Easy Christmas Tree Cookies

You don't need to be a great decorator to nail these festive, chocolate-covered Christmas tree cookies. With just a few simple steps, you can create bakery-worthy Christmas cookies that are just as pretty (and impressive!) as they are delicious.

If you consider yourself to be a great baker but it all falls apart when it's time to bust out the rolling pins and piping bags, let me just say hi, hello, and welcome to the club. I love a pretty dessert, but I can't bring myself to spend hours trying to tame my shaky hands to make intricate details on each cookie I bake.

My cookie boxes are usually filled with the kind of treats that let great ingredients and perfect texture do all the talking - ultra-chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, warm Chai Snickerdoodles, and soft, tender Chocolate Molasses Cookies. But during the holidays, I do like to sneak in a few festive shapes. In past years, my go-to Christmas tree cookies have been these Marbled Dark Chocolate Peppermint Spritz Cookies or these playful Matcha Cookie Christmas Tree Stacks.

This year though? It's all about these gorgeous, easy Christmas tree cookies that look professional without any fancy decorating skills. Using just a silicone mold and some cleverly marbled chocolate, these cookies practically decorate themselves. They're the perfect addition to any holiday cookie box - no piping bags required!

Cookie decorating shortcuts

I love a recipe that allows for a professional-looking finish without the professional-level skills. Instead of spending hours rolling out dough or hand-piping intricate icing designs, we're some shortcuts that give a high-end bakery look with very little effort.

Don't fear the silicone mold ⇢ If you've never baked with silicone molds before, I promise they're actually easier than traditional cookie cutters. The flexible material means your cookies pop right out when cooled, and the deep cavities create dimensional details that would be difficult to achieve otherwise.

To do it perfectly, simply press your chilled cookie dough firmly into the mold cavities, place the mold on top of a baking sheet to prevent it from falling between the gaps of the oven rack, and bake according to the cookie dough recipe's recommended temperature. Then let the Christmas tree cookies cool completely, and finally gently remove them from the mold. They're now ready to decorate!

It's important to make sure to use a food-grade silicone mold that is oven-safe, like this one.

You can use this mold not only for easy Christmas cookies, but also for decorated brownies! Follow this recipe the same exact way, but just use your favorite instant brownie batter or this easy homemade recipe instead of cookie dough.

🎄 Let's talk about the marbling ⇢ While the cookie mold definitely saves time, I think my favorite thing about these Christmas tree cookies is the marbled white chocolate coating instead of royal icing. I think it tastes better and it also is so much easier to manage - and you just have to spoon it in the mold and swirl, so unsteady hands or less-than-stellar artistic skills aren't a problem!

Here's how it works: After the cookies have cooled and been removed from the mold, we melt some white chocolate and add a few drops of green food coloring. Mix in the green food coloring, but not fully - let it look a little swirly, leaving lighter and darker stripes throughout. This will allow you to get a lightly marbled effect. Use a spoon to transfer a thin layer of the white chocolate to the silicone mold, and then press a cookie back into the mold on top of the white chocolate. Repeat until the mold is full, and then put them in the fridge to solidify. Pop the whole cookie out and it's ready for the final touches.

Be sure to use oil-based food coloring for this to work. Water-based coloring will make your chocolate seize faster than you can say "Rudolph." If you can't find oil-based food coloring, you can also use white and green candy melts instead just as well.

Don't stress if your marbling isn't perfect - each tree should look unique, just like in nature. Those variations just make these cookies even more charming.

Choosing a dough and finishing touches

How you customize these trees is totally up to you. You can go all out with different colored chocolate coatings, sprinkles to the heavens, or a dozen different dough variations and they will turn out great. However, I think it's helpful to share a few tips about how I make mine.

The best cookie dough is a soft cookie dough ⇢ The flavor is totally up to you, but I've found that softer cookies work far better for baking in the molds than crispier cookies. The cookies wind up decently thick so you want something that won't be difficult to bite into. Chocolate chip cookie doughs work well, as do softer gingerbreads, sugar cookie doughs, peanut butter cookie doughs, and - as I mentioned before - even brownie batter. You can use homemade versions or even premade cookie doughs like the Pillsbury logs or Tollhouse packages.

I don't recommend using doughs that don't have a lot of spread, as they may not mold well into the desired shapes as they bake.

Let it snow... or not ⇢ If you want it to look like there is a sprinkling of snow on your Christmas trees, simply dust them with a bit of powdered sugar before adding the final decorations.

Sprinkles are the hardest part ⇢ Alright, the most difficult part of this recipe is something very simple: placing a few final sprinkles on each cookie. It's really not hard, but it is the only step that requires a bit of patience and effort. The best way to do it is to take a toothpick and place a dot of melted white chocolate on the chocolate-covered cookie (as the layer coating the cookie will already be solidified at this point). Then gently place or drop a sprinkle onto the melted chocolate dot so it sticks. Make sure you give it enough time for the chocolate to harden before moving the cookies around so they don't lose their sprinkles!

I like to use ball-shaped sprinkles to look like ornaments and star-shaped sprinkles to top the tree, but any design of sprinkle will work. Feel free to get creative here, or even leave off the sprinkles entirely - the trees still look lovely without them.

Tips for success

• Let cookies completely cool before attempting removal. It's best to put them in the fridge between each round in order to ensure that they won't break.
• Work quickly when marbling chocolate and spooning into the molds to maintain the perfect consistency. The chocolate begins to harden at room temperature, and you don't want the chocolate to solidify as you work. If it does, simply put it back into the microwave in brief intervals of 15 seconds or less until it softens up enough to use.
• Use a toothpick to guide chocolate into detailed areas of the mold like any edges or corners in the tree shape that it might not naturally flow towards.

FAQs

Q: Can I make these ahead?
A: Absolutely! The cookies can be made 2-3 days in advance. For even better results, bake the cookies ahead of time and decorate within 24 hours of serving.

Q: Help! My chocolate seized. What happened?
A: This usually means water snuck in there or you used water-based food coloring. Keep everything bone dry and stick to oil-based coloring.

Q: Can I use other shapes for similar cookies?
A: Yes, feel free to use any shape of food-grade and oven-safe silicone mold to make your cookies. Snowmen or candy canes would be some other fun options for Christmas, hearts for Valentines day, flowers for Mother's Day, jack o lanterns for Halloween, etc. I love this method for its versatility!

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