Christmas Tree Cookies

Name: Christmas Tree Cookies
Ingredients: 3 ¾ cups all purpose flour; 1 tsp baking powder; ½ tsp salt; 1 cup softened butter; 1 ½ Cups granulated sugar; 2 whole eggs; 1 Tbs vanilla; 1+ tsp dark green food coloring

I still am in the learning stages of decorating cookies. It's a rather tricky process of gaining expertise in the icing and their use. I circumvented a big chunk of the decorating in this recipe by coloring the dough instead of applying a green icing over the entire cookie

Directions

Preheat oven to 400º In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In the bowl of a mixer cream the butter and sugar .
With the mixer on low add the eggs one at a time and combine thoroughly .
Add the vanilla and the food coloring mix well.
With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until a dough forms.
If it looks too light green add a little more coloring.
Divide the dough in thirds and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours to overnight.
On a well floured surface roll the dough out to about a ¼ inch thickness and using a Christmas tree cutter cut out the shapes and place on a lightly greased sheet pan or one with a silpat.
You can decorate with sprinkles at this point or wait until cookies are cool to ice or do both.
Bake for 8 - 10 minutes until the edges begin to lightly brown.
Remove from the oven and carefully place on a cooling rack to cool completely Once cooled decorate as you wish.
For the ones in the picture I used Royal Icing.
Royal Icing I have also discovered I do not have the patience or artistic talent to create great looking cookies.
If your looking for a good blog about cookie decorating try http://bakeat350.blogspot.com or http://sweetopia.net/ two very great looking cookie sites.
There are a number of different recipes for Royal Icing, which is an icing that will harden rather quickly and is great for decorating.
For ease in making I use the meringue powder, or when I can find it pasteurized egg whites.