Christmas tree-shaped cookies for a festive holiday dessert

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Impress Christmas dinner guests by following your holiday meal with these stacked cookies that resemble Christmas trees.

Melanie Cagle, the founder of food blog The Cagle Diaries, first made these cookies after evacuating her home in Houma, Louisiana, from Hurricane Ida. 

"My little girl who is 6 said she wanted to make Christmas cookies. Who am I to tell her it’s not possible? I mean, it was September, but why not? I had seen cookies like this last year, on social media, I think, and they stuck with me," Cagle told Fox News Digital in 2021. 

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"They’re so cute and simple to make," she continues, adding that the recipe is especially fun to make with kids.

Melanie Cagle, founder of The Cagle Diaries, first made these cookies after evacuating her home in Houma, Louisiana, from Hurricane Ida in 2021. (The Cagle Diaries)

You can store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week or freeze them in a freezer-safe container for up to three months, as Cagle notes.

Stacked Christmas Tree Cookies by Melanie Cagle, The Cagle Diaries

Makes 15 cookies

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

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Ingredients:

Cookies:

1 cup salted butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

These Christmas tree sugar cookies are made with vibrant green frosting. (The Cagle Diaries)

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Frosting:

3 cups powdered sugar

½ cup salted butter, softened

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Food coloring, green

Sprinkles for decorating

Pipe (or spread) frosting onto the top of the largest size cookie and place the middle size cookie on top.  (The Cagle Diaries)

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Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F.

2. In a medium bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla extract until fluffy.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder.

4. Then add this mixture to the butter mixture and beat it until well blended.

5. Next, we will shape the dough into 3 different sizes of cookies. (Each cookie will be rolled into a ball.) Use a rounded 1 teaspoon of dough to make 1 small ball. Then you will use 2 rounded teaspoons of dough to make a middle size ball, and 3 rounded teaspoons of dough to make a large ball. You want to have the same number of each size of the ball. You should be able to make at least 15 balls of each size.

Use the frosting to "glue" together the cookies to make a Christmas tree. (The Cagle Diaries)

6. Place the small balls onto 1 parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Use a glass to gently flatten them a little. Place the medium size balls on another sheet and again press them down gently. And place the large balls on a separate sheet and press them down slightly. (The different sizes of cookies should bake on different sheets, as they will not bake at the same rate.)

7. Bake until the bottoms are just golden. Small cookies will take 4-6 minutes. Medium will take 6-8 minutes. Large will take 8-10 minutes.

8. Remove the cookies from the baking sheets and allow them to cool completely on wire racks.

9. Prepare the frosting while the cookies are cooling.

10. In a medium bowl, beat together powdered sugar and butter. When this is well creamed together, beat in the milk and vanilla extract (and food coloring if desired).

11. Use the frosting to "glue" together the 3 cookies (the largest on the bottom, then middle-sized, then the smallest on top) to make a Christmas tree or snowman. Pipe (or spread) frosting onto the top of the largest size cookie and place the middle-size cookie on top. Pipe (or spread) the frosting on the top of the middle-size cookie and place the small cookie on top. Then, continue decorating with the frosting.

Consider whipping up these pretty, delicious stacked Christmas tree cookies for a holiday dessert. (The Cagle Diaries)

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This recipe was crafted by Melanie Cagle of thecaglediaries.com and shared with Fox News Digital.