Our air fryer CHRISTMAS TREE COOKIES are a simple, sweet classic Christmas cookie that we made extra fun! These are your classic peanut butter blossoms, but with an adorable Christmas tree twist!
For as long as I can remember my favorite Christmas cookie has been the peanut butter cookie with a Hershey kiss on top. I have eaten them that way for a number of years and been as happy as can be.
The only problem with those Christmas cookies is they didn’t really look Christmas-y. Right? Just a boring old Hershey kiss on top of a boring (but totally delicious) peanut butter cookie. The other colorful, iced sugar cookies always LOOKED better.
This year though…this year is different.
This year these cookies look so pretty with a Christmas tree on top! And we add sprinkles to look like Christmas tree ornaments! My kids are just as obsessed with these as I am!
Table of Contents
Ingredient Notes:
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Peanut Butter – Use a processed creamy peanut butter here. Natural peanut butter will likely separate and won’t bake up as well. We like Jif in our house.
Butter– You’ll want this to be room temperature.
Frosting – You can make your own or your can purchase green frosting in a tube or can that is meant to be squirted out of a tip. So simple to use the ready made frosting for this one! This one works great.
Sprinkles – Any Christmas sprinkles will work. I can’t find the exact ones we used, but I like these better anyway.
How to Make Christmas Tree Cookies in an Air Fryer:
Mix the dry ingredients- In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt. Stir this to combine well and then set it aside.
Mix together the wet ingredients– In a separate bowl beat together peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat these with an electric mixer ideally to ensure everything is well mixed. After that add in the egg, but mix this in just enough that it is combined. Don’t overbeat this.
Make the dough balls– Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredient bowl stirring to combine. Next, use a medium cookie scoop to scoop out balls of dough. Use your hands to roll them into balls and put them on a cookie sheet. Place this in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.
Cook the cookies– Line your air fryer with parchment paper. Cut it to size to fit nicely in the bottom of your air fryer. Add granulated sugar to a small bowl and coat the dough balls in the sugar then place on the parchment paper in your air fryer a minimum of an inch apart from one another. Cook for 6-8 minutes at 300 degrees F.
Add the tree to the cookie– After removing the cookies from the air fryer, let them cool for 5 minutes then press a Hershey kiss into the center of each cookie. Let them finish cooling completely then you can begin covering the kiss with green icing to create the shape of the tree. Add sprinkles to look like ornaments and serve!
FAQ:
A small star tip will look best, but feel free to experiment.
Yes, but you will do more freehand decorating of the tree. You could skip the Kiss entirely and just make a frosting tree or you could use a peanut butter cup as the base.
They were likely overcooked. Air fryers can vary a little bit from model to model so keep in mind the timing is just a guide. Your first batch of cookies will likely take a more time than subsequent batches as the air fryer will be fully preheated and hot when the second batch goes in.
Recipe Tips and Substitutions
When baking the cookies, you will most likely need to do multiple batches depending on the size of your air fryer. I was able to fit about 4-6 at a time. They cook quickly though so you’ll be able to move between batches swiftly.
Making the tree look cute shouldn’t be hard! Use a start tip in your frosting dispenser. You can use homemade frosting or premade frosting you purchased. Either way, use the frosting while it is still “wet”. Don’t let it sit out and dry up.
Squirt the frosting around the Hershey kiss from the bottom to the top in a circular motion, stopping when you get to the top of the kiss.
Also, use a star-shaped or angel-shaped sprinkle for the top of the tree then just a few round sprinkles on the rest of the tree.
More air fryer dessert recipes you might like:
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Air Fryer Christmas Tree Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup peanut butter
- ½ cup butter room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup granulated sugar for coating cookies
- 22 Hershey Kisses
- Frosting and sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until well combined.
- Add in the egg and mix until just combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop out balls of dough and place them on a baking sheet. Roll the scoops of cookie dough between your hands to smooth into a ball. Place the pan in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill.
- Preheat the air fryer to 300 degrees and line the air fryer basket with parchment paper.
- Place the granulated sugar into a small bowl and roll each ball of cookie in the sugar to coat.
- Place the cookies on the parchment paper about an inch apart and lightly press down. They will spread slightly while cooking.
- Air fry cookies for about 6-8 minutes or until cookies are a very light golden brown. Do not overcook.
- Remove the basket from the air fryer and let cool for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the cookies from the air fryer with a spatula and immediately press a Hershey’s Kiss into the center of the cookie.
- Let the cookies cool completely before decorating with frosting and sprinkles.
Notes
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Betty L Hamann says
I thought that too so the second batch I let cool before removing them from the basket. Once cooled I pressed the Hershey kiss on the top and it broke in half and cumbled. They hit the floor. Dogs loved them! Lol. It lead me to believe that they were not cooked thoroughly. My air fryer has a bake option so for the third batch I switched to bake, turned the heat down to 230 degrees and baked for 10 minutes. I flipped and baked the bottom side for 3 minutes. These did not crumble so I was able to end up with 9 decorated cookies which I gave to the Grand kids.
Karly says
Ah, well that’s weird! I wonder if they were overbaked? It’s so hard to say and one of things I don’t love about baking in an air fryer – they all cook differently. People want baking recipes and we do our best to test on multiple models so that we’re getting it right, but we still sometimes run into issues. 🙁 Either way, sorry they didn’t work out for you and I’m glad you were able to salvage some for the kiddos!
Betty L Hamann says
I tried making these today. Complete fail! I followed the directions exactly. The first batch I cooked for 8 minutes as they were golden brown as you stated and not to over cook. The cookies crumbled and fell apart taking them out of the air fryer. I made a second batch. I cooked them for 10 minutes this time. The same thing happened. They all fell apart. I was so eager to make these and pass them out as gifts. I am crushed. All of the ingredients wasted!
Karly says
Oh no, I’m so sorry these didn’t work out for you! If they were crumbling apart when removing from the air fryer, my guess is that they were too hot to be moved – we were very careful to remove ours, but I just updated the recipe a bit to make it clear so that others don’t have the same issue.