The Best Butter Cookie Recipe For Cookie Cutters (2024)

I’m about to do something that I never do lightly: share my family’s butter cookie recipe. This recipe comes from my paternal grandmother and was adopted by my mom inmy childhood. It’s our favorite family cookie and was usually the envy of all my friends. The best part about this butter cookie recipe is we’ve always used it for holidays, because no other cookie can compare when it comes to using cookie cutters. They always retain their shape, don’t expand while baking, are great for frosting and perfect for creating memories with your kids. I hope your family enjoys them as much as mine.

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Ingredients

Butter Cookies

1.5 cups of unsalted butter, softened (3 sticks); I personally use margarine and it works great

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

4.5 cups flour

Frosting

2 cups confectioners sugar

1/4 cup butter (1/2 a stick)

1 tsp vanilla

1-2 tsp milk

Food Coloring

Tools

Mixer

Rolling Pin

Cutting Board

Wax Paper

Cookie Cutters

Sprinkles

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Instructions

Cream butter and sugar.

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Make sure your mixture is nice and fluffy!The Best Butter Cookie Recipe For Cookie Cutters (4)

Add in egg and vanilla, and mix well.

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Be sure to scrape the sides of your bowl and mix everything in.The Best Butter Cookie Recipe For Cookie Cutters (6)

Add salt and flour. If you don’t have a large bowl, add only half the flour and mix. Then add second half and mix again.

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When your dough is well combined, it should resemble this. My Kitchen Aid does a pretty good job of mixing on it’s own, but I always like to do a few smushes with my hand to make a nice ball of dough.

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The Best Butter Cookie Recipe For Cookie Cutters (9)

Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and allow to refrigerate at least an hour. For this recipe to live up to it’s potential the dough needs to be nice and chilly so it maintains it’s shape. Give beater to kidsto eat and relax while your dough chills 😉

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Once your dough is chilled, preheat oven to 375. Lightly flour a cutting board (I use a nice, large wooden one).

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Put a medium to large ball of dough in the middle of your cutting board. The size of your board will determine how much you can roll out at once.The Best Butter Cookie Recipe For Cookie Cutters (13)

Lay a piece of wax paper on top and then use your rolling pin to thin out the dough into an even layer. This recipe works best if cookies are about a 1/4 inch thick.

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Then start using whatever shaped cookie cutters you want and begin cutting them out! When you’ve used your available dough, form into a ball and repeat the process of rolling it out.

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Lay the cookies out on a cookie sheet and pop in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Keep a close eye, these cook fast and you don’t want a burnt cookie! You’ll note the hodge podge nature of my current batch of cookies. I call this collection “what happens when your 3-year old picks out the cookie cutters!”

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Once removed from the oven, allow butter cookies to completely cool on sheets of waxed paper before frosting. Now, for the frosting!

Combine butter, vanilla extract and confectioners sugar and beat until creamy. I personally use a hand mixer for this step.

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Add a little less than ONE tablespoon of milk and then beat. You do NOT want a runny frosting, you want a creamy but flexible version that is easy to layer on the butter cookies. You can always add more milk if it’s too thick, so just add small amounts at a time. Once you have your desired consistency, spoon into separate bowls and then add food coloring! I personally did summer colors this time around. I suggest when the holidays roll in, to invest in some Wilton Gel food coloring. You will get rich, vibrant colors that you just can’t get from traditional liquid coloring.The Best Butter Cookie Recipe For Cookie Cutters (20)

Use a cookie sheet to frost and add sprinkles to your cooled butter cookies. This is the best part for kids! The cookie sheet will help contain the mess and not allow quite so many sprinkles to escape on your table and floor.

The Best Butter Cookie Recipe For Cookie Cutters (21) I love how the frosting and sprinkles gives everyone the creative license to make a beautiful cookie in their own way. This traditional style butter cookie is one for the memory books and I hope you and your family enjoy.
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Karly Wood

Editor at Red Tricycle

I'm a born and bred Southern California native and currently the managing editor at Red Tri. I get to share my life with my husband of 13 years and our beautiful, 5-year old daughter. In my free time you'll catch me cheering for the Dodgers, cooking, baking, reading, crafting and probably watching a little HGTV!

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The Best Butter Cookie Recipe For Cookie Cutters (28)

Karly Wood

I'm a born and bred Southern California native and currently the managing editor at Red Tri. I get to share my life with my husband of 13 years and our beautiful, 5-year old daughter. In my free time you'll catch me cheering for the Dodgers, cooking, baking, reading, crafting and probably watching a little HGTV!

