The holidays are such a fun time of year.  For me, I get the urge to bake and create things to make my home feel warm and cozy.  If you are like me, you will love creating your very own Cookie Tree.  It is a treat for the senses; beautiful to look at, smells great, and is tasty too.  Plus, it makes a great conversation piece at your holiday parties!  Just follow these steps:

1. You will need to have a set of graduated star cookie cutters.

2. Prep your cookie dough. I recommend making double batches of solid and sturdy cookies.  Roll the dough to your desired thickness.  I prefer rolling out my dough to 1/4-inch thick to make them even sturdier, but this may increase your bake time.

3. Use graduated cookie cutters and cut out two of each size.  This gives you a taller tree that is not quite so fat.  Cut out an extra cookie with the smallest star cutter to use as your tree topper.  You may need to re-roll your dough and chill multiple times.

4. Bake according to directions.  Bake cookies together based on size. This will take multiple batches to bake each size properly.  For example, you can bake the smaller stars together on one sheet because they will take similar baking time.  However, bake the largest size by itself since it will take longer.  Add 1 (incremental) minute of bake time to your larger cookies if they need it, but don’t burn your cookies!

5. Often, cookies will ‘puff’ as they bake, especially cookies with baking soda.  This makes them not sit on top of each other as neatly.  It is important that the top of the cookies be as flat as possible.  A tip to ensure your cookies are flat is to have an extra baking sheet available.  When your cookies come out of the oven, immediately place the extra baking sheet over them.  Use an oven mitt to press down lightly on the cookies.  Check them and repeat if they are not flat enough.  Note: Cookies will not flatten once cooled.

6. Cool your cookies on a rack.  Prepare your royal icing.  When your cookies are cool, pipe a thin line of icing around the border of each cookie and decorate as desired before the icing dries/hardens.

7. Use your small star to create the tree topper.  Brush the inside of royal icing border with more royal icing, decorate as desired and let dry/harden.

8. Once the decorative icing is dry, begin stacking cookies into a tree shape on your choice of holiday platter.  Use more royal icing in the center of each cookie to secure your tree as it grows.  Finally, attach the tree topper star to the top using royal icing.  Your tree is complete!