These homemade Danish butter cookies are festive Christmas cookies! Unlike the store-bought version you may be used to, these are soft in the center with irresistible buttery vanilla and almond flavors. Make lovely designs with a large piping tip and dip in chocolate and sprinkles for a festive touch!
Welcome to Sally’s Cookie Palooza, my annual Christmas cookie countdown tradition. Tuck away your pie crust recipe and break out all your cookie baking tools!
These Butter Cookies Are:
- Not your regular butter cookies
- Mega flavorful with almond and vanilla
- Super buttery and soft like snowball cookies
- Crisp on the edges
- Piped with a piping tip like meringue cookies
- Quick—only 30 minutes of chill time
- Extra festive with chocolate, cherries, and/or sprinkles
This butter cookie recipe is adapted from my spritz cookies and sugar cookies, both well-loved recipes on my website. You already know you’re in for something incredible!
Butter Cookies Video Tutorial
Let’s watch and learn how to make butter cookies. You’ll notice that this cookie dough comes together easily with only 8 ingredients. You need a mixer for the dough, plus a piping bag and large tip to pipe the cookie dough.
Aren’t they pretty?
Ingredients in Butter Cookies
This is a 1-bowl cookie recipe! There’s no leavening, so the texture is closer to a shortbread cookie. The dough is like my spritz cookies, but with a little milk to make it pipe-able.
- Butter: 1 cup of butter adds flavor, structure, and buttery goodness in each bite. Make sure it’s properly softened to room temperature before beginning.
- Sugar: Like many cookie recipes including these dreamy shortbread cookies, creamed butter and sugar is the base of today’s dough.
- Vanilla & Almond Extract: Flavor and more flavor! Almond extract is a welcome addition. If you’re not a fan of almond, see my recipe notes below.
- Egg: 1 egg adds structure, stability, and flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour: Add the flour directly to the wet ingredients. No need to mix it up in a separate bowl.
- Salt: By offsetting the sugar, salt adds flavor.
- Milk: I don’t usually add milk to cookies like this, but we need to thin out this cookie dough so it flows through the piping tip. You don’t need much, about 1–2 Tablespoons.
How to Pipe Butter Cookies
As you saw in this video tutorial above, this cookie dough is piped onto the baking sheet. That’s how the butter cookies get their lovely shape.
Line the cookie sheet? Some swear by using a PLAIN cookie sheet, but lining with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat is fine. (I use silicone baking mats for all my cookies and these are no different.) If you don’t line the pan, don’t grease it either.
2 Success Tips:
- Start Small: Place the cookie dough in the piping bag. Start with a little bit of dough so you can determine if it’s creamy enough to pipe. If it’s too thick, it’s impossible to pipe and you’ll have to put the dough back in the bowl and add a little more milk.
- Chill: I find it’s easiest to stick with simple designs like a swirl or even just a line. Whatever design you pipe, I highly recommend chilling the piped cookies on the baking sheet for at least 20–30 minutes before baking. Without this chill time, the cookies will likely lose their piped shape.
Best Piping Tips to Use
The cookie dough is thick, so it’s imperative to use a large piping tip with about a 1/2-inch opening. (That’s big!) The smaller the size, the harder it will be to pipe. I highly recommend an open star piping tip, but I actually use Ateco 849 which is a closed star tip. The opening is so large that it still works wonderfully!
Here are some options:
The popular Wilton 1M works too, but you may need to add more milk to the cookie dough to thin it out since the piping tip is smaller. Remember, the more milk you add, the longer you need to chill the shaped cookies or else they will over-spread in the oven.
Don’t forget your piping bags, too! (Disposable or Reusable)
By the way, these piping tips and a set of bags would be a great holiday gift for any baker. I always include them in my Holiday Baking Gift Guide!
3 Butter Cookie Varieties!
Make 3 varieties from 1 batch. 🙂
- Dip baked cookies into melted chocolate and add sprinkles.
- Stick a maraschino cherry in the center before baking.
- Add sprinkles or coarse sugar before baking.
