Gingerbread trees

1. In a container, combine butter (room temperature) and powdered sugar, beat well with a mixer.

2. Beat in the egg, add liquid honey and salt. Beat with a mixer until smooth.

3. In the second container, combine: flour, cocoa, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and soda. Mix with a hand whisk or spoon.

4. Pour the dry mixture into the first container in portions. Knead the dough first in a container, then on a table lightly dusted with flour. The gingerbread dough turns out soft and pliable, not sticking to your hands. You may need less or more flour than called for in the recipe. Wrap the dough in cellophane and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours. The dough should be chilled to make it easier to work with. You can leave the dough in the refrigerator overnight. But in the morning, the dough must be removed from the refrigerator 1.5-2 hours before starting work.

5. Let's prepare molds for making Christmas trees. I have 2 sets of “stars” and a set of “flowers”.

6. To make it more convenient to work with the dough, we will divide it into 2 parts. Roll out the first part of the dough into a layer 4-5 mm thick and use molds to cut out blanks for future Christmas trees. The dough rolls out easily; there is no need to sprinkle the work surface with flour. Gather the remaining dough into a ball, roll it out and cut it out. We do the same with the second part of the test.

7. Cover the baking sheet with baking paper, lay out the cut-out pieces and place in a preheated oven. Bake at 180 degrees for 5-10 minutes. Watch the baking, try not to dry out the gingerbread cookies in the oven. Cool the baked goods on a wire rack.

8. Place the glaze in a pastry bag and cut off a small corner. Let's start assembling the gingerbread trees. When assembling Christmas trees, it is better to use 2 parts of each size, but you can do one at a time, but then the Christmas tree will be lower. So, we place the largest star on a flat surface. Apply a thin strip of glaze along the outline. Squeeze a small amount of icing into the center and place a second star of the same size on it, but with the rays shifted relative to the first star. In this way we sequentially decorate and glue all the details of the Christmas trees.

9. Second version of the Christmas tree. Make a circle around the edges of the flower with icing.

10. Place a second flower of the same size, but with the petals shifted relative to the previous flower. We glue all the parts sequentially. We install a star on the top part.

11. The Christmas trees have been collected. Now you can simply sprinkle them with powdered sugar, or you can decorate them using multi-colored sugar sprinkles: beads, snowflakes, Christmas trees... The elegant gingerbread trees are ready. If you plan to give them as a gift, be sure to pack them in holiday bags or transparent boxes. Have a delicious holiday!