Your kids will love to celebrate the holidays with these festive Christmas tree waffles. Bright and cheery, these Belgian waffles are dyed green and topped with bright red strawberries, Christmas candies, and whipped cream.
Simple to make and fun to decorate, this is a great recipe to get the whole family involved in. You can also make this recipe as colorful and candy-filled as you want. Add your favorite fruits and Christmas candies.
This Christmas tree-shaped breakfast is fresh and light thanks to generous amounts of whipped cream, strawberries, and airy waffles. Your kids might like them alongside this strawberry mint smoothie, but you can try having them with a strawberry mimosa (or two!). You can also pair it alongside a small bowl of yogurt with extra fruit toppings.
Also, chill the bowl and whisk that you will use to make the whipped cream. Chilled tools make the whipped cream come together in a snap! And when you go to add your food coloring to your waffle batter, add just a little bit of dye at a time. Food coloring is potent, so start conservatively. You can add food coloring, but you can’t take it out once you’ve added it to the batter!
What You Need to Make Christmas Tree Waffles
This recipe uses mostly pantry staples: all-purpose flour, salt, eggs, sugar, heavy cream, milk, baking powder, baking soda, yogurt, and butter. You will also want to have fresh strawberries, green food coloring, and candy decorations handy.
Ingredients:
- Unsalted butter
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Kosher Salt
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Yogurt
- Large eggs
- Whole milk
- Whipping Cream
- Food coloring
- Sprinkles and Christmas candy (for decorations)
Tools:
This recipe requires a whisk, three bowls, a Belgian waffle iron, a cutting board, and a knife. The Belgian waffle iron ensures that your waffles come out in the right shape, but I explain later in the instructions how you can use a square-shaped waffle iron, also.
You will be using whipped cream to decorate the waffles, so I recommend using a decorative piping tip to do so. Star tips are fun for this!
How To Make Christmas Tree Waffles
Prepare the Batter: Whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter and allow it to cool.
Whisk together the butter, eggs, milk, and yogurt, and then add a few drops of green food coloring. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until no streaks of flour remain. Do not over-mix.
Make the waffles: Heat your waffle iron. If your iron requires greasing, grease the waffle iron with additional melted butter. Add 1/3-1/2 cup of batter to your iron and close it.
If using a Belgian waffle iron, flip the iron over and allow it to cook until no steam comes out of your iron, 4-5 minutes. Remove the waffle from the iron and repeat with the rest of the batter.
Make the whipped cream: In a chilled bowl, whisk the heavy cream and 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar together. Whisk for 1-2 minutes or until soft peaks form. Put it into a plastic bag or piping bag to decorate.
Prepare the strawberries: Cut the strawberries into rounds to look like ornaments.
Decorate the waffles: Cut the waffles into quarters if you used a Belgian waffle iron. If you used a square iron, cut the waffles on the diagonal to create two triangles. Arrange the waffles into trees and decorate them with whipped cream, strawberries, and Christmas candies.
FAQs:
Candy canes or mini chocolate bars can be used as the trunk of the tree, and small round candies like spice drops and M&Ms can be used as small ornaments on your tree, also. Use what you already have around for the holidays!
Often waffle recipes call for the egg whites to be whipped by themselves before folding them into the batter. This is an extra step you can take if you want the crispest of waffles. But it’s also an extra step that makes waffles fussier and harder to make with kids, so is not a step I often take.
Yes! This recipe is easily doubled. You can also save any leftover undecorated waffles and reheat them in an oven set to 300ºF.
If you don’t have yogurt to add to the recipe, you can substitute buttermilk or milk with 1 ½ teaspoons of white vinegar instead.
Christmas Tree Waffles
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1½ tbsp granulated sugar
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 2 eggs large
- ⅔ cup whole milk
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ⅓ cup yogurt 2% or whole
- 5 strawberries fresh
- 1 cup heavy cream
- sprinkles
- Christmas candies
- 3 drops green food coloring
Instructions
- Melt 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk together 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon baking soda. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together 2 large eggs, 1/3 cup yogurt, 2/3 cup whole milk, and melted butter. Add 2-3 drops of green food coloring and whisk to combine.
- Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
- Preheat your waffle iron and grease if required.
- Using 1/3-1/2 cup of batter at a time, cook the waffles until no steam is coming out of the waffle iron. Repeat with the rest of the batter.
- Wash and dry 4-5 strawberries. Cut it into rounds.
- In a chilled bowl, whisk 1 cup of heavy cream and 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar until stiff peaks form.
- Place the whipped cream in a plastic bag or pastry bag with decorative tips attached.
- Cut the waffles into quarters (if using a Belgian waffle iron) or on the diagonal into triangles (if using a square waffle iron).
- Decorate with whipped cream, strawberries, and Christmas candies.
Notes
Nutrition
Here are a few other recipes you might enjoy!
- Christmas French Vanilla French Toast
- Christmas Tree Cinnamon Rolls
- Gingerbread Christmas Muffins
- Eggnog Muffins
- Stuffed Waffles (Made With Biscuits)
- Nutella Waffles
Arielle is a food and drink photographer based in Washington, D.C. She was previously a social science researcher before she fell in love with photography.