Red velvet Christmas tree linzer cookies are cocoa cut-outs sandwiched with green cream cheese frosting, with a small tree window cut from every top. That makes them the centerpiece cookie on a Christmas plate, and they photograph better than anything else on it. The batch makes 24 sandwiches.
Cut the trees first, then chill, then peel the scraps away. Cutting soft dough gives clean edges and the fridge sets them. Lifting cold scraps off leaves the shapes untouched, which is the reverse of most cut-out recipes.
The 24 on the card means 24 finished sandwiches, not 24 trees, so you are cutting 48 shapes in total. The calorie figure confirms it, because the whole recipe divided by 24 lands exactly on 250.
Red Velvet Christmas Tree Linzer Cookies
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Medium4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalA Dutch cocoa dough tinted deep red with condensed milk and a drizzle of vinegar, cut into trees and chilled before baking. Pairs are joined with green cream cheese frosting and finished with gold stars.
Ingredients
- For the Cookies:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon red gel food coloring
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or paste
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
- For the Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon green gel food coloring
- To Decorate:
Small edible gold sugar stars
Red, green and white nonpareils
Directions
- Mix the dough: Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt together. Cream the 2 sticks of butter with 2 cups of confectioners sugar on low until smooth, about 1 minute, then beat in the egg, condensed milk, red gel coloring and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Add the flour mixture all at once on low, then drizzle in the vinegar with the mixer still running.
- Roll and cut: Halve the dough and roll each piece between two sheets of parchment to 1/4 inch thick. Peel off the top sheet and cut trees with a 3 3/4 inch cutter, then cut a small tree window from the centers of half of them with a 1 3/4 inch cutter. You need 48 shapes in total for 24 sandwiches.
- Chill, then lift: Refrigerate the cut sheets about 30 minutes, until firm, and only then peel away the excess dough and the mini tree centers. Cold scraps lift off without dragging the shapes. Gather the scraps, reroll, chill and cut again.
- Bake: Heat the oven to 400 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment. Space the chilled cookies 2 inches apart and bake 8 to 10 minutes, until matte on top and slightly puffed. Cool 3 minutes on the sheet, then move to a rack.
- Frost and finish: Beat the cream cheese and 4 tablespoons butter smooth, then add the 3/4 cup confectioners sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon salt and the green coloring. Spread a tablespoon on each solid tree, press a cut-out tree on top, add a gold star with a dot of frosting and scatter nonpareils through the window.
Notes
- The 24 on the original is 24 finished sandwiches, which means cutting 48 trees. The calorie figure matches the whole recipe divided by 24. The frosting quantity is right, at 1 tablespoon across 24 cookies.
FAQs
Why a whole tablespoon of red food coloring?
Dutch-process cocoa is dark brown and alkalized, so it swallows color that would show up in a paler dough. Gel is concentrated and adds no liquid, which is why it is a tablespoon of gel and not liquid coloring. Less than that gives you a brown tree.
What is the vinegar doing?
Half a teaspoon of acid reacts with the baking powder for a little lift and sharpens the cocoa. That is the original red velvet trick. It goes in last, drizzled with the mixer running, so it does not react before the flour is in.
Do these need refrigerating?
Yes, because the frosting is cream cheese and butter rather than a sugar icing. Three days in an airtight container in the fridge is the limit. Take them out twenty minutes before serving so the frosting softens.
What if I do not have a tree cutter set?
Any 3 3/4-inch cutter with a smaller one for the window works, since the technique does not care about the shape. A piping tip punches a neat round window. The same two cutter method shapes these Linzer star sandwich cookies.
Can I make them ahead?
The recipe says they are better a day old, since the frosting softens the cookie slightly. Bake the trees up to a week early and keep them unfilled in a tin. For a red velvet bake that holds longer, there are these red velvet cupcakes.
