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Dessert recipes

Butter Cookies, mixed at home

Butter cookies shaped as snowflakes randomly placed on a white parchment paper lined baking sheet.

House-made Butter Cookies are a familiar recipe you can make for any occasion or holiday! They are simple yet sophisticated cookies with a rich, buttery taste!

Why this bake works

Enjoy the simplicity of these House-made Butter Cookies and how good they taste! They're soft and chewy on the inside, with a slightly crispy outside, and each bite delivers a rich, buttery cookie!

This is an straightforward to mix recipe that uses only seven ingredients, and you can easily change out the cookie cutter for each holiday! If you're looking for a fun, festive cookie to add to your baking tins this holiday, this is the one!

Enjoy!

Stacks of butter cookies shaped as snowflakes in mini cupcake liners on a white background.

What goes in

The following ingredients are needed to make this old-fashioned butter cookie recipe. Items noted in the bulleted list are key ingredients that need a bit more explanation.

Ingredients in various size bowls labeled as salt, baking powder, unsalted butter, all purpose flour, eggs, vanilla extract, and granulated sugar on a white marbled background.
  • Unsalted Butter. Use what unsalted butter you prefer, but Try a high-fat (82%-85% butterfat) unsalted butter brand. I've used Kerrygold, Plugrá, Minerva, Cabot, Vermont Creamery, and Vital Farms, which is also good.
  • Eggs. Gives these cookies a richer taste with a chewier bite.
  • Baking Powder. This gives the butter cookies a slight lift, making them a little less dense.
  • Vanilla Extract. I like using the Nielsen-Massey brand of vanilla extract. They also make a truly good vanilla bean paste, which would work well with this butter cookie recipe, too.

For quantities and instructions, please see the method card below.

How it comes together

Below is a simple step-by-step guide to making these house-made buttery shortbread biscuits. For the full printable recipe, with US customary or metric measurements, visit the method card below.

Whisked all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in a glass mixing bowl on a white and grey marbled background.

Step 1. Whisk the dry ingredients. This includes all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.

Unsalted butter and sugar blended together with eggs and vanilla extract added to the top in a glass bowl on a white and grey marbled background.

Step 2. Stir together the wet ingredients. Beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until light and airy. Add in the eggs and the vanilla extract. Mix again until fully combined.

Dry ingredients added to the top of wet ingredients in a glass mixing bowl on a white and grey marbled background.

Step 3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and blend until completely combined.

Chilled house-made butter cookie dough in a glass mixing bowl covered with plastic wrap.

Step 4. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Step 5. Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.

Step 6. Stamp out the snowflake shapes with the snowflake cookie stamp (or whatever shape you prefer). Chill the cookies in either the freezer or refrigerator while you heat the oven.

Step 7. Bake the butter cookies for 8-10 minutes at 325ºF. They should be soft on the inside, with a light golden-brown, crispy (not burnt!) edge.

Step 8. Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

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 house-made butter cookie recipe.

  1. Chill the dough. Just like with the Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies, You can 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, Try rolling the dough out into layers, as I do with the Strawberry Shortbread Cookies. You may need to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes for the cookie cutters to work properly with the dough.
  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 1/2″ to 5/8″ is ideal.
  4. Lightly flour the cookie stamp. As your dough warms to 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 truly helps to keep the details on the cookie stamp! While one set of cookies is baking, you can have another set chilling in the refrigerator or freezer.

Questions on this bake

Can I freeze butter cookie dough?

Yes, you can freeze butter cookie dough, but Try doing it after cutting out the cookies. It will make things a lot easier come baking time! Freeze them on a parchment- or wax-paper-lined baking sheet until solid, then transfer to a well-sealed food container or freezer bag.

Is chilling the dough twice truly necessary?

While not entirely necessary, it helps prevent the cookies from getting too soft and spreading while baking. With the cookie stamp, you want to maintain that shape (in this case, the detailed snowflake shape). The colder the cookie is, the less likely it is to spread.

What kind of dough works best with plunger style cookie stamps?

Shortbread cookie doughs, like the dough in this method, work best, IMHO. Similar-style cookie stamps worked well with the Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies (stamps from Williams Sonoma) as well as my Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies (stamps from Etsy). The cookie stamp I used for this method was from Michael's, but you can also find them on Amazon.

  • Yield 108 cookies
  • Prep 15 minutes
  • Cook 10 minutes
  • Total 1 hour 25 minutes
  • Calories 48

Ingredients

  • 4 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1 cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups Granulated Sugar
  • 2 Large Eggs, room temperature
  • 2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Hold to the side.
  2. 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 airy. Add in the eggs and the vanilla extract.
  3. Add in the whisked dry mixture and mix on low speed until it's well blended.
  4. 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.
  5. Adjust the oven rack to the 2nd level mark (just above center) and heat the oven to 325ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats and hold to the side.
  6. Roll out the dough (1/2″-5/8″ 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.
  7. 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.
  8. Store cooled cookies in an airtight container with a slice of bread for up to a week.

Baker notes

The number of cookies this method 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 1/2″-5/8″ 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.

More cookies

Other bakes from the same part of the case, each with its own method.