Right before Christmas I wanted to share a sugar cookie with royal icing made to wreaths. I use these for our Christmas tree, but obviously you can also just eat them like this or give away as a gift. My Christmas tree ornaments always need to be homemade, at least most of them. I usually decorate my Christmas tree with gingerbread. As we have a dog now, we do have some “fake” gingerbread ornaments, mainly hanging at the bottom so that there is no danger. However, this year I decided to also decorate with the sugar cookies made as Christmas wreaths. 
Sugar cookies are magical, you can make speculoos out of them, or Linzer, you can eat them plain or make stained glass cookies. This time around I decided to make a wreath cookie. For me decorating cookies is such a relaxing activity. We are going to use royal icing, which does not require any drying in between. In fact, it is important to immediately apply the green lines after having flooded the cookie with white royal icing as otherwise you will not be able to draw the wreath with a toothpick. You get a visual in this video. With this recipe I am saying good-bye for the holidays and hope you have a Merry Christmas!
These sugar cookies are made with royal icing creating a wreath and are prefect for the tree. For the sugar cookies process the almonds if not yet fine crumbs. Then mix the flour, processed almonds, sugar and spices into a large bowl. Cut the cold butter in cubes and mix into the mixture. Work into a ball. I usually have to add a splash (or two) of water, but this depends on many factors. Chill for at least half an hour or overnight. Since the dough does not contain any egg, you can keep for up to a week in the fridge and you can easily make it vegan. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Cut the dough in half and place one half back into the fridge. Roll out the other half on a lightly floured surface. Cut out circles (I have a cookie cutter for Linzer). Place the circles on the prepared baking sheet. Cut out the middle of the cookies (I used the back of a piping noozle), it is much easier doing this on parchment paper. Bake for about 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden. Repeat with the remaining dough until used. For the royal icing beat the icing sugar with the egg white for a few minutes until the consistency of toothpaste. Take a few teaspoons for the red food coloring and the green food coloring and color in separate bowls, the main part should still be white. Then transfer each to a piping bag (so three piping bags with white, red, and green). Just cut off a tiny corner from the piping bags so that you can create thin lines. First fill the cookies with the white royal icing, I didn't fill it completely, this is up to you. Then create green lines horizontally going all around the circle. You will need to do this right after having applied the white royal icing. Using a toothpick, go all around the circle exactly in the middle of the green lines. This is how you will form the wreath. For a visiual check this video. Lastly place little dollops of red icing all around for the final touches. The decorated cookies should dry for a few hours or overnight. I leave them at room temperature overnight. You should be able to stack them once dry. I put the wreaths on our Christmas tree, but you can also just eat them like this or give away as a gift.Wreath Sugar Cookies for the Tree
Ingredients
Instructions
P.S.: A very similar recipe, but with nutcrackers, can be found here.
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