Butter cookies are a classic cookie that always make me think of the store-bought kind that come in seasonal tins.

While those are yummy, this butter cookie recipe is less crispy. These are soft butter cookies. Think of butter cookies as the perfect cross between a sugar cookie and shortbread.

Need more seasonal baking ideas? Check out our dessert archive.

Butter Cookie Ingredients:

• Butter, softened
• Granulated White Sugar
• Egg Yolks
• Vanilla Extract
• All-Purpose Flour
• Salt

Butter Cookie Directions:

The dough for these is very straightforward to make; mixing the dry ingredients separate from the wet and then combining them. But, the real “trick” to these is freezing the dough before baking. You can do this a few different ways.

If you want simple/plain looking butter cookies, then I recommend freezing the dough in a log shape. This way you simply slice the cookies from the log before baking.

If you’d like to shape or press the butter cookies, like I have in these photos, then do so before freezing. You can freeze for 30 minutes or up to overnight before baking with this method.

Tips for Making Butter Cookies:

• The dough will be soft before freezing, so if you are rolling it out to make cutout shapes (like I have in these photos), be sure to use more flour than the recipe card calls for. This will be for dusting the surface and the rolling pin.
• I used cookie stamps to create designs.
• You could also use a cookie press gun or cookie stamp roller to create designs.
• Another traditional method is to pipe dough using large pastry tips. I don’t recommend this method. Even if your dough is very soft, it takes a lot of hand strength to do this method. Maybe for some it works great, but I’ve never had success with it.

Other Holiday Baking Recipes:

If you are looking for more recipes to bake this season, try these!

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