Make the cookies

1. Make the cookie dough according to the recipe that you’re using.  Roll out the dough between sheets of parchment

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   1/8″ thick.
2. Set the rolled out sheets of dough in the freezer for 10 minutes or until the parchment

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   peels off easily.
3. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C).
4. Cut out trees from your dough with your cookie cutter. Transfer the trees to a parchment

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   lined sheet.
5. Once you’ve moved the trees, cut off the trunk (if you have one on your cutter) with a bench scraper

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   or small knife.  Also cut each tree vertically in half.  Place tree halves slightly apart on the cookie sheet.
6. Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes, rotating them halfway through baking. 
7. Continue baking as many trees as you would like to make.  You can make cutouts from another dough or wrap up the rest of the dough in its plastic wrap and make more another day within a week’s time.

Ice the cookies

1. Mix all the ingredients for the powdered sugar icing in a small bowl.  The icing should be thin but not so runny that it falls straight off the cookie.  If it seems too thick, add a couple drops of milk until it flows nicely.
2. Set out a piece of parchment

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   with the trees you’ll be decorating.  Dip each tree part face down into the icing and then let the icing drip back into the bowl.  Set the tree down on the parchment

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   .  Add some sprinkles if you’d like.  Continue dipping all the trees.  Once you’ve iced all the trees, set them aside to dry for at least 30 minutes.

Build the trees

1. Beat all the royal icing ingredients together until the icing holds its shape and is thick and smooth.  If it seems too thick, add a drop or two of water at a time.  Do not use milk for this icing as the fat in the milk will prevent the meringue powder

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   from setting properly.  Scrape the icing into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip.

2. Set out paper plates (1 per guest). Run a bead of icing down the straight side of 1 cookie.

3. Connect it to its mirror side. 

4. Make a small X on the plate with the icing. 

5. Run another bead right on top of your seam on the backside of the cookie. Set the 2 pieces you’ve connected on the cross part of the X, and then add a 3rd piece sticking it to the line of icing and the back side of the X. At this point, your tree should stand up enough for you to pipe on one more line of icing on the front side of the cookie. Add on the last cookie piece on top of the icing and the last part of the X.  Don’t neglect to build on top of the X made from the icing; that is the base that will let your tree dry vertically.

6. Let the cookies sit for a little while before moving them.  They will set up fairly quickly, but giving them a little room to dry is always wise.