These holiday butter cookies are a must-have for Christmas celebrations. Whether you’re baking for a cookie swap or creating festive gifts, this easy recipe will become your go-to. Try decorating these buttery treats with royal icing or sprinkles for a fun family activity!
When it comes to Christmas, I’m like Buddy The Elf. Over the top, overexcited, loud, and absolutely mad. Isn’t it just the most precious time? Everything feels so magical and beautiful!
Last year, as an early Christmas present, I was given acute lower back pain – completely out of the blue. Talk about Christmas magic! Utterly debilitated and having to spend days in bed barely able to move, put tremendous strains on my precious Christmas fun time.
But the holiday spirit must carry on and could not be deterred. I persevered and a Christmas miracle finally happened: I was able to properly stand again. Then slowly, I was able to walk! Sans pain!
Feeling brand new, I decided to take on a new challenge and start a little Holiday series on the blog, which was just an elaborate way of saying that I’d be posting a lot of cookie recipes. Very, very simple bakes, like this easy butter cookie recipe.
Why You’ll Love These Butter Cookies
These festive butter cookies are absolutely delightful. True to their name, they’re indeed very buttery, but also tender and crispy. The holy trinity of cookies!
They are delicious on their own but also serve as base for plenty of other cookies. You just have to use your imagination and the sky’s the limit. This classic holiday recipe is perfect for any kind of cutout cookie, because they actually hold their shape. And what better shapes than adorable Christmas ones?
In order to achieve that, instead of using granulated sugar, this recipe calls for confectioners’ sugar. The starch present in confectioners sugar prevents the cookies from spreading too much while baking.
Cookies made with granulated sugar tend to spread more. Another component that heavily affects the consistency of the dough is fat. Too much butter makes them spread more in the oven, so it’s important to keep a balanced ratio.
Tips for Perfect Butter Cookies Every Time
Make sure to use a parchment lined baking sheet. That avoids having to grease your baking pan and as you can guess, too much grease, less friction. Less friction, the more cookies will spread.
After rolling out the dough and cutting out the cookies, put the baking sheet in the freezer for at least 10 minutes before baking. When ready to bake, make sure the oven is the right temperature: once the cookies hit the oven, the fat starts to soften and melt. Putting cookies into a cool oven means the butter will melt before the cookies set and you’ll probably end up with a greasy mess.
Having said all that, if I do have one piece of advice to give though, it’s to do a better job at decorating than me. In my defense, I was in a bit of a rush – trying to make up for all the time I lost when I was miserable in bed – so they turned out, well… not perfect.
So if you want cuter looking cookies, just take your time decorating them. Don’t be like me. Don’t rush the process, enjoy the journey.
Good things take time. And so do holiday butter cookies.
You Might Also Like…
Hazelnut Shortbread Sandwich Cookies: Buttery shortbread meets a rich hazelnut filling. Perfect with tea (or your morning coffee).
My Ultimate Christmas Movies List: Cozy up with this curated list of holiday classics, romcoms, and feel-good favorites.
Peppermint Mocha Latte: Your favorite café holiday drink, made at home. Chocolate, espresso, and peppermint bliss in a mug.
Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies: Chocolatey, minty, and utterly festive. A bite-sized holiday treat you’ll want to make again.
If you make this Holiday Butter Cookies please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I’d love to hear from you and I love responding to each and every comment. And don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram! I’d love to see your photos.
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Holiday Butter Cookies
about 20
cookies30
minutes2
hours12
minutesIngredients
3/4 cup (75g) confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup (185g) butter
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 (240g) cups flour
- Icing:
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp heavy cream (add more as needed to make a spreadable icing)
food coloring, optional
Directions
In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the sugar, butter, egg yolk, salt, and vanilla, and beat until smooth (you can also use a hand mixer).
Add the flour, mixing until smooth and the dough comes together, but don't over mix. The mixture might seem dry at first, but it will quickly come together. If it doesn't, mix in a tablespoon of water.
Shape the dough into a flattened disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 2 hours, or overnight.
When you're ready to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator, and let it soften for about 15 minutes, until it feels soft enough to roll. It should still feel cold, but not too hard.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Lightly coat your work surface and rolling pin with flour. Roll the dough to 1/8" thick and use a cookie cutter to cut shapes. Re-roll and cut the dough scraps. Place the cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets - they can be close together as they won't spread too much.
Pop the baking sheet in the freezer for about 10 minutes to firm up.
Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, or until they're set and just beginning to brown around the edges. Remove the cookies from the oven, and transfer to a rack to cool.
To make the icing: Combine the sugar and heavy cream in a small bowl. Mix until spreadable, adding more heavy cream if necessary. (Test the consistency by glazing one cookie and set it aside for a minute, and then check the surface. If it has become smooth, it's the right consistency.) Tint the icing with food color as desired.
Spread icing on the cookies, using a knife or a spoon (or a piping bag) to spread it all the way to the edges.
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