Butter cookies: simply delicious!

Butter cookies are a delicious treat. Made with a few simple ingredients like butter, sugar, and flour, these cookies are easy to make and can be customized to suit your taste. Unlike shortbread, butter cookies are a bit crispier and sweeter. You can add your favorite flavors like vanilla, almond, or lemon to take these cookies to the next level. With a crispy texture and a sweet, buttery flavor, these cookies are sure to become a family favorite. So, let's get baking and indulge in the buttery goodness that is butter cookies! Perfect for those occasions when you’re looking for a sweet treat to enjoy with your afternoon tea.

Butter Cookies Ingredients

• Flour – use all-purpose flour
• Butter – unsalted butter will work best; if using salted butter, omit the additional salt in the recipe
• Egg – the egg helps to bind the cookie
• Sugar – powdered sugar blends into the batter more easily
• Flavoring – vanilla extract works best, but feel free to add ¼ tsp of almond extract for added flavor

How to Soften Butter Quickly

The butter needs to be softened (at room temperature) for this recipe. Not hard and cold, but also not melted. But we often forget to take the butter out in time. Fortunately, there is a way to get your butter to room temperature quickly and efficiently.

Place the butter in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for bursts of 10 seconds at 50% power. Continue to do this until the butter is soft, but not melted.

Butter Cookie Shapes

In this recipe, we use a simple method of forming the dough into a log, wrapping it with plastic wrap or parchment paper, and then slicing it into cookies. But there are other ways of creating different cookie shapes.

To make a shape similar to a Danish butter cookie, you can use a piping bag with a star tip to pipe the dough into a circle.

If you have a cookie press, you can make ‘Spritz cookies’. Cookie presses usually have various attachments for different shapes of cookies.

Tips

Make sure the egg is at room temperature. If your eggs are cold, place them in a bowl of tap water for 10 minutes before using them.

Measuring out the flour by cup might seem easy at first, but honestly, it's much better to do it by weight measurement. This means the flour will be measured more accurately and your cookies will turn out perfect.

If you prefer crispier cookies, you can leave them in the oven for a few minutes extra, but keep an eye on them so that they don't become too brown.

You can also use other extracts. A mixture of almond extract and vanilla extract goes very well with these butter cookies.

How to Store Butter Cookies

Once the cookies have cooled completely, they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week. You could also put them in the refrigerator if you live in a humid and hot area.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. In a large bowl, use a mixer to beat together the softened butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar.

When the butter and sugar mixture become creamy, add one egg and a pinch of salt. Mix everything again well.

Finally, add flour and work the cookie dough with a spatula until it comes together.

Cut the dough in half.

Form the dough into a log using two pieces of parchment paper.

Cut each log into individual cookies.

Place them onto a parchment-covered baking sheet.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let the cookies cool down before serving.

Enjoy!