Danish butter cookies—also fondly known asthe "cookies in the blue tin"—are a common sight around Christmastime,popping up on cookie plates, at church gatherings, and potlucks throughout the holiday season. The buttery cookies can come in a variety of shapes, arecarefully separated by white cupcake liners, and areall tucked away in a shiny blue tin.
Are Danish butter cookies the same as shortbread cookies?
Both shortbread cookies and Danish butter cookies are very similar in texture, taste and ingredients used. Like Danish butter cookies, shortbread cookies use a good amount of butter, but normally do not use a leavener, like egg or baking powder. They bake up dense, crumbly and buttery. These Danish butter cookies call for an egg, which doesn’t leaven the cookies so much as it adds color and richness in flavor. Shortbread cookies are commonly rolled up and sliced, or rolled into a sheet and cut with a cutter, whereas these cookies are piped.
Do I need any special equipment for this cookie?
This recipe calls to pipe the cookie dough into the iconic Danish butter cookie ring shape. We recommend using a large, wide piping tip to make the signature ridges in the surface of the cookie that trap all of the coarse, crunchy sugar. You can use a "closed" or "open" star tip; we recommend the Wilton 8B tip. Its easy to order online, as are large piping bags.If you don’t have a proper piping bag, you can always use a gallon-sized, zip-top plastic bag with the tip inserted into a cut corner.
Advertisem*nt - Continue Reading Below
- Yields:
- 24 serving(s)
- Prep Time:
- 20 mins
- Total Time:
- 1 hr
Ingredients
- 2
sticks salted butter, softened
- 3/4 c.
granulated sugar
- 1
egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp.
vanilla extract
- 2 c.
all-purpose flour
White sparkling sugar
Directions
- Step1Place the softened butter and sugar in a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer). With a hand mixer (or stand mixer with a paddle attachment) on medium-high speed, beat until very light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well to combine. Add the flour 1 cup at a time, mixing on low to combine completely in between each addition. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.
- Step2Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a large, star tip (with a wide opening). Pipe the dough in a circle shape, about 2" in diameter, overlapping by about 1/2-inch at the edges. Sprinkle all over with sparkling sugar.Refrigerate the cookies for 30 minutes (or freeze for 15 minutes) in order to firm up and prevent spreading while baking.
- Step3Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are just lightly golden. Let cool on a sheet tray for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Once cool, store in an air-tight container in a single layer, between layers of parchment paper, at room temperature for up to 1 week.
