These deep dark chocolate Christmas Tree cookies are as fun to make as they are to eat. Each cookie is iced with sweet vanilla royal icing and decorated with food coloring markers. The markers are so easy to use, even the little ones can help decorate and personalize the cookies. I’ll leave you a link to the markers below.
Yield: 38 cookies
Serving size: 1 cookie
Ingredients for the cookies:
- 3 cups (336g) super fine almond flour
- 1/2 cup (43g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup (96g) natural, non-GMO granular erythritol
- 1 tsp. (0.1g) instant coffee
- 1/4 tsp. (1.5g) salt
- 1/2 tsp. (2.4g) baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- 4oz (113.4g) cream cheese, softened
- 1 tbsp. (15g) pure vanilla extract
Ingredients for the vanilla royal icing:
- 2 cups (288g) natural, non-GMO confectioners/powdered erythritol
- 4 tbsp (56.7g) egg white powder
- 1/2 cup (118.5g) water
- 1 tsp. (5g) pure vanilla extract
- optional: sugar-free food coloring and sugar-free food coloring markers
Directions for making the cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350° F (180°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl.
- Using a fork, break up any lumps and mix well.
- Use the fork to form a well in the center of the flour mixture.
- To the well, add the eggs, cream cheese, and vanilla.
- Using the fork, mix the ingredients until a sticky dough begins to form.
- Turn the dough onto a clean work surface and knead it until it forms a well combined and workable cookie dough.
- Shape the dough into a ball. Break off a chunk of the ball to roll out, and wrap the rest of it in a piece of parchment paper to keep it from drying out.
- Place the unwrapped piece of dough onto a sheet of parchment paper. I like to use blue painter’s tape to secure my parchment paper to my work surface. Doing this keeps the paper in place, making rolling out the dough a lot easier.
- Place another piece of parchment over the top of the dough, and using your hands, press to flatten it out a bit.
- Roll the dough out to an even thickness of about one-quarter of an inch thick (0.64cm) using a rolling pin.
- Remove the top sheet of paper.
- Use a three and a half-inch Christmas-tree-shaped cookie cutter to cut out cookies, and carefully place them onto the lined baking sheet.
- Space the cookies about a half-inch apart on the cookie sheet.
- When the cookie sheet is full, place it into the preheated oven to bake for about 16-17 minutes until the cookies are done.
- Repeat the process until you have used all of the dough, re-rolling the scraps as needed.
- Cool the baked cookies completely before icing.
Directions for making the icing:
- Place the powdered erythritol and the egg white powder into a bowl.
- Use a whisk to break up any lumps and combine the powders.
- Add in the water. Using an electric mixer, blend well.
- Add in the vanilla.
- Scrape down any powder on the sides of the bowl, and using an electric mixer, whip until the mixture forms soft peaks. This part will take some patience and may require switching hands now and then, as it can take a few minutes to reach the desired consistency.
- Add a few drops of white food coloring to your icing to give it a bright snowy look.
Decorating the cookies:
- You can use either a pastry bag with a small decorating tip or a plastic storage bag with just a tiny bit of the corner cut off to decorate your cookies.
- Begin by outlining a cookie with the icing. Then fill in the middle.
- Use a toothpick to blend and spread the icing evenly across the cookie.
- Use the toothpick’s point to get rid of any air bubbles in the icing.
- Let the icing dry completely.
- Use food coloring markers to draw colorful decorations onto the cookies.
- Store the cookies in a covered container in the refrigerator.
*Note: Most of the more familiar brands of food coloring contain some form of sugar as the predominant ingredient used. The food coloring I use is 100% sugar-free and is compliant with both the ketogenic and diabetic diets. For more detailed information on the food coloring I use and a demonstration of how to ice the cookies, please watch the Halloween Cookies episode on my YouTube channel. Here’s a link to the episode: https://youtu.be/78VJJRTCT04
Links to the food coloring and food coloring markers ⬇️⬇️⬇️
BAKERPAN FOOD COLORING MARKERS: https://amzn.to/3qhdeuv
DECOPAC PREMIUM AIRBRUSH COLOR – WHITE: https://amzn.to/2XelReI
DECOPAC PREMIUM AIRBRUSH COLOR MULTIPACK: https://amzn.to/3pbg45r
DECOPAC PREMIUM AIRBRUSH COLOR – VIOLET: https://amzn.to/3FOqm12
DECOPAC PREMIUM AIRBRUSH COLOR – SUNSET ORANGE: https://amzn.to/3FS4WQA