The Best Butter Cookie Recipe For Cookie Cutters (2024)

FAQs

What is the best butter for butter cookies in the world? ›

Of all the different kinds of butter available, European-style is the definitive way to go. European butter has at least 82% (and up to 90%) fat, while butter made in the United States typically only contains 80% fat. Sung and Gordon like Kerrygold butter, which is imported the United States from Ireland.

What type of cookie dough is best for cookie cutters? ›

(In general, you're looking for a smooth dough that can be rolled thin, cuts cleanly and contains little or no baking powder.) If the dough gets too warm, refrigerate or freeze it until it becomes firm again. Your leaf shapes should do just fine.

What is the secret to a perfect cookie? ›

The key is to always use top-quality ingredients as they'll result in a better cookie; it really is that simple.
  • Always use butter.
  • Choose the right sugar.
  • Choose the right flour.
  • Check your flour is in date.
  • Choose the right kind of chocolate.
  • Cream the butter and sugar.
  • Beat in the eggs.
  • Fold in the flour.

How do you make cookies keep their cookie cutter shape? ›

Sandwich your dough between two sheets of parchment, roll, then freeze; it makes cut-out cookies a breeze! If you plan to store it for only a few hours or days, there's no need to overwrap the baking sheet; for longer storage, wrap the entire baking sheet tightly with plastic wrap before freezing.

What is the original butter cookies? ›

Butter cookies, also known as Danish butter cookies, are cookies originating in Denmark consisting of butter, flour, and sugar. They are similar to shortbread cookies. The butter cookie is often categorized as a "crisp cookie" due to its texture, caused in part by the quantity of butter and sugar.

What is the number one selling butter? ›

Land Lakes

Do you chill cookie dough before cookie cutters? ›

Just remember to chill your dough for at least 30 minutes and flour your cookie cutter between each cookie. And of course, make them your own and have fun!

Do you refrigerate cookie dough before using cookie cutters? ›

After preparing your cookie dough, refrigerate it for at least 1 hour. This will make the dough easier to cut with cookie cutters (especially intricate ones) and may help prevent your cookies from spreading in the oven.

Do you flatten cookie dough before baking? ›

If the dough is chilled before baking then the cookies will be slightly more rounded, so if you want slightly flatter cookies then bake them as soon as you have mixed up the dough. But we would not recommend flattening the cookies completely as this will affect the texture.

How long to chill cookie dough before baking? ›

As a general rule of thumb, you should refrigerate cookie dough for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. More than that, and you won't see a noticeable difference in the final product. Once the dough has chilled, let it warm up at room temperature until it's just pliable (about 5 to 10 minutes).

What ingredient makes a cookie chewy? ›

Cornstarch gives the cookies that ultra soft consistency we all love. Plus, it helps keep the cookies beautifully thick. We use the same trick when making shortbread cookies. Egg yolk: Another way to promise a super chewy chocolate chip cookie is to use an extra egg yolk.

What makes a cookie cutter good? ›

“The best cookie cutters have a small rolled lip of metal or plastic around the top to protect my hands and give me an edge to grab onto to pull the cutter back up,” Bushman says. “I also look for a nice seam where the metal of the cookie cutter joins together so I don't have a weird shape on one edge of my cookie.”

What is the cookie cutter method? ›

If you describe something as having a cookie-cutter approach or style, you mean that the same approach or style is always used and not enough attention is paid to individual differences.

Why are my cut-out cookies spreading? ›

If you are mixing cookies by hand, it's difficult to achieve a uniform structure in the dough. The denser bits of butter and sugar will heat more quickly than a dough that is filled with tiny pockets of air. This quicker heating will cause more spreading.

Which butter brand is best for cookies? ›

Best for Baking: Land O'Lakes Unsalted

“Generally, European-style butters are easier to work with due to the higher butterfat content.” Land O'Lakes also makes an “extra creamy” European-style unsalted butter that might be even better for baking, though we didn't test it out.

What is the best butter in the world? ›

Cabot Extra Creamy barely edged out the salted butter by Isigny Sainte-Mère, a storied brand out of Normandy, France. That butter scored 99.6 from the judges. Nevertheless, please note: A half-pound of Cabot Extra Creamy Sea Salted butter rings up at about $4.

Is European butter better for baking cookies? ›

The higher butterfat content of European-style butter doesn't always lend itself well to recipes developed and written in North America. The higher fat content can weigh down cakes and cookies, making them too rich. It is, however, an obvious choice in French pastries like gâteau breton, pâte sucrée, and kouign-amann.

Why is Land O' Lakes butter so good? ›

European Style Butter, such as Land O Lakes® Extra Creamy Butter, is perfect for spreading on bread and for all your baking and cooking needs. Extra Creamy Butter has a higher fat content and rich and creamy texture, making everything taste better.

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