Christmas Butter Cookies Recipes

CHRISTMAS BUTTER COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• In large bowl, beat butter and granulated sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. On low speed, beat in egg, lemon peel and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt until well blended.
• Divide dough into 4 parts; flatten each part into 1/2-inch-thick round. Wrap each in waxed paper or plastic wrap; refrigerate 30 minutes.
• Heat oven to 350°F. Remove 1 round of dough at a time from refrigerator. Between sheets of floured waxed paper or plastic wrap, roll dough until 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick. Cut with 3-inch cookie cutters in various shapes. On ungreased cookie sheets, place cutouts 1 inch apart.
• Bake 10 to 12 minutes or just until edges are golden. Cool on cookie sheets about 1 minute before removing to cooling rack. To make cookies for hanging, using a toothpick or end of plastic straw, carefully poke a hole in the top of each cookie while cookies are still hot. Cool 10 to 15 minutes before frosting.
• In medium bowl, stir together powdered sugar and meringue powder. Stir in 5 teaspoons lemon juice and enough of the 4 to 5 tablespoons water to make a thin icing. Transfer 1/2 cup of the icing into small bowl; set aside. Using a flexible pastry brush, paint cookies to the edges with icing. Place on cooling rack to dry completely, about 30 minutes.
• Beat reserved icing with electric mixer on high speed 5 to 7 minutes or until peaks form. Place in small resealable food-storage plastic bag; cut a very small hole in the bottom of the bag with the plain white icing. Squeeze icing onto glazed cookies. Before icing dries, sprinkle with decorations, and tap off excess. Dry thoroughly on cooling rack. Thread cookies with narrow ribbon for hanging.

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST DELICIOUS CHRISTMAS BUTTER COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350ºF. In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat butter and sugar until blended. Increase speed to high, beat until light and creamy. At low speed, beat in egg and vanilla. Beat in flour, baking powder, and salt just until blended.
• Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. Wrap each piece with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 1 hour.
• On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll 1 piece of dough 1/8 inch thick. With floured 2- to 3-inch assorted cookie cutters, cut dough into as many cookies as possible, wrap and refrigerate trimmings. Place cookies, 1 inch apart, on large ungreased cookie sheet, sprinkle cookies with colored sugar now if you like, or frost with Ornamental Frosting after baking.
• Bake cookies 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool. If you like, brush colored sugar remaining on cookie sheets onto piece of waxed paper to use again. Repeat with remaining dough and trimmings.
• When cookies are cool, prepare Ornamental Frosting if you like, use to decorate cookies as desired. Sprinkle colored sugars as desired on frosting before it dries. Allow frosting to dry completely, about 1 hour. Store cookies in tightly covered container up to 2 weeks.

AUNT EILEEN'S CHRISTMAS BUTTER COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, using a hand beater. Beat in the egg and then the vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just incorporated. Roll the dough into a log, on a work surface, wrap in parchment and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Put 2 cookie sheets in the refrigerator to chill as well.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and slice into 1/4-inch rounds. Arrange 2 inches apart on the chilled cookie sheets and bake until lightly golden on the edges, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the cookie sheets and put on a cooling rack to cool before serving.

BUTTERBALL CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream sofft butter, adding sugar gradually.
• Add egg yolks, slowing blending. Add flour gradually.
• Work dough around a cherry to form a balll. I make mine about 1 inch across, but you can make them smaller or larger.
• Place on greased cookie sheet (or, on parchment) and bake slowly at 325 for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
• Cool completely. Then, shake in confectioners sugar.
• They are light, and melt-in-your-mouth good (especially with cold milk). Enjoy!

BEST BUTTER COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. , Divide dough into four 1-1/2 cup portions; mix and shape for each variety as follows. Yield: 4 portions (1-1/2 cups each)., To prepare Cutouts: Using one portion dough, divide into two balls; roll each ball directly on an ungreased baking sheet to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured cookie cutter, leaving at least 1 in. between cookies. Remove excess dough and reroll scraps if desired. Decorate with sprinkles, jimmies or colored sugar if desired. Bake at 375° for 6-7 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Cool for 1 minute before removing from pans to wire racks. Yield: 2 dozen., To prepare Peppermint Balls: In a large bowl, combine one portion dough, peppermint candies and peppermint extract. Shape into 1-in. balls; place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Sprinkle with red colored sugar if desired. Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes or until set. Cool for 1 minute before removing from pans to wire racks. Yield: 2 dozen., To prepare Spicy Fruit Balls: In a large bowl, combine one portion dough, currants, fruit and cinnamon. Shape into 1-in. balls; place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes or until set. Cool for 1 minute then roll in confectioners' sugar if desired. Cool on wire racks. Yield: 2 dozen., To prepare Chocolate Slices: In a microwave, melt chocolate; stir until smooth. In a small bowl, mix melted chocolate into one portion cookie dough. Shape into a 1-1/2-in.-thick log; roll in nuts. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or until firm. Unwrap and cut into 1/8-in. slices. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool for 1 minute before removing from pans to wire racks.

GREEK BUTTER COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and egg until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. Blend in the flour to form a dough. you may have to knead by hand at the end. Take about a teaspoon of dough at a time and roll into balls, logs or 'S' shapes. Place cookies 1 to 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
• Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned and firm. Allow cookies to cool completely before dusting with confectioners' sugar.

OLD FASHIONED BUTTER COOKIES WITH BUTTER FROSTING

Steps:

• Beat 1 cup softened butter with white sugar in a large bowl until creamy. Beat egg, whole milk, and 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract into butter mixture until smooth. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl and gradually stir dry ingredients into moist ingredients to make a smooth dough. Chill dough in refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Dust a pastry cloth or kitchen towel generously with flour.
• Divide dough into thirds and roll each third out 1/8-inch thick on the prepared pastry cloth. Cut shapes out of the rolled dough with cookie cutters. Place cookies onto ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cookies are barely browned, 5 to 8 minutes. Let cookies cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to finish cooling on a wire rack.
• Beat 1 cup softened butter, 3 cups confectioners' sugar, 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract, and evaporated milk in a bowl until smooth. Gradually stir 6 cups confectioners' sugar into mixture until combined. Beat frosting hard until fluffy; stir in additional evaporated milk or confectioners' sugar if needed to reach desired consistency. Frost cooled cookies.

CHRISTMAS BUTTER COOKIES

Steps:

• Add flour, baking powder, salt, and butter- need like pie dough. Make a hole in center of dough so that the middle of the bottom of the bowl shows through.
• Add egg yolks, sugar, cream, lemon juice and rind.
• Knead till blended.
• Divide dough into 4 balls and place in fridge and chill for a few hours (I usually chill overnight).
• Roll out dough and use cookie cutters.
• Bake at 325°F for about 15 minutes.

BUTTER COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Beat the salted butter, vanilla and sugar together with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Sift over the flour and beat again until just combined. Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a medium star nozzle.
• Pipe the dough in small 5cm swirls on one large or two smaller baking trays lined with baking parchment, spacing them apart to allow for them to spread. Bake for 15-20 mins until pale golden.
• Leave to cool on the trays for 5 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.