Every year at Christmas time, there was always a tin of Danish butter cookies on the table to share with family and friends when they stopped by for a visit. Growing up, they were one of my favorite cookies next to Sugar cookies of course. With their buttery flavor and hints of vanilla, there truly is nothing like a butter cookie.
Origins of butter cookies
Butter cookies find their origin in Denmark. Made with just a few simple ingredients, butter (of course hence the name butter cookies), sugar, flour, egg, vanilla and salt, they often come in a variety of shapes, some sprinkled with sugar on top.
Making the Butter Cookies
These cookies are very easy to make, and are a great treat to share at Christmas. It’s even a great treat to leave for Santa instead of sugar cookies.
After finding a recipe, the next question was shaping the cookies. When you pop open a tin of Danish Cookies, one of the things that draws you in are the different shapes. Some shaped like pretzels, some swirls and square ones too. For our butter cookies we chose the swirl shape which is much easier to make than you think. All you need a large star tip such as the 1M tip from Wilton. However if you would like different shapes, you can roll the cookies into a log cut circles and squares, or you can use a cookie press.
Finally it was time to start making our cookies. These cookies are beautifully simple without any additions. But it’s Christmas! And I like things to look festive! I thought to myself won’t it be nice to add a little color.
So I started searching and found that in some recipes people dipped the finished cookies in chocolate and added sprinkles while others simply sprinkled them in sugar.
Check these out from Cooking Classy!
Then I came across a recipe in which they added sprinkles to the center and I thought why not add a cherry instead and the result was great!
We stuck to the basic recipe and simply placed a small piece of cherry in the center to give a festive look. But not to fear, these cookies are still buttery and just as delicious even with our little addition, and if you don’t like cherries, simply leave them out or swap them for some festive sprinkles!
Pair these cookies with a much of Mulled Wine or our Hot Chocolate Jars!
Gluten Free Butter Cookie
Enjoy these traditional butter cookies made gluten free and delcious! Add a cherry or sprinkles in the center to give that Holiday Festive look!
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 extra large egg
- 2 cups Gluten Free 1:1 Baking Flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Maraschino Cherries cut into quarters
- Water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking trays with parchment or silicone mat and set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or in the bowl of stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla mixing until well incorporated.
- Next, slowly mix in the flour and salt until it is well combined with the egg and butter mixture.
- Fit a piping bag with a large star tip, fill it with 1/3 of the batter. Twist the end, then carefully pipe cookie swirls onto the prepared baking sheet, approximately 1 1/2 -2 inches apart. Repeat with the balance of the cookie dough until there is none left.
- Once cookies are all piped, place a small piece of cherry in the center of each cookie.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges are golden. Remove finished cookies from the oven and let cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
Notes
Baking Tips
- We made these cookies using our Homemade GF 1:1 Baking Blend, as well as with Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Four with great result. However if you use a different blend and you find your cookies a bit too dry, simply add a little water 1 tablespoon at a time until it loosens up and the batter become pliable to be piped.
- If you need to reuse cookie sheets, be sure to let them cool before piping more cookies onto the sheet. This important. The cookies have a high butter content, so if you try piping them onto warm cookie sheets the butter will melt before baking and your cookies will not form.
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Those would go so well with hot chocolate. Yum!