them to a wire rack to cool completely. While they cool, prepare the icing by mixing the sifted icing sugar with the egg white until smooth, then transfer it to a piping bag.
  5. To build one tree, pipe a little icing onto the centre of your largest star and press one of the largest round biscuits onto it. Keep adding layers, using progressively smaller stars and rounds, but set aside one of the smallest stars for the very top.
  6. Cover the reserved small star with icing and use a dab more to secure it upright on top of the tree structure. Lightly brush the points of all the stars with water, then dust the entire tree with a sprinkling of icing sugar.

Nutrition (per serving)

Nutrition data not available.

Recipe details

CategoryButter
AuthorFood Network UK