How to Make a 3D Gingerbread Christmas Tree

You won’t want to make just one gingerbread Christmas tree — you’ll want to make a whole forest! Get our easy gingerbread recipe and the simple trick to create these 3D gingerbread Christmas trees.

I’ve had this tree idea in my head for years now, just wondering if it would work. If I bake it, will it stand? The answer is YES! These little trees stand! And they’re perfect for decorating (and eating, if you’re into that sort of thing).

I made a forest of gingerbread Christmas trees with the kids the other day and thought I’d share them here. It turned out to be a really great holiday baking project that they loved.

Psst — if you like this idea, you’re gonna love these:

• Holiday Spritz Cookies (Perfect for Kids to Help With!)
• Easy Rum Ball Recipe
• Make a Candy Igloo (A Great Gingerbread House Alternative!)
• Elf Movie Cookies for Christmas
• Mini Gingerbread Alphabet Cookies

And be sure to sign up for my VIP group below, where I’ll send our best holiday recipes and DIYs straight to ya!

Gingerbread Christmas tree REcipe

Ingredients

• 3 c flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 3/4 c light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c unsulphured molasses
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp milk
• icing tube for building and decorating (we used this with a piping tip)
• sprinkles and various decorations
• paper and scissors

Directions for baking

1. Preheat oven to 350. Cut out some tree shapes from your paper. Thoroughly mix flour, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl and set aside.
2. Cream butter and brown sugar just until combined. Add in egg, molasses, and vanilla until thoroughly incorporated.
3. Add dry mixture little by little until dry and wet mixture is combined. Mix thoroughly until your dough forms. It will be somewhat crumbly, but you should be able to grab a handful and form it into a ball that will hold. If it needs a bit more moisture, add 1 tsp milk.
4. Lightly flour a silpat mat (or some parchment paper) and your rolling pin, and roll out the gingerbread dough to about 1/4″ thick. Cut a gingerbread Christmas tree shape from your paper. Place the tree down on the gingerbread and cut around it with a knife. Repeat. For each tree you’d like to make, you’ll need to trace two. Once all your trees are cut out, slice a 1/4″ piece out of the vertical center of one tree from each pair.
5. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

Directions for constructing your Gingerbread Christmas Trees

1. Once cooled, construct your gingerbread Christmas trees. Take one full tree and one half tree. Place a line of icing at the base of each, and a line of icing on the flat edge of the half tree. Place these upright together, with the half tree perpendicular to the full tree. Then ice the bottom and flat edge of the other half tree and place it on the other side of the full tree. This should create a 3D, standing tree.
2. Decorate!

Gingerbread Decorating ideas

You could decorate these a zillion different ways! We went with some little blue snowflake sprinkles I happened to have on hand, and Maggie was pretty pleased because she thought it was an Elsa-inspired Frozen tree. We definitely have a kid in her princess phase over here!

I think they’d also look really pretty with all white or sparkly edible glitter. Like a winter wonderland!

There are so many more ideas you could try:

• Use your gingerbread Christmas trees to create a little forest outside a gingerbread house
• Make a batch and set them out at individual holiday table settings as place cards
• Set them on a pretty platter and use as a table centerpiece
• Create them with students at a class holiday party

However you choose to decorate your gingerbread Christmas trees, hope you have a blast making these! xoxo

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