Sugar & Spice Tree Cookies

And announcing our first Cook-Along

As the holidays loom closer you can see my “Woodland” theme is getting quite loose. This box contains the Pine & Pistachio Linzer I recently shared, Fresh Ginger Cookies with Mint, Seedy Chocolate Bark, my favorite all-purpose outdoor cooking seasoning, and a freshly foraged winter tea. If time and energy allows I still have plans for Mushroom Meringues and an actual

tree cookie brightly decorated with royal icing. But for now let’s talk about those adorable “tree ring” cookies.

Sometimes my Google searches, while maybe not the most inventive, yield some creative ideas. When I began my search for possible ideas for my “Woodland” theme cookie boxes I started by searching “tree cookies”. Well, it turns out that the cross section of a tree is actually called a tree cookie. Immediately I wanted to turn a “tree cookie” into a tree cookie. I am happy to report that my internet surfing turned into a cookie that is not only delightful to look at but also very delicious. 

    My tree cookies are a soft-set sugar cookie with rings of deeply spiced dough surrounded by a bark edge that is laced with cocoa and molasses. While the rolling of the dough does take some time, for me, the appearance is quite worth the rolling and wrapping.