12 Days of Christmas Cookies: Traditional Butter

by Amy Johnson, Managing Editor, HockeyPub.com

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Sometimes the best recipes are the ones that have the simplest set of ingredients.  For many, butter cookies evoke memories of childhood baking sessions with family members, cutting out different shapes and decorating them with bright colors and designs.  But these basic bites can sometimes be very time consuming to make.  The dough is typically chilled for a couple of hours to make cutouts easier, or alternatively is put into a variety of cookie presses to make intricate shapes.

But what if you just want to taste that buttery, sweet flavor without all the work?  It’s easy – make drop cookies!

Butter Cookies
Recipe courtesy of AllRecipes.com

Prep Time: 20 minutes
(Makes 3 dozen cookies)

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Beat in the egg, then stir in the vanilla.

3. Combine the flour and salt and slowly beat that into the butter/sugar mixture.  (If you’d prefer to make cutouts or use a cookie press, chill the dough and cookie sheets for at least an hour before baking.)

4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Drop spoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheets (line the cookie sheets with parchment paper for easy cleanup).

5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly golden at the edges.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack immediately and sprinkle with colored sugar while they’re still hot!

Be sure to check back tomorrow for our next holiday cookie recipe: Devil’s Food Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!  And if you missed any of our previous recipes in this series, be sure to check them out below:

Day 1 – Golden Chocolate-Chunk Nutty Bars
Day 2 – Inception Brownies

Photo Credit: Amy Johnson

Tags: christmas, cookies, fan post, featured