If you love chocolate, don’t miss these chocolate butter cookies. And for even more flavors of butter cookie dough, you’ll love these mint chocolate checkerboard cookies, pinwheel cookies, and neapolitan cookies.
See Your Homemade Butter Cookies!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
PrintButter Cookies
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
- Yield: 30 cookies
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Danish
Description
Using just 8 basic ingredients and a large piping tip, make these soft vanilla-almond-flavored butter cookies. There’s no leavening, so the texture is similar to shortbread cookies. I recommend chilling the piped cookies for at least 20–30 minutes before baking.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1–2 Tablespoons (15–30ml) milk
Optional Toppings
- 4 ounces (113) semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped*
- maraschino cherries
- sprinkles or coarse sugar
Instructions
- Read through the recipe and recipe Notes before beginning. Make room in your refrigerator for a baking sheet so the shaped cookies can chill for 20–30 minutes. Without chilling, the piped cookies will over-spread. If you chill the dough prior to shaping, the dough will be too cold/stiff to pipe.
- Line 2–3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats, or leave unlined. If unlined, do not grease the pan.
- In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract, and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- On low speed, beat in the flour and salt. Turn up to high speed and beat until completely combined. On medium speed, beat in 1.5 Tablespoons of milk. You want a dough that’s creamy and pipe-able (but still thick), so you may need up to 2–2.5 Tablespoons of milk. The more milk you add, the more the cookies will spread, so chilling in step 6 is imperative. I recommend keeping the amount of milk small and using a large enough piping tip, like the ones I suggest in the post above.
- Add your large piping tip to the piping bag. Spoon a little bit of dough into the piping bag and pipe a 1–2-inch swirl or line on the prepared baking sheet. The reason I suggest only a little bit of dough to start is because the dough may still be too thick to pipe. If it’s too thick, transfer that dough back to the mixing bowl and add another 1/2 Tablespoon of milk. If the dough is creamy enough to pipe, continue piping the dough in 1–2-inch swirls or lines, 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. See video for a visual if needed. If desired, place a maraschino cherry in the center of the swirl or sprinkle the dough with sprinkles and/or coarse sugar.
- Transfer the baking sheet to the refrigerator and chill the shaped cookies for 20–30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Bake the chilled cookies for 12–15 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The cookies will spread like all cookies do, but not completely lose their shape, especially if you chilled the shaped dough. If the cookies are smaller, they will take closer to 12 minutes. Keep your eye on them. They’re done when the edges lightly brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Optional Chocolate: You can melt the chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave. If using the microwave: place the chopped chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Melt in 20-second increments in the microwave, stirring after each increment until completely melted and smooth. Dip the cookies in chocolate and top with sprinkles, if desired. Allow the chocolate to set completely at room temperature for about 1 hour or in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
- Plain cookies stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. Cookies with chocolate or cherries stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 days or in the refrigerator for 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can chill the shaped cookies on the baking sheet in the refrigerator for up to 2 days before baking. If chilling for longer than 30 minutes, cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Sometimes I pipe all the swirls close together on 1 baking sheet, then refrigerate for up to 2 days. (Since my refrigerator can’t fit 2-3 sheets at once.) After chilling, the shaped dough is cold, so you can use a flat spatula to pick up the cold shaped dough and arrange on 2-3 baking sheets. You can also freeze the un-baked shaped dough for up to 2-3 months. Bake the frozen shaped dough (no need to thaw) for an extra couple minutes. Baked cookies, with or without chocolate/cherries/sprinkles, freeze well for up to 3 months.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Piping Bag (Reusable or Disposable) | Large Piping Tip (such as Ateco 849 (pictured), Wilton 8B, Ateco 826, or Ateco 827) | Cooling Rack | Double Boiler (optional for melting chocolate)
- Almond Extract: Almond extract adds such a wonderful flavor and I don’t recommend skipping it. If desired, you can leave it out completely or add another 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract in its place. You can also substitute with 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract, 1 teaspoon lemon extract, or another flavor extract you enjoy. (Some are more potent than others.) Adding 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon is delicious too!
