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Why You’ll Love My Recipe
These buttery, crunchy cookies are so easy to make that they’re sure to become a family staple. Make a few batches to freeze and add to your holiday season cookie trays.
These cookies are similar to a Scottish Shortbread but lighter, like Whipped Shortbread. You can also try these Crispy,Buttery Candy Cane Cookies if you’re looking for more decadent and festive cookie recipes this holiday season.
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: This is a very easy recipe.
- Total Time: Making these cookies will take you approximately 40 minutes from start to finish.
- Variations: Play around with different flavouring for these cookies. Try almond extract instead of vanilla. Sprinkle a flavoured finishing sugar on top of the cookies instead of regular coarse sugar. Try substituting some of the flour with cocoa to make these chocolate butter cookies.
- Tools Needed: For this recipe, you’ll need two large baking sheets, some parchment paper, a stand mixer or large bowl and hand mixer, an icing/piping bag with decorative tip, a pastry brush, and a spoon or spatula.
What You’ll Need For Ingredients
Butter: This recipe calls for salted butter, but if you have unsalted butter you can use that. Just add a pinch of salt to the cookie dough.
Vanilla: While any regular vanilla extract will work for the purpose of this recipe, this is a great type of cookie to use a higher-end vanilla. Try a vanilla bean paste or some Mexican vanilla for even richer vanilla flavour.
Confectioner’s Sugar: This fine, powdery sugar is also called icing sugar or powdered sugar, depending where you live. It will make the cookies smooth and melty.
How To Make Danish Butter Cookies
This is brief overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Prep your icing bag and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together until light and fluffy. Add flour slowly, mixing at the lowest speed, until fully combined.
- Fill icing bag 2/3 of the way and pipe 2-inch circles of dough onto the lined baking sheets.
- Brush cookies with cream, sprinkle with coarse sugar, and bake for 14-15 minutes.
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for Making Danish Butter Cookies
Preserving these Cookies: Because of the amount of butter in these cookies, they have a tendency to get stale or moldy faster than most cookies. You can help avoid excess moisture by keeping them in an airtight container and putting a small piece of dry bread in the container. The bread will absorb any extra moisture. You can also put them straight into the freezer and take them out as you’re ready to eat them, since they’ll defrost quickly.
Be Creative: If you have multiple tips for your piping/icing bag, play around with different shapes and designs for your cookies! You can also add some fun, festive sprinkles or coloured sugar. Try adding a tiny dab of gel food colouring (or a drop of liquid food colouring) to your cookie dough. You can even divide your dough into portions and make a couple of different colours.
Storage Instructions
Store these cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for 3-5 days, or freeze them in a sealed container for up to 3 months.
More Delicious Cookie Recipes
Looking for more easy and tasty cookie recipes?
Try The Best Glazed Orange Cookies.
Make some Butterscotch Cookies to add to the snack trays.
Mix up a batch of classic Cowboy Cookies.
There you go, everyone. A classic butter cookie just like the ones you devoured out of a blue tin. Try them, have some fun with custom designs, and let me know what you think.
Happy Baking!
Karlynn
Danish Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups confectioners sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups sifted all purpose flour
- ¼ cup cream
- ½ cup coarse white sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 °. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Fit an icing/decorating bag with a large open star cake decorating tip and set aside.
- In a large bowl attached to a stand mixer, or using a hand mixer, beat the butter sugar, egg and vanilla until fully combined and it’s light and fluffy.
- Add in the flour and mix in using the lowest speed until just combined.
- Fill the icing bag with dough 2/3 full. Pipe the dough in 2 inch circles onto the parchment paper.
- Brush each cookie with the cream, then spinkle the coarse sugar on top.
- Bake in the oven for 14-15 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown on top.
- Remove and cool on the sheets completely.
- Store in a closed container at room temperature for up to 3-5 days, or in the container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Play around with the shapes you pipe, you can make shapes like the cookies that come in the famous blue tin
- You can use a cookie press for shapes as well
paula says
heavy whipping cream
Jackie Bryant says
Hi Karlynn, regarding the cream on top of the danish cookie, do you mean like carnation milk in the can? Thanks so much!
paula says
heavy whipping cream
Susan says
Can you put cocoa in the batter to make them chocolate?
Kathi says
I increased the sugar from 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup and then added 1/8 cup Unsweatened Coco Powder. I just rolled them out and cut them with a square cookie cutter. OMG – they were fantastic.