Butter Cookies Recipe — Sugar & Cloth Sugar & Cloth (2024)

Easy Butter Cookie Recipe — Your traditional delicious butter cookies but with a twist! They’re dipped in chocolate and dressed in sprinkles so who couldn’t resist?

You know those giant blue tins of Danish butter cookies that seem to appear at every holiday gathering? Or at every grandparent’s house? They’re delicious, but definitely not the freshest cookies on the table.

And they always seem to be the last ones sticking around too. But homemade butter cookies? I, Rebecca guarantee they’ll disappear instantly.

And with this easy, traditional recipe you can have your very own fresh, delicious butter and sugar cookies to serve or gift. Or to eat yourself, of course.

Most butter cookies are simply sprinkled with a coarse sugar (like turbinado) before baking. But I dressed some of these up a bit by dipping them in melted chocolate and adding some colored sprinkles and sugar for a bit more pizazz.

You could customize the colors and types of sprinkles for whatever celebration you’re making the butter cookies for.

To Make This Easy Butter Cookies Recipe, You’ll Need

Butter (very soft to make it easy to pipe)

White sugar

Egg (at room temperature)

Vanilla extract

Salt

All-purpose flour

Turbinado sugar (or any other large-grain sugar)

Chopped chocolate (optional)

Sprinkles of colored decorating sugar (optional)

How To Make Easy Butter Cookies

1 — Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2 — Start with very soft butter. Because you pipe these cookies, the dough needs to be soft enough to squeeze through the bag and tip.

The temperature and consistency of your dough will determine how easy (or difficult!) that job is.

3 — In a large bowl, cream the sugar into the butter with a stand or hand mixer until it’s fluffy and soft. You want the sugar to be dissolved into the butter so that you don’t have gritty cookies.

4 — Next, add an egg and vanilla extract. The egg will combine with the other ingredients and not harden the butter at all if it’s at room temperature.

So I recommend pulling the egg out of the refrigerator about 20 minutes before you start baking to give it time to warm up a little bit.

5 — Add the flour and salt by stirring in. You can do this step by hand. But if you prefer to use the mixer with a paddle attachment, be sure to start it off on the lowest speed until most of the flour is incorporated. If you turn the mixer on too quickly, you’ll have a cloud of flour covering you and your kitchen.

6 — Once the flour is completely stirred in and you have a smooth dough, place it in a piping bag with a large tip. Then, pipe the cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle them generously with a coarse sugar like turbinado.

7 — Place the prepared baking sheet in the oven and bake until the cookies are golden brown around the edges. Since butter cookies are traditionally fairly crisp, you want to make sure that they’re pretty well baked without burning them.

Most ovens have a hot spot, or one side tends to bake faster than the other. So it’s a good idea to rotate your baking sheets halfway through the bake time.

8 — After the cookies are baked, remove them from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before eating.

9 — Dip in chocolate and add sprinkles (optional).

How to Pipe Cookies

These butter cookies are piped. What does that exactly mean?

You’ll put the dough into a pastry bag with a large tip, put the dough in the bag, and squeeze the dough out into the shape you want.

While this makes for some beautiful cookies, it can also be a bit tricky to get the hang of. Here are a few tips and tricks to make it easier for you!

Tips To Make Piping Cookies Easier

Make sure your butter is very soft before mixing the dough. It will determine if you can actually squeeze the dough out of the bag or not. The colder and firmer the butter is, the stiffer the dough will be.

Also, roll the dough because the warmth from your hands will make the dough softer as you pipe.Soft dough can lead to cookies that spread too much during baking.

To combat this issue, place the piped cookies in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes, or until the dough feels firm to the touch. Just be sure to sprinkle the sugar on before chilling so that it’ll stick to the dough!

How To Prepare A Pipping Bag

To prepare the piping bag, get a large bag, coupler and tip. Cut off enough of the narrow tip of the bag so that you can place the coupler inside without the bag obstructing the dough from being squeezed out.

Unscrew the two parts of the coupler and place the larger side in the bag. Set the tip on the end of the bag and coupler, and use the ring to screw it into place. Your bag is ready to go now!

My preferred tools: I used a Wilton 8B star tip and coupler for these.

How To Fill A Pipping Bag

To fill the piping bag, fold the wide end of the bag over and use a large spoon or spatula to spoon the dough into the bag. Twist the end of the bag several times on top of the dough to prevent it from coming back out the top.

Then, place it between your thumb and first finger. Wrap the rest of your hand around the bag and squeeze until the dough is coming out of the tip.

You may want to only put some of the dough in the bag to make piping the dough easier.

How To Store Butter Cookies

Store the butter cookies in an airtight container or bag for up to a week. They’ll keep in the refrigerator for two weeks or in the freezer for two months.

Other Cookie Recipes You’ll Love

But will you honestly have any leftovers with this buttery flavor goodness?!? And if you’re looking for other easy cookie recipes, here are our favorite —

• Best snickerdoodle cookies
• Chocolate peanut butter stuffed cookies
• Everything sweet decorated sugar cookies
• Oh-so-chewy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
• Chocolate kissed snickerdoodle cookies
• White chocolate shamrock matcha cookies
• Mocha swirl meringue cookies
• No-bake chocolate almond cookies
• Brown butter toffee cookies

Easy Butter Cookies Recipe

Don’t forget to share your butter cookies with us onInstagram using the hashtag#sugarandclothloves. We always love seeing all of your creations! Looking for more quick and delicious recipes? You can find them allright here with a fewco*cktails to go along with them!