These Old Fashioned Christmas Butter Cookies are super easy to make and will make a great addition to any cookie tray or cookie exchange you are doing this holiday season.
Old-Fashioned Butter cookies are delicious shortbread cookies made using a piping bag, fun tips, or a simple cookie press. No matter how you make them, you will wow your guests.
These cookies are different from Spritz cookies but can be made similarly.
If you love making cookie recipes, make sure to check out my recipes for Texas Sheet Cake Cookies or Christmas Light Sugar Cookies.
How to Make These Holiday Butter Cookies
The cookies are very light and fluffy. They are soft on the inside but have a crispy outer texture and topped with fun Christmas sprinkles. They are similar to the store cookies in the Danish tins.
These cookies only need about 10 minutes of chill time so the recipe comes together pretty quickly.
For added variation, you can drizzle on melted white chocolate to bump up the flavor.
For this recipe you will need just a few simple ingredients-
- Salted Butter (you can use unsalted butter but I just like the taste of the salt in these cookies)
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract or Almond extract
- All-purpose flour
- salt
- milk
- fun and festive Christmas sprinkles
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
To make the cookie dough, mix the butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy. If you have a stand mixer with a large mixing bowl, you can use that instead. Just use the paddle attachment for mixing the dough.
Now add in the egg, vanilla, flour, and salt. Add the milk a tablespoon at a time until you get the right piping consistency. You can make the dough ahead of time and store it in the fridge until ready to use.
Just pull it out a couple of hours before you plan to make cookies so it can come to room temperature for piping.
The thing I love about this recipe is that you don't have to do like normal cookie recipes and mix the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients. It is just a dump-and-go cookie recipe.
Too much milk and your dough won't hold shape when piped. Not enough milk and the dough will be too stiff to pipe.
Time to Pipe the Cookies
This dough is not like a sugar cookie dough that you cut with cookie cutters. The dough is a piped dough. So, add the dough to a piping bag fitted with a 1″ star tip. Pipe in circles on the prepared baking sheet. This tip will give you the perfect cookie shape. Cover the tray with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for about 10 minutes to chill.
Top the cookies with fun and festive sprinkles and then bake cookies in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until the edges of the cookie turn a golden brown.
Remove the cookies from the oven place them on a wire rack and let them cool to room temperature.
How to Store Soft Butter Cookies
These cookies are best if stored in an airtight container like a cookie tin or a cookie jar. Sometimes when I am storing them, I will wrap them individually in plastic wrap so I know that they will be fresh when I open them.
This time of year, I love making homemade cookies for all my friends and family! If you love making some for your friends and family too, here are a few cute and festive box ideas.
Check Out These Other Christmas Cookie Recipes
Old-Fashioned Christmas Butter Cookies
These butter cookies are a must-make for your holiday season. Tender on the inside and crisp on the inside.
Ingredients
- 2 sticks of butter (salted or unsalted) (1 cup)
- 1 cup of white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract or almond extract
- 2 cups of all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
- In a stand mixer, add the butter and sugar and cream together until light and fluffy.
- Now add in the remaining ingredients except the milk.
- Begin to mix the dough and add the milk one tablespoon at a time until you get the right piping consistency.
- Place the batter in the piping bag that has been fitted with a star piping tip.
- Pipe circles on a baking sheet and top with Christmas sprinkles. Place in the fridge for about 10 minutes.
- Remove from the fridge and bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature before serving.