- No Piping Tip & Using a Cookie Press: This recipe is similar to my spritz cookies where I use a cookie press. If you don’t have a large piping tip and/or you want to use a cookie press, make the spritz cookies (they do not need the milk). If you don’t have a cookie press or large piping tip, snip a 1/2 inch corner off the end of a plastic bag and pipe lines/flat swirls.
- Optional Chocolate: For the best results, use a 4 ounce “baking chocolate” bar found in the baking aisle. I prefer Bakers or Ghirardelli brands. You can use semi-sweet, milk chocolate, or even white chocolate. Candy melts or almond bark work too. Do not use chocolate chips, as they contain stabilizers preventing them from melting into the proper consistency. After you melt it, if the chocolate is too thick for dipping, stir in 1 teaspoon of canola oil to help thin it out.
These cookies were delicious!! Mine lost their shape after being in the freezer for over an hour, but I only used 1T of milk, so I’m not sure if my other ingredients were off. I did weigh my flour and I have been thinking that maybe my scale is off. But anyways. Even losing their shape they were delicious!! I would like to know how to make a crunchy butter cookie, like the ones in the tins.
These are so delicious and fun to make.
Thank you for making the recipes simple and doable.
As Always, thank you!
Cheryl
I made this recipe today and while I am new to piping and have requested tools for Christmas, they turned out nice for a beginner! They are delicious!
Could you possibly pipe these in the shape of a wreath? My grandmother would make ones just like this but green dough and in the shape of a wreath and then pipe a tiny red bow.
I can’t see why not!
I made these lovely cookies over the weekend. I went straight for the 2 tablespoons of milk & using my ateco 849 had no issues piping (the dough was thick but it piped quite smoothly). Next time though I may try just 1.5 tablespoons because despite going from freezer to oven (i made & piped them the day before & put in the freezer overnight) they still spread more than I expected. They did hold the shape of the piping tip & I decorated mine with sparkly sugar & red & green sprinkles. And most importantly they taste amazing!! Thanks for another wonderful challenge Sally!!
These cookies taste amazing!!!! They are tough to pipe pretty for a beginner but I think with practice I can master them I highly suggest using a larger/reusable piping bag (easier to handle in my humble opinion). Thanks for always giving is such great recipes Sally!!
Sometimes I think you know my hidden loves and make them so much easier to appreciate and obtain. I will eat a whole tin of these in one setting and I’m not even joking. Now to make them myself? Oh my goodness!
I have a 828 Ateco open Star I think is larger than asked for but it’s what I have in my new large tube set.
When I get home from surgery I plan on these being my recovery bake. Thank you so much for a great bake to end the yr on!
Hi Cynthia, Wishing you a quick recovery and I hope you love the cookies!
I was very nervous to make these because I was seeing everyone’s issues with spreading and losing texture. I enlisted the help of my boyfriend for some muscle when piping, and I’m so happy with them! I love the almond flavor and the texture is perfect. I will definitely be making these again before Christmas!
Can I make these as a drop cookie? Thank you!
Hi Janet! I don’t recommend it. You can try my drop sugar cookies instead. Feel free to leave out the sprinkles.
These were quite a challenge for me. I really enjoyed it though..most of my issues came from not more closely paying attention to the size of the coupler vs the piping tip…so that was annoying..lol. However..that being said..they taste awesome. The almond flavor is definitely worth it. I haven’t ever bought it before..so that was fun and now I won’t shy away from recipes that may have it. The decorating was fun..but I still need work in that area..lol. Thanks for another fun challenge. 🙂
These were relatively easy and so delicious!! Thanks Sally
I used the Wilton 1M tip and had to add 2 or so more Tbsp of milk to make piping easier. I also had to chill them longer than the recommended 30 minutes but it was worth it. They turned out great!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
This year I’m continuing my grandmother’s tradition of filling tins with a variety of cookies for friends, and this is the first one on my list! So yummy!!
These cookies are really easy to make and so delicious! They are perfectly buttery and crumbly- great with coffee or hot chocolate. I highly recommend dipping them in melted chocolate and adding the sprinkles! Thanks, Sally- another awesome recipe!
