Butter Cookie Recipe
One of my fondest memories from my childhood is sitting at the kitchen table with my grandmother and watching her roll out butter cookie or sugar cookie dough. Then she would always let me use cookie cutters to make fun shaped treats. It was snack time and art time combined! Plus, important time spent with my grandmother.
Basic Butter Cookie
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This is a basic butter cookie recipe. As with all of the recipes that I offer, I would encourage you to make it your own.
One thing I love to do is add orange extract to my cookies. It gives them a pop.
Strawberry, almond or even a touch of anise extract can also add variety. When I add another flavor, I often cut back on the vanilla extract just a bit to balance things out.
Making it vegan
In its original form, this butter cookie recipe definitely is not vegan. However, I wanted to make a batch for friends who are vegan. So I played around with the ingredients and found a way to make vegan butter cookies.
Clearly, there is no butter in the recipe. Nor is there egg.
I found ingredient substitutes that produced a dairy and animal product-free cookie that was just as delicious as the original recipe. The biggest difference with mouthfeel was these vegan cookies were more crunchy than chewy. Nonetheless, they were delicious.
Have Fun with the Shapes
If you are baking with or for kids, using cookie cutters in their favorite shapes can be a lot of fun. If you are just trying to impress with something that looks a little special, pick up an embossed roller and have some fun.
They are easy to use after a little practice. Pro tip: always work with very cold cookie dough. Plus, the results will wow your dinner guests.
You can also frost your cookies or use sprinkles to make things festive. Truthfully, with a really good butter cookie recipe like ours, you won’t need to dress them up with any decorations. The flavor will speak for itself.
Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup unsalted butter (1½ sticks, softened)
- 1 cups granulated sugar
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbs milk
- 1 tsp orange, almond or strawberry extract Optional, for additional flavor. If you add this, reduce the vanilla extract to one tsp.
Instructions
- Soften butter
- In a mixer with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or spatula, mix all of the dry ingredients.
- Beat the egg with the milk.
- Mix in the butter, egg and vanilla. If you are using one, add the orange or other flavor extract at this time as well. Don't forget to reduce the amount of vanilla extract.
- Mix thoroughly until you have a smooth dough that is roughly the consistency of Playdough.
- Roll into a 1.5-inch diameter cylinder and chill in the refrigerator for about an hour. This makes the dough easier to work with.
- Once the dough is chilled remove from the refrigerator and preheat the over to 375℉.You have a few choices when preparing the cookies. You can simply slice the cylinder into 1/4 inch thick disks. Or with a rolling pin, you can flatten the dough to a 1/4 in thick slab and shape with cookie cutters. Recently, I have begun experimenting with embossed rollers to create fancy designs. If you use embossed rollers, flatten the dough with your regular rolling pin first and then go over once with the embossed roller to create the design. I like to roll my dough out on parchment paper to contain any mess.
- Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper and place the cookies at least ¼ a part. Bake until the edges are golden brown 8-12 minutes.
Notes
Disclaimer
Please note that nutrient values, if included with the recipe, are estimates only. Variations can occur due to product availability/substitution and manner of food preparation. Nutrition may vary based on methods of origin, preparation, freshness of ingredients, and other factors.