Homemade Butter Cookies are a classic recipe that can be made for any occasion and holiday! They are simple yet sophisticated cookies with a rich, buttery taste!
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6 Reasons to Love This Easy Butter Cookies Recipe
- Easy to make
- They're soft on the inside with a little crispy outside
- Each bite gives you a nice crumble like a shortbread cookie
- Only 7 ingredients needed
- You can easily change out the cookie cutter for each holiday
- Perfect for adding to your holiday cookie tins
I love the simplicity of this butter cookie and how good they taste! I hope you give them a try this holiday season!
The Best Cookies to Add to Your Holiday Baking Tins
Besides these homemade butter cookies, here are a few more cookies that would be great for your holiday baking tins!
How to Make Homemade Butter Cookies
Below is a simple step-by-step overview of how to make these homemade buttery shortbread biscuits!
- Whisk the dry ingredients. This includes all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix together the wet ingredients. Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to blend the butter, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and blend completely.
- Chill the dough. It needs a minimum of 1 hour in the refrigerator before moving on to the next step.
- Roll out and stamp. Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Then stamp out the snowflake shapes with the snowflake cookie stamp (or whatever shape you prefer). Be sure to read my 5 best tips below for using cookie cutters!
- Chill the cookies. This can be done while you preheat the oven. You can place them in the freezer or refrigerator. Any little bit of keeping the dough chilled will help prevent your cookies from spreading during baking.
- Bake. The recommended baking time is 8-10 minutes at 325ºF. After baking, allow the cookies to cool before enjoying them!
Recommended Cookie Baking Tools
5 Tips for Using Cookie Stamps
Cookie stamps and cookie cutters are an easy way to elevate the look of your cookies. Here are 5 simple tips for using them with this homemade butter cookies recipe.
- 1. Chill the dough. Just like with my chocolate thumbprint cookies, I like to chill the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling it out. I find it to be easier to work with when using the cookie stamps.
- Alternatively, you can chill the dough overnight. If you choose this option, you may want to shape the dough into discs, as you would for pie crust, so it's easier to roll out the next day. When ready to bake, take the dough out of the refrigerator to bring it to room temperature for 30 minutes.
- 2. Lightly flour your work surface. Add a little flour to your work surface and a rolling pin to help roll out the cookie dough.
- 3. Keep it thick. Most cookie stamps work well when the dough is rolled out thick. Anywhere from ½" - ⅝" is ideal.
- 4. Lightly flour the cookie stamp. As your dough becomes warmer due to it being out at room temperature, it's helpful to have your cookie stamp lightly floured. It helps to release the cookie onto the baking mat.
- 5. Chill the dough....again. This time for only 15-20 minutes. It really helps to keep the details on the cookie stamp! While one set of cookies is baking, you can have another set in the refrigerator or freezer chilling.
Can I Freeze Butter Cookie Dough?
Yes, you can freeze butter cookie dough, but I suggest doing it after cutting out the cookies. Place them on a parchment paper or wax paper lined baking sheet that's tightly covered with plastic wrap.
📖 Recipe
Homemade Butter Cookies
Author:Homemade Butter Cookies are a simple, yet sophisticated cookie that has a rich, buttery taste! Switch up the cookie stamp to use for any holiday!
Ingredients
- 4 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
- 2 cups Granulated Sugar
- 2 Large Eggs (room temperature)
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.4 cups All-Purpose Flour, 1 teaspoon Baking Powder, ½ teaspoon Salt
- In a separate bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the unsalted butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and the vanilla extract.1 cup Unsalted Butter, 2 cups Granulated Sugar, 2 Large Eggs, 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Add in the whisked dry mixture and mix on low speed until it's well blended.
- Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap and chill for a minimum of 1 hour (or overnight) in the refrigerator. See notes for an alternative way of chilling the dough.
- Adjust the oven rack to the 2nd level mark (just above center) and preheat the oven to 325ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats and set aside.
- Roll out the dough (½″-⅝″ thickness) onto a clean, lightly floured work surface. Using a lightly floured cookie stamp or cookie cutter, stamp out each cookie and place it on the parchment-lined baking sheet. For a well-defined cookie shape, chill the cookies in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes before placing them in the oven to bake.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes (my cookies did well at 10 minutes) at 325ºF. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
- Store cooled cookies in an airtight container with a slice of bread for up to a week.
Recipe Notes
- The number of cookies this recipe yields will depend on the size of your cookie cutter or cookie stamp. Using this snowflake cookie stamp gave me 9 dozen cookies.
- After making the cookie dough, instead of chilling it as a whole, you can divide it into two sections, then roll out each one between 2 sheets of lightly floured wax paper to a ½″-⅝″ thickness. Chill the slabs of dough in either the refrigerator or freezer.
- If you're chilling the cookie dough in the bowl, only chill it in the refrigerator.
- Recipe adapted from A Recipe Sampler by St. Andrew's Evangelical Lutheran Church cookbook.
Nutrition
Calories: 48kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 16mg | Potassium: 7mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 57IU | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 0.2mg
Nutritonal information provided above is an estimate only and will vary based on specific ingredients used.
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Nam says
Hi, this is such a yummy recipe. Can you tell me measurement in grams ?
Jennifer says
Ah, shoot, I'm sorry, I don't have them for this recipe! This was before I had started to weigh my ingredients, but plan to remake them this holiday, so will add them in!
Laurel says
Can this dough be used in a cookie press?
Jennifer says
I've never tried this, so can't give you a definitive yes or no. I think the dough might be a little too thick for something like that, but you could always try a little bit of the cookie dough in one and see how it goes!
Carolyn, MOB says
Thank you for the recipe and tips! I have an imprint stamp for my daughter’s wedding and will definitely try this for cookies to be included in the hotel guests’ goodie boxes. For how long do you believe the baked cookies could be frozen? I’d like to prepare them ahead of time. Is there any different method you’d recommend? Thank you!
Jennifer says
You're welcome! I would say you could keep these frozen for up to 3 months. The method for freezing the baked cookies isn't that much different from freezing the cookie dough. Let the baked butter cookies cool completely, then freeze them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Once frozen, keep them stored in a well-sealed container (separate layers with wax or parchment paper) or freezer bag.
Megan Kim says
Hi! I'm planning to make these as part of a Christmas gift and was wondering if I don't have a cookie stamp, do you think I can add sprinkles to it instead? I have Christmas cookie cutters but they're going to look plain on it's own, and so I was thinking of adding some red/green/white sprinkles to make them colourful.
Jennifer says
Oh absolutely, that's a terrific idea!
Jeanne says
Where did you find your cookie press? Beautiful cookies.
Jennifer says
Thank you. They're from Amazon, I believe, but I have also seen them at Michaels. I have a link to them under my "Recommended Cooking Baking Tools" section above.