How to Make Butter Cookies

17 de enero de 2013

How to Make Butter Cookies

Butter cookies––also known as Dutch biscuits––are crisp, crumbly cookies made with only a few ingredients. At their most basic, the biscuits have no extra flavoring, although they are often flavored with vanilla and chocolate. You can find them in a variety of shapes and appearances, including marbled, checkered or plain. Butter cookies are similar to sugar cookies and they're often served around Christmas time in the Americas; in Europe and elsewhere, however, these biscuits are enjoyed all year round.

Edit Ingredients

Servings: about 4 dozen

500 gm (4 cups) self-rising (self-raising) flour or 250 gm (2 cups) corn flour

3 or 4 eggs

250 gm (9 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

250 gm (1 1/4 cups) caster sugar

A pinch of salt

Edit Steps

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350ºF. Grease a baking tray and sprinkle a little flour on it until it's completely covered.

Stir the butter and salt together. Add to a medium bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until it's soft.

Add the sugar to the mixture. Continue stirring until the mixture becomes smooth.

Add the eggs to the mixture one at a time. Make sure each one is well blended before adding the next.

Mix in the self-rising flour. Use a spoon or a fork to mix, but only until a dough forms. Do not over-mix.

Sprinkle a bit flour on a table or clean counter. Take the dough out of the bowl and knead it for about 15 minutes, or until the dough is firm and smooth. If the dough is still a bit sticky, you can add a little more flour.

Roll the dough out. Aim to roll the dough to a 5mm-thickness.

Press cookie cutters into the dough to shape cookies. Try to cut as many cookies as you can, using differently shaped cutters for a pretty variety.

Place the cookies in rows on the baking tray. Leave sufficient room between cookies, as they will expand in the oven; if they're placed too close together, they'll stick to one another.

Sprinkle a little sugar over the cookies before placing them in the oven.

Put the baking tray in the preheated oven. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven once baked. Allow the cookies to cool on a wire rack until they reach room temperature.

Serve when cooled. You may store these in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

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Edit Tips

You can add extra flavor to the cookies by using vanilla sugar instead of regular sugar.

Oven times vary. The times given in this recipe are just guidelines; keep an eye on the color of the cookies as they bake. When done, they will be a nice golden color; do not allow to brown.

Always have some extra flour handy, just in case your dough doesn’t come together. Also, have some extra water handy in case your dough becomes too dry.