Gingerbread Sandwich Trees

By Addie

Fun and festive, these cookie sandwich trees will be a huge hit with kids of all ages. They're a super-cute holiday treat! —Steve Foy, Kirkwood, Missouri

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup molasses
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• M&M's, minis
• 3/4 cup vanilla or chocolate frosting
• Green food coloring, optional

Preparation

Step 1

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and molasses. Combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, ginger and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness.

Cut with a floured 3-in. tree-shaped cookie cutter. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Gently press M&M's into half of the cookies.

Bake at 325° for 8-10 minutes or until edges are firm. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

If using vanilla frosting, tint green if desired. Spread frosting over the bottoms of plain cookies; top with decorated cookies. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 2 dozen.
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REVIEWS:

These cookies taste great, and were fun for my 4 year old who loved putting on the M&M's. Instead of vanilla, I made a buttercream icing and added some peppermint extract, the mint with the chocolate of the M&M's added a nice flavor!

These are cute and very easy to make!

My grand-kids and I make cutouts every year. Then as the family gathers for Christmas, we spend an afternoon decorating. Some are fast and furious and others are very detailed. These cookies make it easy for even the littlest fingers to decorate. And they became everyone's favorite this year. The flavor is excellent and the texture was perfect. We also used a cream cheese frosting

I made these last year for a cookie exchange and they were a big hit. Easy to put together and decorate since I'm not much into decorating, that was a plus for me. Tasted great. I might try the cream cheese icing this year. Thank's for the tip. Merry Christmas Everyone!


I'm not crazy about gingerbread, but these were good. My kids who LOVE gingerbread loved these. There was a lot for the kids to do baking them, so it was also a nice project for us to do.

I love this recipe. I'm not that big a gingerbread fan and these are great. My husband does like gingerbread cookies and he loves them too. I used a cream cheese-butter icing and chilled it first. They are so cute and easy. I think I'll make them for my kids classes this year.

Great with or without frosting. I used cream cheese frosting.

Awesome!