My husband LOVES these cookies! Not super sweet, but still buttery, crispy and delicious. He loves to dunk them in his coffee. Another stellar recipe from SBA <3
OMG!! Theses are so good!
These took a lot longer than 1 hour 5 minutes but totally worth it! So yummy! The almond extract is the best! My friend came over and we made them together. Some were dipped in chocolate with sprinkles . Others had a maraschino cherry. Others were plain. At the end I became a little lazy and didn’t want to pipe tons of circles. So the shapes became a little funky. I even spelled my name! All were amazing! Thanks for this awesome recipe and it will totally be eaten within the next 24 hours! Next time I make them, there will be peppermint extract in them! Thanks so much!
I made these earlier and they were amazing! I used cherries on top and I loved them. Thanks for the recipe❤️
This recipe was super yummy. I used 2 TB of milk and it was pretty easy to pipe. I used the Ateco tip. I also didn’t have enough chocolate to cover all the cookies, but I had some white chocolate on hand and I liked it better than the semi sweet. I would definitely recommend this recipe as a fun little challenge for baking.
Oh my gosh. Yes, I have a new favorite non-chocolate cookie. I used the Wilton 1M and I think my consistency was off a teeny bit (they flattened out some) but they still tasted AMAZING. I loved that they weren’t overly sweet and the almond flavor was the best. They were a lot of fun to make and I’ll definitely be making them again!
These were fine. Not for me. After bursting 3(!!) piping bags I ended up having to add close to 3 tablespoons of milk to be able to pipe it. Because of the added milk they spread quite a bit and didn’t really hold their shape. The flavor was fine, but they did taste a bit like flour. Overall, I would not make these again.
These cookies were quick and easy to make. I was able to pipe with 2 Tbsp of milk through the Wilton 1M tip. I tried both the swirl and a line and the swirl turned out much better. I also added food colouring to part of the dough to make them look like the cookies my mom remembers eating as a child. The almond extract made the dough smell amazing and I can’t wait to try them!
I followed the directions were easy to make. Will be making these again
Sally, I’d like to use my cookie spritzer for these, but, I know they can be very hard to push out! Do you think I should make any changes to the recipe?
Hi Terre! I highly recommend using my Spritz Cookies recipe for your cookie press. 🙂
Planning to try these cookies this weekend. Every recipe from Sally is absolutely perfect. I’ve made the black and white cookies, the pumpkin cookies and carrot cake. Can’t wait to try these!
I ended up using 2.5 tablespoons of milk since I only had a 1M piping tip, but they turned out great after chilling for 30 minutes. They look beautiful and taste amazing!
I followed the directions to a T and had to take the dough out of the bag 2 times to keep adding milk. I struggled so hard piping that my bodybuilder husband tried to help me. Then naturally my bag blew a hole on the side it was crazy hard for me. After 4 attempts I managed to get them on the cookie sheet. Flavor is great but I don’t think I’ll make them again. Unless I use 5 TB of milk to start.
I loved the taste of these cookies plain or with a dusting of confectioners sugar but they were FABULOUS dipped in chocolate and sprinkles! #Decemberbakingchallengecomplete
This recipe worked like a charm! I even sandwiched some up and put raspberry jam in between to make it just like my favorite cookies that I get from the bakery!
I had a horrible time with these. The first tray from the fridge spread all over the place. My second tray from the freezer (solid enough for me to pick them up) also spread so much the piping didn’t show. I only put in 1 Tbs of milk and they seemed very firm when I was piping. They do taste great though. I might try them again
My family loves these cookies! I did plain with sprinkles, some dipped in chocolate, and some dipped in white chocolate. A little something for everyone. I followed the recipe exactly. They held their shape and tasted great. Thanks Sally!
I’m really happy with how these butter cookies turned out. I found if I piped taller cookies rather than larger circles, they turned out much better. I also didn’t add milk but added 1 tbsp heavy cream. They gave me a workout trying to pipe them. I managed to get 33 cookies from this recipe. I may try to make more once my arm muscles rest (lol).