Christmas Butter Cookies are soft and buttery with golden crisp edges and a light and fluffy center. Every bite melts in your mouth – perfect to add to your Christmas Dessert Charcuterie Board or to take to holiday exchange parties!
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Pin RecipeIf you love Shortbread Cookies, these Christmas Butter Cookies are a must for your Christmas cookie preparations! These butter cookies are light and soft, melting in your mouth at every bite.
These scrumptious treats are incredibly easy to make with pantry-staple ingredients and minimal preparation or baking time. And did I mention that you won’t even need to chill the cookie dough?!
Christmas Butter Cookies Recipe
While I love decadent cookies such as these Double Chocolate Chip Cookies or Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, I also love going back to the basics, and what better cookie to do that with than these Christmas Butter Cookies?
These butter cookies are perfectly balanced in flavor with just the right amount of sweetness and buttery taste. The simplicity of these holiday butter cookies allows for easy variations such as dipping the cookies into melted chocolate or adding Christmas-themed sprinkles, making them a hit for the holidays!
If there’s one Christmas cookie staple to add to your cookie exchange parties or dessert tables, it’s definitely these soft and fluffy Christmas Butter Cookies! Serve them with a hot mug of chocolate or eggnog this Christmas, leave them out for Santa, or hand them out as scrumptious holiday gifts!
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Ingredients for Christmas Butter Cookies
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
- Granulated sugar
- Salt – omit if using salted butter.
- Butter – Softened, unsalted butter is best.
- Egg – Bring your eggs to room temperature for easy mixing and a smoother cookie texture.
- Vanilla extract – Almond extract is another option for the holidays.
- Milk – Full-fat milk is best, but you could use reduced-fat or dairy-free milk instead.
- Cake flour – All-purpose flour can be used instead. Just note that the texture will be slightly different.
Variations
- Sprinkle the tops of the freshly piped cookies with holiday-themed sprinkles just before baking for extra holiday cheer!
- Once the cookies have been baked and cooled completely, consider dipping the tops in melted chocolate, and adding a dash of sprinkles on top.
- Use a 1:1 gluten-free flour all-purpose flour alternative such as Bob’s Red Mill for gluten-free cookies.
- Flavor these Christmas butter cookies with almond extract instead of vanilla extract for a subtle nutty taste.
How to Make Christmas Butter Cookies
- Prepare: Preheat the oven, and line two baking trays with parchment paper.
- Make the cookie dough: Follow the recipe card instructions to make the cookie dough, making sure that the flour is added in parts to prevent overmixing of the dough.
- Pipe the cookie dough: Add the cookie dough into a piping bag with a star tip, and pipe the dough onto the baking trays. Feel free to get creative with the shapes of your cookies!
- Bake the cookies: Transfer the cookies to the oven, just until they are fluffy and light golden brown. Be careful not to overbake! Allow them to cool for 5 minutes on the trays before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Quick Tip
Don’t grease the baking trays with butter or non-stick cooking spray as the cookies will absorb that excess fat while baking which can create unnecessary spreading.
How to Store Christmas Butter Cookies
Store these Christmas butter cookies in an airtight container in a cool and dry area for up to two weeks or in the fridge for up to two months.
For an even longer-lasting option, these butter cookies can also be stored in the freezer for up to three months.
Serving Suggestions
Enjoy these Christmas butter cookies alongside a glass of milk, warm hot chocolate, or eggnog.
These butter cookies are great for holiday cookie exchange parties or added to a Christmas Dessert Charcuterie Board or cookie platter!
FAQs
Butter cookies have a higher ratio of sugar to butter compared to shortbread cookies which have more butter and a higher fat, making them a little richer and slightly denser.
It’s hard to say what the most popular cookie is at Christmas since this depends on personal preference.
That said, some of the most loved cookies during the holidays include sugar cookies, butter cookies, shortbread cookies, gingerbread cookies, chocolate chip cookies, Snickerdoodle cookies, thumbprint cookies, peanut butter blossoms, peppermint cookies, and Linzer cookies.
No. This cookie dough doesn’t require prior chilling. You can chill the cookie dough if you prefer, but this might make piping the dough a little tricky as the dough will naturally stiffen in the fridge.
Not a problem! Add up to ¼ cup of milk to the cookie dough, and return it to the piping bag. It should come right out!
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Christmas Butter Cookies
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer
- Measuring cup
- measuring spoons
- 2 baking trays
- Parchment paper
- Large piping bag
- Large star piping tip
Ingredients
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 10 Tablespoon butter softened
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1 Tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ⅔ cups cake flour
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375ºF and line two baking trays with parchment paper.
- Add the sugar, butter, and salt to a bowl and cream them together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. You want the butter and sugar mix to be almost white so beat for about 5 minutes.½ cup granulated sugar, 10 Tablespoon butter, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Add the egg, milk, and vanilla and stir well to combine.1 egg, 1 Tablespoon milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add ½ cup of cake flour and stir gently. Add another ½ cup of cake flour and stir again. Add the final ⅔ cup of cake flour and mix into a thick, sticky batter. Adding the flour in parts ensures that the cookie dough is not over-mixed and stays nice and soft.1 ⅔ cups cake flour
- Scoop the cookie dough into a large piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe the cookies onto the parchment-lined trays. You can pipe the cookies into any shape you’d like. Spirals/rosettes are the most classic shape! No matter what shape you choose, try to keep the cookies about 2” in size.
- Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. The edges will be slightly golden brown but the cookies will still be a little pale in the center.
- Let the cookies cool on the tray for 5 minutes then move to a cooling rack.
Notes
- You can sprinkle the cookies with holiday sprinkles before baking for an easy, pretty decoration.
- You can also dip the baked cookie into melted chocolate and then add festive sprinkles on the chocolate side of the cookie.
- If the cookie dough is too stiff to pipe, add up to ¼ cup milk to soften it.
