Preheat oven: 375°
Bake time: 7-9 minutes
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, (2 sticks) at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 Tbsp cream/milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Sift flour with baking powder and salt and set aside.
Cream butter, gradually add sugar, creaming well. Stir in egg, cream, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Chill if necessary.
Divide dough in half. Add green food coloring to one of the halves. Blend well.
Divide the second half into two parts. Leave one part plain. Add red food coloring to the other and blend well. Use enough food coloring to make vibrant colors. The colors tend to fade during baking.
Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Layer the dough in a loaf pan which is lined with parchment, alternating green, white, green. Press the first green layer evenly onto the bottom of the pan. Press the white layer over the green dough and them press the second green part on top. Wrap the parchment paper over the dough and regrigerate several hours or overnight. One thing to remember is that the depth of the layers will equal the size of the cookies. Cathy explains the process in detail, here. A quarter inch slice is taken from the slab of dough. Triangles are then cut from the slice. A red base is added to each triangle tree.
They are then dipped into sanding sugar and baked.
Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake the cookies at 375° for 7-9 minutes.