Pat Egan's Christmas Tree Cookies

Ingredients

 * 2 1/2 cup  Flour
 * 1 cup Sugar
 * 1 cup Butter or margarine
 * Softened
 * 1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
 * 1/4 tsp Salt
 * 1/2 tsp Almond extract
 * 1 	Egg
 * 1/4 cup Green sugar crystals, about
 * 1/4 cup Confetti or nonpareil candy
 * Decorations, optional

Directions
Mix together, using low speed. Dough will be crumbly. Then knead dough with hands until mixture holds together. Remove 1/3 cup of the dough; wrap and refrigerate. Divide remaining dough in thirds. Using hands, roll each into a 6-inch log. Put sugar crystals on a sheet of wax paper. Roll each log in the sugar crystals to coat well; use the wax paper as a guide to press in crystals. Shape each log into a triangle, pressing gently on wax paper to give three sharp corners. Make sure to make 2 sides longer than the third side. Wrap each log well and refrigerate at least 4 hours or until dough is firm enough to slice. To this point, cookies can be made up to a week in advance. Heat oven to 350 degrees. To bake, slice logs crosswise into ¼-inch slices. Put slices about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. For each cookie, shape about ½ teaspoon of the reserved 1/3 cup dough into a tree trunk. Attach to bottom underside of each tree.<BR> Sprinkle each cookie lightly with candy decorations, if desired.<BR> Bake until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.<BR> Carefully remove to wire racks.<BR> Cool completely. These second-place winning cookies are easily shaped into trees that are edged with glittery green sugar.<BR> Of her simple cookies, Pat Egan of Dolton, Illinois writes, "They're not a fancy or gourmet cookie, but a simple symbol of the christmas season that is so close to my heart." from the Chicago Tribune annual food guide holiday cookie contest december 8, 198
 * Preparation time: 20 minutes chilling time: 4 hours baking time: 10 minutes Put flour, sugar, butter, baking powder, salt, almond extract and egg into large bowl of an electric mixer.
 * Note: the logs can be divided and shaped into 3 sizes and sliced to form a 3-tiered tree.