As if gingerbread wasn't festive enough already, this recipe make a whole beautiful Christmas tree to decorate with icing, silver balls and pretty sprinkles.
This gingerbread Christmas tree is a great way to get even very young kids into cooking. Once the baking is out of the way and the gingerbread biscuit stars are cooked, assembling the tree is so easy. Unlike with a gingerbread house, there's no construction, and no having to wait for the walls to adhere. You're literally just placing one biscuit on top of the next, all held in place with dollops if icing. Then they can decorate it however they like. Our video of vlogger Sarah working with her twins shows just how easy and fun it can be.
Ingredients
450g plain flour
4tsp ground ginger
½tsp ground cinnamon
3tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g butter
200g soft light brown sugar
6tbsp golden syrup
4tbsp milk
12tbsp icing sugar mixed to a paste with 2tbsp water, for sticking
edible coloured sugar balls, to decorate
sprinkles, to decorate
writing icing, to decorate
You will also need:
different sized star-shaped cookie cutters, ranging from large to small
NOTE
To make a giant gingerbread tree like our vlogger Sarah and the twins, you will need double or triple quantities. See how high you can make it!
WEIGHT CONVERTER
to
Method
To prep for your gingerbread tree, lightly oil 2 baking sheets and line with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/gas 3. Sift the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl.
Place the butter, sugar and syrup in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring once or twice until the butter has melted.
Remove the pan from the heat and pour the melted sugar and butter into the flour and spice mixture. Add the milk. Mix with a wooden spoon until you have a firm dough. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins.
Lightly knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 1 min until the dough is pliable. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 1cm thickness. Using the star-shaped cutters, cut out a mix of large stars, medium, small and 1 very small - this will make your tower, so make sure you have around the same number of each. Place on the baking sheets.
Bake the biscuits for 8-10 minutes or until just golden. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack and leave until cold.
Place one of the large stars on a serving plate. Using some of the icing, stick the biscuits together, stack the biscuits in order of size into a tree shape. Stick large edible balls on the tree with icing and use sprinkles and writing icing to decorate. Leave icing to dry before serving.
Top tips for making this gingerbread Christmas tree
Gingerbread dough is stickier than most biscuit doughs so you might find it sticks to your counter and rolling pin while you're rolling it out. Reduce the changes of this by chilling it before rolling and cutting, and use plenty of icing sugar to dust surfaces first.
Annabel Karmel's trio of vegetables with tomato and basil
Annabel Karmel's cheesy carrot stars
Steak and salsa wraps
When does winter start? The first day of winter 2023
Mary Berry's Ultimate Christmas: Recipes, guest stars and where to watch
How to make Stacey Solomon’s Crafty Christmas decorations at home - and it's an easy activity to try with the kids
