Simple and yet so delicious! Make my Butter Cookies Recipe for cookies with a tender bite and lots of buttery flavor.

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Here's a simple little recipe for a simple little cookie, from me: a simple-minded lass. Butter Cookies, though simple, are really delicious. The buttery cookies are perfect alongside a hot cup of coffee or tea, or even a mug of chocolaty hot cocoa!
You only need five ingredients to make this best Butter Cookies Recipe, including butter, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla extract.
Why you'll love this cookie recipe

One thing to love is that homemade Butter Cookies are delicious all on their own. The pure flavors of butter and vanilla shine through, making quite a tasty treat! Should you decide to add dried fruit, nuts, zest, or spices, the cookies will be all the better for having begun with such a delicious base.
Roll out the dough and use your favorite cookie cutters to create shapes for Christmas or any holiday—or just for fun.
The cookies are sturdy enough to give as gifts or to ship. Make my butter cookies recipe for Christmas cookie exchanges or to cheer family and friends living far away.
Put your own spin on these cookies

This is a great cookie to customize with other flavors or coatings. Fold chopped nuts, dried fruit, or citrus zest into the dough. Use butter cookies to sandwich fillings like jam, ganache, and buttercream frosting. Dip the cookies in regular or white chocolate.

I used this simple butter cookie recipe as the base for recipes like:
- Cranberry Nutella Sandwich Cookies
- Coffee Cardamom Cookies
- Sweet Lemon Strawberry Sandwich Cookies
- Halloween Ghost Cookies With Chocolate Chips
🔪 How to make this Butter Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:
- Butter: It's the most important ingredient in these cookies. If you can, choose a good, flavorful brand of butter like Cabot, Vermont Creamery, or Kerrygold.
- Confectioners' sugar: It dissolves quickly in the cookie dough and creates a velvety texture in the baked cookies.
- Vanilla extract: Use pure vanilla extract from a high-quality brand like Nielsen-Massey.
- Flour: Use all-purpose flour for this recipe—my go-to brand is King Arthur brand.
- Salt: Just a little salt enhances the overall flavor of these simple cookies.
Make the dough

Cream together butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add in the flour and salt.
Chill

Squeeze the dough together with your hands a few times, then wrap and chill it.
Roll and cut into shapes

Roll out the chilled dough to a ¼-inch thickness. Cut out your desired shapes using cookie cutters and place them on a lined baking sheet.
Chill again, then bake

Chill the cut cookies one more time, then bake.

FAQs
While good butter can be more expensive, for some recipes they're really worth it—like this cookie recipe. These butters are typically made in smaller batches using milk from happy cows, resulting in butter with a richer, more delectable flavor. Good American brands to try are Cabot, Kate's, and Vermont Creamery. European butters tend to have a higher fat content which will create an even more tender cookie, so they're good choices, too. Kerrygold from Ireland is a favorite.
Butter cookies should be stored in an airtight container and kept at room temperature. They should keep well for at least a week.
Shortbread cookies are made with more butter in proportion to flour and sugar. They're very tender and also crumbly. Butter cookies are made with a lot of butter too, but have more flour in the mixture. This makes them ideal for rolling and cutting into shapes. They're both buttery and absolutely delicious!

Tips:
- Use the best quality butter you can afford here. The flavor really shines in these cookies, so it's worth using the good stuff.
- This recipe has two chilling times: one to firm up the dough for easier rolling and cutting, and the second to keep the cookies from spreading too much while baking. These chill times are important so don't skip them!
- The yields listed in the recipe below are based on using a 2-inch cookie cutter. If you use a smaller or larger cookie cutter, the total number of cookies will change.
Give easy Butter Cookies a try all on their own. They are quite satisfying in their own, unassuming little way. Once you get hooked on them, you can play with adding ingredients or dipping them in chocolate!

The Butter Cookies Recipe is below. And here are just a few recipes made with this buttery dough:
💬 How do you like this recipe? Leave a comment below.
📖 Recipe

Butter Cookies Recipe
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Ingredients
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar
- 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Make the dough:
- Cream together the butter and confectioner's sugar for 3 minutes on medium speed. Scrape the bowl a couple of times during the mixing, it should be smooth. Add in the vanilla extract and beat the mixture on low to incorporate it.
- Whisk together the flour and salt in a separate bowl. Add this dry mixture into the butter mixture; mix them together on low speed, scraping down the bowl often, until the dough has come together.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured area. Squeeze the dough together just a couple of times so that it is smooth.
Chill:
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill the dough for 30 minutes.
Roll and cut:
- Preheat oven to 325° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. The cut cookies will need to chill before baking so be sure the baking sheet can fit in your fridge.
- Unwrap the chilled dough and use a knife to cut it in half. Rewrap one of the halves and hold it in the fridge. Place the other half on a large piece of parchment paper.
- Move the dough to one side of the parchment and fold the other half of the parchment over the top of the dough. Roll the dough inside the parchment to a ¼-inch thickness. (If you don't want to use parchment paper keep the work surface and rolling pin lightly floured.)
- TIP: on a toothpick, measure up from the tip ¼-inch and mark it with a Sharpie. To see if your dough is at ¼-inch thickness, poke the toothpick into the dough and check it against the mark.
- Use a 2-inch cookie cutter (square, circle, your choice) and cut cookies from the dough. Place the cookies onto the parchment lined baking sheet, leaving about 1 inch between them.
- Roll scraps together and continue cutting cookies to fill the baking sheet.
- Prick the top of each cookie three times with the tines of a fork.
Chill again:
- Place the baking sheet into the refrigerator for 15 minutes. If you have unused dough, wrap this in plastic and refrigerate it also, until you're ready to roll and cut the next batch.
Bake:
- Put the cookies in the oven and bake them for about 18-20 minutes: check them after 18 minutes; bake the cookies only until the edges and tops have very lightly browned.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Finish rolling, cutting and baking any additional dough you have left.
- The cooled cookies can be stacked and sealed in an airtight container for up to 5 days. This recipe makes about 38 2-inch cookies.
Variation: Pistachio Butter Cookies
- After mixing the dry ingredients in with the butter-sugar mixture, mix in ⅓ cup of chopped, salted pistachios.
Variation: Lemon Butter Cookies
- Reduce the vanilla extract to 1 teaspoon; add to this 2 teaspoons of lemon juice. After mixing the dry ingredients in with the butter-sugar mixture, mix in 1½ tablespoons of lemon zest.
Notes
- Use the best quality butter you can afford here. The flavor really shines in these cookies, so it's worth using the good stuff.
- This recipe has two chilling times: one to firm up the dough for easier rolling and cutting, and the second to keep the cookies from spreading too much while baking. These chill times are important so don't skip them!
- The yields listed in the recipe below are based on using a 2-inch cookie cutter. If you use a smaller or larger cookie cutter, the total number of cookies will change.
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