These easy Gingerbread Christmas Tree Cookies are made with apple sauce to use a fraction of the butter – yet they still have the same great flavor and texture. Perfect for your Holiday baking!
Gingerbread Christmas Tree Cookies
Although I’m personally not a fan of gingerbread cookies, Madison LOVES baking them, decorating them and eating them so I bake them every year. I’ve been using this Low Fat Gingerbread Cookie recipe for years with perfect results every time. Some years we even make them into gingerbread tree ornaments.
This year I wanted to make them into Christmas trees. No cookie cutter required, all I used was a knife to cut them into triangles!
And speaking of cookies, the holidays are here again! And while it’s a wonderful season to spend with family and friends enjoying delicious (and seemingly endless) food and drink, it’s also the time of year when many of us pack on a few unwanted pounds. Since holiday weight gain is pretty universal, why not give the gift of Skinnytaste this year? It’s the gift that keeps on giving!
More Cookie Recipes You Will Love
- Low-Fat Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
- 3-Ingredient Almond Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Clouds
- To-Die For Coconut Cookies
- Peppermint Meringues
Gingerbread Christmas Tree Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter softened
- 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar 170 grams
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup dark molasses
- 3 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting 485 grams, plus more for dusting
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
For the Icing:
- 1 1/2 tbsp egg whites room temperature
- 1/4 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 5 to 6 drops green food coloring
- colored sprinkles
Instructions
For the cookies:
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar and applesauce until smooth. Add the egg and molasses, mix well.
- In another large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and spices. Add to sugar and molasses mixture, stirring well with the mixer. Use your hands to form a large ball, the dough will be a little sticky.
- Wash and dry your hands. Place flour on your hands so the dough doesn't stick to you, lay dough on a floured surface, then divide the dough into two flat balls, adding more flour if sticky; cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
- After the dough has chilled 2 hours, preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously dust the surface of your working area with flour before rolling out the dough. Work with one ball of dough at a time, keep the other refrigerated while you do so.
- Depending on how thin you roll the dough out and the size of your trees, makes at least 60 tree cookies.
- Roll the dough out to 1/8-inch thickness, sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough if it's a little sticky. Trim the uneven edges off to square the dough, then using a knife cut the dough into 3 1/2 inch strips. Then cut the strips into triangles.
- Place the cookies 1 or 2 inches apart on a silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.
For the icing:
- Mix the egg whites with lemon juice. Combine with powdered sugar, mixing well then add a few drops of green food coloring until you get the color you desire.
- If the icing is too thin, add a little more powdered sugar, if it's too thick add a drop of lemon juice or water. Transfer to a piping bag to decorate cookies when cookies are cooled.
- To decorate, pipe the cookies with the frosting one at a time, quickly adding the sprinkles before it hardens.
I really wanted this to work, but this recipe was an epic fail for me. I’m pretty sure I measured everything correctly. The dough was beyond “a little sticky.” I invented a new type of adhesive. I wish I knew what went wrong. I will just use a traditional gingerbread recipe instead.
Love this easy to do recipe! The dough came together quite nicely!
Seeing as these are a ‘soft’ gingerbread cookie, what is their shelf time? I was hoping to make some and send to my grandmother. Thanks!
I have found the easiest way to roll out sticky dough is to spray Pam on your hands. Butter Pam or baking pam. Keeps anything from sticking. Im baking these tonight!
Will gluten free flour work?
No
Mine was also super sticky. I eventually just cut in half in the bowl, and slid them onto plastic wrap. Refrigerated well over 3 hours, was slightly sticky but added loads of flour as i played with it. Once I got it all figured out and cooked they were amazing.
These look amazing….question, can they be made with a gluten-free flour?
these came out so delicious and they were so fun to decorate! my family loved them!
the directions were thorough and easy to follow
thank you!
Well, after about 8 hours in the fridge, dough was WAY too soft to roll out, and I didn’t want to add more flour. My “Plan B”? I used a 1” scoop, sprayed a tiny bit of PAM on my hands, rolled each scoop into a ball, slightly flattened each cookie, added
Christmas sprinkles and baked about 8 minutes. Yielded 5 1/2 dozen cookies – very soft and chewy – delicious!!
Can you make the cookies ahead of time and decorate another day? Say 1 or 2 days after? If so, how should we store the cookies after they are baked?
Is it safe to eat raw egg whites (used for the icing)?
Hi Gina! We just made these and they’re delightful! Question- would it work to freeze half of the dough for later? Or how long would the dough last in the fridge? Thanks so much!
Read more at https://www.skinnytaste.com/gingerbread-christmas-tree-cookies-and/#sHpso0r4Pvj4uzuM.99
6 to 8 days in the refrigerator, freezer 2 months.
Can you use cookie cutters instead of cutting them out with a knife?
Are these soft or hard?
Soft
Love this recipe. What a great idea. I am going to make this cookie for sure. Ha ha somehow I will fit in baking sometime this busy Christmas weekend. Thank you!
I’m not sure where I went wrong. I followed the recipe exactly as stated (the only deviance was my store didn’t have anything labeled “dark molasses” so I went with the one labeled “molasses”). However, the “dough” was the approximate consistency of a custard pie filling. I had to add in over two more cups of flour for it to even begin to form a dough, but even then, it wouldn’t come together to rest in the fridge. I ended up throwing the whole thing out because I figured by that point the ratios were so messed up who knows what would’ve come out of the oven. Bummed, because these look and sound so delicious!
Wish I knew what went wrong, sounds like something was off in your measurements.
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