Description
Classic Danish Butter Cookies are rich, buttery, and crisp delights perfect for any occasion. Made with simple ingredients like butter, sugar, and flour, these cookies are piped into elegant swirls, chilled to maintain their shape, and baked until golden. Enhanced with a smooth chocolate dip and colorful sprinkles, they offer a delightful balance of buttery richness and sweet decoration.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons milk
Decoration
- 3 oz semi-sweet or milk chocolate
- 3 tablespoons sprinkles
Instructions
- Creaming the Butter and Sugar: Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer, cream together 1 cup of room temperature unsalted butter and ⅔ cup granulated sugar. Beat for a few minutes until the mixture is light, fluffy, and airy, which helps to create a tender cookie texture.
- Adding Egg and Vanilla: Add 1 large room temperature egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to the creamed mixture. Mix again until all the ingredients are well combined, ensuring a smooth and consistent batter.
- Incorporating Dry Ingredients: Add 2 cups all-purpose flour and ¼ teaspoon salt to the bowl. Mix on low speed until the dough just comes together; avoid overmixing to prevent tough cookies.
- Adjusting Dough Consistency: Add 2 teaspoons of milk and mix gently. The goal is to achieve a pipeable dough consistency that is not runny. If needed, add a little more milk (1-2 teaspoons) sparingly to help the dough flow easily through the piping nozzle.
- Preparing to Pipe: Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a large piping tip (such as Ateco 849 or 826). If you don’t have these, a Wilton 1M tip can be used, although it may require slightly thinned dough and could cause spreading during baking.
- Piping the Cookies: Pipe 2-inch swirls directly onto a baking sheet without parchment paper, spacing them about 3 inches apart. Piping directly onto the baking sheet helps the dough stick better and hold its shape.
- Chilling the Cookies: Place the baking sheet with piped cookies in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes. This crucial step helps the cookies maintain their shape and prevents spreading during baking.
- Preheating and Baking: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Bake the chilled cookies for approximately 15 minutes or until they are golden brown around the edges, indicating they are crisp and done.
- Cooling the Cookies: Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes. Then transfer them onto a wire rack to cool completely, ensuring a crisp texture.
- Melting the Chocolate: While the cookies cool, melt the 3 oz chopped semi-sweet or milk chocolate using a double boiler or microwave. For microwave melting, heat in 20-second increments, stirring after each until smooth and fully melted.
- Dipping and Decorating: Dip approximately two-thirds of each cookie into the melted chocolate and place them on parchment paper to set. Decorate immediately with sprinkles before the chocolate hardens. Allow the chocolate coating to dry completely before serving or storing.
Notes
- Using a wide piping tip like Ateco 849 or 826 makes it easier to pipe thicker dough, which helps the cookies maintain their shape during baking.
- If using a Wilton 1M tip, the dough will need to be thinned by adding more milk, but this can cause the cookies to spread more while baking.
- Piping directly onto a bare baking sheet (not parchment) helps the cookies stick better and hold their shape.
- If the dough is too thick to pipe smoothly, return it to the bowl, add 1-2 teaspoons of milk, mix well, and re-pipe.
- Always chill the piped cookies before baking to prevent spreading and preserve the cookie shape.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 110
- Sugar: 7g
- Sodium: 40mg
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 4.5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 12g
- Fiber: 0.3g
- Protein: 1.2g
- Cholesterol: 25mg
