How to Make Shortcut Gingerbread Trees and Bells

Store-bought cookie dough makes it easy to get to the real fun part: decorating!

Serving Size:

15

Active Time:

1 hr., 30 min

Total Time:

4 hrs.

Ingredients

  • ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1½ tsp. ground ginger
  • ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1 (16.5 oz.) pkg. refrigerated sugar cookie dough
  • 1 Tbs. molasses
  • 1 (1 lb.) pkg. confectioners’ sugar
  • 3 Tbs. meringue powder
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • Red, green and yellow food colorings
  • Candy stars

Instructions

  • Combine flour, ginger and cinnamon; knead into cookie dough with molasses. Between 2 sheets of wax paper, roll out dough to ¼” thickness; freeze 10 min.
  • Heat oven to 350°F. Remove top sheet of paper; using 5″ tree- and 3″ bell-shaped cookie cutters, cut out 15 cookies, rerolling scraps. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets, placing ¾” apart. Bake until baked through, 18–20 min. Cool on pans 1 min. Transfer from pans to racks; cool.
  • Make icing: On low speed, beat confectioners’ sugar, meringue powder and ⅓ cup warm water until glossy. Beat in. vanilla extract. If icing is too thick, beat in additional warm water 1 tsp. at a time. If icing becomes too thin, beat in additional confectioners’ sugar. (Keep icing covered when not in use.)
  • Divide icing among 4 bowls. Leaving one bowl white, tint each remaining a different color with food coloring. Press plastic wrap directly against surface of icings until ready to use.
  • Transfer some of each color to separate pastry bags fitted with small writing tips. Pipe outlines around cookie top edges; let dry. Spread icings over cookies within outline; decorate wet icings with line and dots of piped icing; immediately drag toothpick through icings to create patterns (see below). Attach stars to trees. Let stand until dry, 1 hr.
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