Butter Cookies

No ratings yet

12 Comments

• Pin
• Share

By: Jill Mills Updated: Dec 12, 2024

With just 7 ingredients, these Butter Cookies offer a soft melt-in-your-mouth texture with a rich buttery flavor. Enjoy as-is or dip in chocolate and top with sprinkles for an extra special treat.

Butter cookies are a classic holiday cookie, right alongside sugar cookies and shortbread cookies. Like shortbread cookies, they are made without a leavening agent. They’re a bit richer and more buttery than the shortbread counterpart, though, which is part of the reason we love them so much.

Why This Is The Best Butter Cookies Recipe

After trying many different variations of this recipe, I’m confident in saying this one is the best. Here’s why.

• Buttery flavor. As the name suggests, butter is the primary flavor in these cookies and this recipe offers just the right amount of sweet and rich buttery flavor.
• No chilling required. Many butter cookie recipes require chilling the dough but this one does not. That means you can have your hands on some freshly baked cookies in less than 30 minutes.
• Optional chocolate. You can dip these cookies in chocolate and sprinkles or enjoy them as they are – the choice is yours!
• Great for the holidays. As I noted above, these cookies are a holiday staple. Part of the reason is that they store well for weeks, which makes them ideal for prepping a large batch to share throughout the holiday season.

What You’ll Need

This classic recipe is made with just a few pantry staples. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the exact measurements.

• Flour – Be sure to measure it accurately.
• Salt
• Unsalted butter – Since we’re adding salt to the dough separately, you definitely want unsalted butter to avoid having too much salt. It should be softened to room temperature.
• Egg yolks – You’ll need only egg yolks in this recipe, you can discard the egg whites or use them in another recipe.
• Sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Milk – Whole or 2% is best.
• Optional – Chocolate melting wafers and sprinkles for decorating the cookies.

How To Make Butter Cookies

Here’s an overview of how to make this butter cookies recipe. You can find the printable version of the instructions in the recipe card below.

• Make the dough. Combine the flour and salt. In a separate bowl, cream the butter, salt, and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg yolks, being sure to scrape down the bowl as needed, then stir in the vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time, mixing until there are no more flour streaks.
• Pipe the cookies. Transfer a small amount of dough to a piping bag with a large star tip. If the dough is too thick to pipe, add a tablespoon of milk to the dough and try again. Pipe 1 1/2 to 2 inch swirls on the baking sheet, approximately 2 inches apart.
• Bake. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the edges just start to turn golden brown. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then move to a cooling rack.
• Decorate. If desired, microwave the chocolate wafers in 15-second intervals until melted and smooth. Dip the cookies in the chocolate and top with the sprinkles. Let dry on a wire rack.

A Note on Oven Time & Baking Temperature

These butter cookies can be tricky to get the right look and taste. I experimented with several different ways of making these cookies before I found what I felt was best. Here are some things I tried so you don’t have to:

• Less flour. I tried the recipe with only 2 cups of flour, but the cookies spread more than I wanted and lost their unique shape.
• Higher temperature. I tried to up the temperature to 375 degrees to try and have the cookies set faster so they wouldn’t spread, but they still spread.
• Chilling the dough. I refrigerated the cookies on the baking sheet for an hour and baked them. They still spread. I froze them and they still spread.

What worked best was adding ¼ cup of flour to the dough and baked at 350 degrees until the edges were just turning golden. The dough was still thick (I went through 8 piping bags), but it yielded the best results.

Proper Storage

• Room temperature. Store butter cookies in an airtight container on the counter for 2-3 weeks. You may want to place parchment paper between the layers if you added the chocolate.
• Freezer. Flash freeze the butter cookies on a baking sheet then transfer to a freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 3 months and thaw on the counter.

More Christmas Cookie Recipes To Try

• Meringue Christmas Trees
• Church Window Cookies
• Candy Cane Cookies
• Peppermint Meltaways
• Christmas Cookies in a Jar
• Air Fryer Christmas Cookies

No ratings yet

Butter Cookies

With just 7 ingredients, these Butter Cookies offer a soft melt-in-your-mouth texture with a rich buttery flavor. Enjoy as-is or dip in chocolate and top with sprinkles for an extra special treat.

Servings: 36 to 48 cookies, depending on size

Prep: 15 minutes mins

Cook: 12 minutes mins

Total: 27 minutes mins

Print Rate Save Saved!

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 ¼ cups flour
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, softened to room temperature.
• ▢ 2 egg yolks at room temperature
• ▢ ¾ cup sugar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 1-2 Tablespoons of milk
• ▢ Optional: chocolate melting wafers and sprinkles

Instructions

• Add the flour and salt to a medium bowl and mix. Set aside.
• Add the softened butter and sugar to a mixing bowl and cream them until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg yolks and mix thoroughly scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Add the vanilla extract and combine.
• Add the flour mixture to the batter a third at a time, mixing thoroughly in between.
• Mix until just combined and there are no more flour streaks.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Add a small amount of the dough to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. The dough should be thick, but pipeable. I double bagged my piping bag to try and avoid a blowout.
• If it’s too thick, add it back to the dough and add a Tablespoon of milk and mix again. Try to pipe it again.
• Once the dough is pipeable, pipe 1 ½ to 2-inch swirls on a parchment lined baking pan approximately 2 inches apart.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are JUST starting to turn golden brown.
• Remove them from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.
• Optional: Once cool, add chocolate melting wafers to a microwave safe bowl and microwave 15 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
• Dip the cookies into the chocolate and allow the extra to drip off.
• Add a little pinch of sprinkles to the chocolate and set them on a wire rack to dry. Use a knife to gently release the dried cookies from the rack.

Last Step:

Please leave a rating and comment letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business to thrive and continue providing free, high-quality recipes for you.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 94kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 34mg | Potassium: 12mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 173IU | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.4mg

Did You Make This?

Leave a comment & rating below or tag @kitchenfunwithmy3sons on social media!