Why You’ll Love This Danish Butter Cookies Recipe
Danish butter cookies are classic shortbread-style cookies that bring back so many holiday memories. You might know Danish butter cookies for their Royal Dansk blue tin (better yet, your grandmother may have used the tin to stash the sewing kit, IYKYK). These iconic cookies are a staple every Christmas! Here’s why you’ll love this homemade recipe:
Only 4 ingredients. The dough for Danish butter cookies is super easy to make with 4 common pantry ingredients. Authentic flavor. These cookies taste just like the ones from Royal Dansk! Every bite melts in your mouth and the flavors are sweet and buttery, just how I remember them. Perfect for gifting. These pretty piped butter cookies are perfect to package up and give as gifts, and they’re a great addition to a holiday cookie tray.
Ingredients in Danish Butter Cookies
The ingredients for Danish butter cookies are very similar to a classic shortbread. Scroll down to the recipe card below the post for a printable ingredients list with amounts.
Butter – Traditional Danish butter cookies use unsalted butter. I prefer baking with salted butter, so that’s what I use here. Feel free to use whichever kind you’d like, just make sure to use good-quality butter for the best possible flavor. Powdered Sugar – Powdered sugar is essential for the melty texture we know and love in a butter cookie. I don’t recommend substituting granulated sugar, but you can turn your granulated sugar into powdered sugar by pulsing it in a blender to get a fine powder. Fun little baking hack! Vanilla Extract – Or an equal amount of vanilla paste. You could also use another extract, like almond, lemon, or rum extract. Cake Flour – Along with powdered sugar, cake flour makes for a finer, tighter cookie crumb. If you’d prefer to use all-purpose flour, that is fine, just add in 2 tablespoons less flour or use my cake flour substitute.
How to Make Danish Butter Cookies
These classic Christmas cookies couldn’t be easier to make. Follow the recipe overview here, and scroll to the recipe card for printable instructions.
Make the cookie dough. First, whip butter with powdered sugar and vanilla until that’s light and fluffy. Next, slowly add flour until the dough is smooth and soft.
Pipe the cookies. Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a large open-star piping tip (like the Wilton 1M, Ateco 9, or an Ateco 826). Then, pipe the dough out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet in circles or rosettes, or both.
Chill. Pop your cookie shapes into the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes. Don’t skip this step! Chilling helps to keep these butter cookies from spreading in the oven. Bake. Bake your butter cookies at 300ºF for 18-20 minutes until they’re just golden at the edges. Let the cookies rest for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, and then move them to a wire rack.
Piping Butter Cookie Dough
If you’ve never used a piping bag with piping tips before, I can’t think of a better reason to give it a try than a batch of butter cookies! There’s no way around it, and the results are so pretty. No piping bag? Transfer the cookie dough to a large ziplock bag and snip the corner off. You won’t get quite the same swirl effect, but your cookies will still come out nicely. Another option is to put your butter cookie dough into a cookie press and press out the shapes that way, like spritz cookies.
Recipe Tips
Don’t move the cookies right away. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet, and don’t try to move them while they’re warm from the oven. The dough will be soft and might break. Wait 5 minutes, then use a spatula to move them to a wire rack. Use a sturdy pastry bag. Disposable or reusable is recommended, otherwise, use a heavy-duty plastic baggie. The dough is thicker than frosting, so you don’t want your bag to break! Make sure the dough is the right consistency. If you notice the dough is too thick to pipe, or if you are getting jagged edges, remove the dough from the bag, place it back in the mixer, and mix in 1 tablespoon of milk. Add more milk until the dough is soft enough to pipe. More add-ons. Finish these cookies with toppings like sprinkles, coarse sugar, or coconut before baking.
How To Store Danish Butter Cookies
These butter cookies store well at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 7 days for the best freshness. You can freeze these Danish cookies airtight for up to 2 months. Simply thaw them at room temperature and enjoy!
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