Create A Winter Wonderland!!

 Do you aspire to design your very own Winter Wonderland this Christmas? Well, your certainly in the correct place because I have here, three very authentic recipes that would be a great addition to anyone's holiday display.

 So,how about a collection of 3D Christmas Tree Cookies that are prepared with a simple sugar cookie dough that would be lovely with a gingerbread house,a village and even a winter forest .Now if you desire something a little different there is also snowflake spiced cupcakes that can be easily constructed into tiny igloos for a north pole display.However,if these concepts are not your cup of tea.Then I know you definitely cannot resist a 3D Christmas Tree Cake,can you? This exceptional Christmas tree is made with a simple moist spice cake recipe along with using a special 3D Christmas tree cake pan.Even writing about it gets me energized! 
 

 
Now I know these recipes may sound taunting;however trust me on this that they are simple to prepare as well as clearly worth the time and effort to create them.Also, just think? Most of the effort is usually put into decorating the display with all your favorite candies,sprinkles as well as icing,which in the end is of course the best part of any Christmas display.Beside the eating part! So get those hands dirty in icing and create your very own unique holiday display this year.Also,be sure to get your children involved in the process because they will always have artistic ideas to share.
 

So overall I give these recipes two thumbs up.They all worked perfectly and helped in creating an elegant Christmas tree forest. So, if you want something unique this year then be sure to try one of these recipes for yourself, you will be delightfully surprised.

3D Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter,softened
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 tsp lemon extract 
• 1 large egg
• 2 oz ( 80 mls) cream cheese

Butter Icing 

(Adapted from Company's Coming:Cakes By Jean Pare)

• 3 cups icing (confectioner's) sugar
• 1/4 cup butter,softened
• 3-4 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Beat all the ingredients in my kitchenaid stand mixer with the whisk attachment,until smooth.Can add more liquid or icing sugar as need.For decorating: icing spatula,piping bag,tips,couplers and food coloring.

Cookies

1.Whisked together flour,baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl,setting aside. 

2.With my kitchenaid stand mixer, I creamed the sugar and butter, until light and fluffy.

 3.Then I beat in the extracts,egg and cream cheese.Gradually adding the flour mixture, until combined.

4.Divided the dough in half and wrapped lightly in saran wrap.Refrigerating for atleast 1 hour.

  
5.Preheated the oven to 350F. Lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
 
6.Rolled the chill dough to 1/4 inch thickness on a floured or icing sugar dusted work surface.Then began cutting cookie shapes using the 3D christmas tree cookie cutter and place each shape on a baking sheet. Very Fragile!!
  

7.Then I baked the cookies for 12 minutes until edges were golden.Then removed them from the oven and cooled for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfered to the wire rack.Cookies are very fragile and some can break.

8.Then I decorated each cookie with green icing using a piping bag and used sprinkles such as hollyberry,silver balls,confetti and green crystals.Then I let the icing harden slightly and began attaching tree's together very gently.Then I let them harden in the refrigerator overnight before creating the display.

Tips: Any extras that don't fit on the display is for eating.These melt in your mouth sugar cookies with sweet butter icing cannot be resisted by anyone!

3D Spice Christmas Tree Cake

(Adapted From Chefs Catalog: Nordicware Butter Rum Chirstmas Tree Cake)

• 1 cup butter,softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 cups cake flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup sour milk (1 cup milk and 1 tsp lemon juice)
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla
•  4 eggs

Butter Icing 

(Adapted from Company's Coming:Cakes By Jean Pare)

• 3 cups icing (confectioner's) sugar
• 1/4 cup butter,softened
• 3-4 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Beat all ingredients in my kitchenaid stand mixer with the whisk attachment,until smooth.Can add more liquid or icing sugar as need.For decorating: icing spatula,piping bag,tips,couplers and food coloring.

Decorations

• Star Candies
• Red,Green And White Candies
• Hollyberry sprinkles
• Silver ball sprinkles
• Confetti sprinkles
• Green Sprinkles

 1.Preheated the oven to 325F. First,I buttered the christmas tree cake pan as well as lightly floured.Putting together the cake pan with pins and setting aside.

2.In a glass measuring cup,I measured 1 cup of 2% milk and 1 tsp of lemon juice,letting it sit for 10 minutes or until little lumps occur. 

3.With my kitchenaid stand mixer,I creamed the softened butter with the granulated sugar,until light and fluffy. 

4.Then I mixed the flour,baking powder, salt,nutmeg and cinnamon together in a medium bowl.Setting aside. 

5.Then began adding the sour milk,vanilla and eggs to the butter mixture,beating on low speed.Then I gradually added the flour mixture on low speed.After,I began beating the mixture for 3 minutes on medium speed,until fully combined. 

6.Then I proceeded to pour the cake batter into the cake pan,almost full leaving 4 cm or 1.5 inches from the rim to allow rising. Then tapped the cake pan lightly to elimate any bubbles and then placed the cake pan upright full of batter on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.The batter will slightly leak from the edges and top when baking.Any extra batter left?,I baked in my snowflake muffin tins (idea : igloos) 

7.Then I baked the cake for 50-60 minutes,until a toothpick came out clean. Baked the muffin until toothpick came out clean as well.Then I allowed the cake and muffins to cool overnight or can be cooled for 10 minutes.(Tip: Any cake scraps leftover from cutting are for eating! This moist,spiced,rich cake cannot be resisted.It smells like Christmas time!

 Decorating

1.Once ready to decorate.I released the cake from the pan and used a serrated knife to remove the uneven stump from the top and removed any uneven pieces on the tree. 

2.Then I used a little icing to stick the tree in the middle of my silver display board. Then began decorating the tree with red and green candies for lights as well as silver balls with red decorating gel.For an added touch I placed hollyberry spinkles on the tree and placed a sour star candy for a tree topper.

3.For the muffins, using a little bit of white icing I stuck them on each corner of the display board,showing the snowflake stencil.I then began cutting a small door to each muffin to create an  igloos and piped the top with white icing along the stencil of the snowflake.I also,iced the sides of the igloo muffins decorating them with silver ball sprinkles and sifting icing over top of each.

4.Around the edge of the silver display board using a star tip with white icing piped along the side I added red,green and white candies to create a border.

5.Then around the 3D Christmas tree cake. I began placing my fully decorated 3D christmas tree cookies as well as my christmas figures of a santa,reindeer and snowman. Once fully decorated I began sifting icing sugar overtop to create a winter wonderland forest.Then its time to show it off!