This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my privacy policy.
This simple butter cookies recipe is my go-to for Christmas and the holidays. They’re buttery and crumbly—just the best for adding a festive touch to any celebration. Follow this easy recipe with a step-by-step video and make your own soft buttery cookies at home!
Best Butter Cookies Recipe
This is the best butter cookies recipe you’ll find online! These cookies are just as buttery and crumbly as Danish Butter Cookies. They’re incredibly rich, practically melt in your mouth, and perfect for any holiday—Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, or any special occasion.
With their delightful texture and flavor, they’re sure to be a hit with everyone. I just love making these cookies—they bring back so many memories of festive celebrations with family and friends. I always make sure to have a batch ready to share. Be sure to check out my tips and tricks below to make the most of this soft butter cookies recipe.
Why I Love This Recipe
- Melt-in-your-mouth texture. The full-fat ingredients make these cookies irresistibly rich, buttery, and crumbly—just the way I like them! They practically melt in your mouth.
- Buttery goodness. The unsalted butter gives these cookies a deep, rich flavor that’s perfect for any celebration. It’s that touch of buttery goodness that makes every bite irresistible!
- Quick prep time. I love that I can whip up a batch of these soft, delicious cookies in no time, making them perfect for last-minute treats during the holidays!
- Perfect for newbies. This recipe is a breeze to follow, with simple steps, a recipe video, and tips right below to help you make the best cookies!
Ingredients You’ll Need
This is an easy recipe that calls for simple ingredients:
- Unsalted butter – Use room temperature butter.
- Pam cooking spray – For the best melt-in-your-mouth texture, stick with pam cooking spray—other sprays may not give the same results.
- Powdered sugar
- Egg yolk – Use room temperature egg yolk. Don’t throw away the egg whites—use them for my Vanilla Meringue Cookies!
- Salt
- Vanilla extract – I wouldn’t recommend using vanilla essence—it just doesn’t have the same rich, natural flavor as pure vanilla extract.
- Whole milk – Use whole milk or full-fat milk. If you use reduced-fat, skim, or almond milk, the cookies will not have the same rich, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Cornstarch
Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full details on each ingredient.
How To Make Butter Cookies
Start by creaming the butter with a little Pam cooking spray (if you’re using it), sugar, egg yolk, salt, and vanilla extract. Mix until it’s light and fluffy. Then, add the milk and stir everything together until smooth.
Next, fold in the all-purpose flour and cornstarch. Use a spatula first, then your hands to gently mix the dough. At first, it might look a little crumbly, but keep working it until everything comes together nicely.
Keep mixing the dough until it’s soft and no longer sticks to your hands—this should take about 10 minutes. Once it’s ready, cover the dough with plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. This will help it firm up a bit.
Preheat your oven to 350°F (176°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick (5mm) and use cookie cutters to cut out your desired shapes—rounds are classic, but feel free to get creative! If there are any scraps, just gather them up and roll them back into the remaining dough to keep making cookies.
Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets and bake for about 15 minutes, or until they turn a very light brown color and the insides are cooked through. Once they’re done, let them cool completely before you dive in! If you want to keep any extras, just pop them in an airtight container—these cookies will stay fresh for up to two weeks.
Secrets To Perfect Butter Cookies
Here are my baking tips, tricks and secret techniques for the best butter cookies every time:
- Use a good quality butter. I use Challenge brand butter for all my baking recipes. It’s the BEST butter to use for baking cookies.
- Do not use granulated sugar as they don’t melt in the dough and result in a grainy texture.
- To make the cookies better and more crumbly, add some Pam cooking spray to the dough. The cooking spray makes the cookies even better with melt-in-the-mouth texture. Trust me on this!
- Chill the cookie dough for 30 minutes. This will ensure that it’s easier to roll out and cut into shapes.
- Use cookie cutters instead of cookie press for the best results. I find cookie press a hit-or-miss, it all depends on the cookie press you use. Sometimes the dough is stuck on the cookie press and it’s very hard to form the beautiful shapes. With cookie cutters, you can control how the cookies look by cutting out the shape you desire.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! You can make the cookie dough ahead of time and refrigerate it for up to 3 days before baking.
No, you can’t make these cookies without cornstarch. It’s what gives them their soft, crumbly texture. Without it, the cookies may not be as tender or have the same light, delicate quality.
This recipe yields about 100 cookies. They last for two (2) weeks or longer if the cookies are stored in an air-tight container.
I don’t advice freezing or keeping the cookies in the refrigerator. It won’t help with the freshness or shelf life of these soft cookies. Plus, they won’t taste good after freezing. You might have to heat them up in a toaster oven before eating. The best way to store cookies is to leave them in an air-tight container at room temperature, in the pantry or inside your kitchen cabinet.
This recipe is only 41 calories per cookie.
What To Serve With Butter Cookies
Serve the cookies with other festive desserts and cookies. I recommend the following recipes.
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. If you try my recipe, please leave a comment and consider giving it a 5-star rating. For more easy and delicious recipes, explore my Recipe Index, and stay updated by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for new updates.
Other Recipes You Might Like
Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 10 oz. (280g) unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon Pam cooking spray, optional
- 3 oz. (90g) powdered sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons whole milk, full cream milk
- 11 oz. (311g) all-purpose flour
- 4 oz. (125g) cornstarch
Instructions
- Cream butter with Pam cooking spray (if using), sugar, egg yolk, salt, and vanilla extract until fluffy. Add in the milk and mix well.
- Fold in the all-purpose flour and cornstarch. Use a spatula and your hands to mix the dough. At first, the dough will look crumbly.
- Continue mixing the dough until it becomes soft and no longer sticks to your hands, about 10 minutes. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough to 1/4 inch (5mm) thick and cut into rounds or any desired shapes using cookie cutters. Assemble the scraps and roll them in with the remaining dough.
- Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 15 minutes, or until they turn very light brown in color and the inside is cooked through. Cool the cookies before eating. You may store the cookies in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
Video
Notes
- Use a good quality butter. I use Challenge brand butter for all my baking recipes. It’s the BEST butter to use for baking cookies.
- Do not use granulated sugar as they don’t melt in the dough and result in a grainy texture.
- To make the cookies better and more crumbly, add some Pam cooking spray to the dough. The cooking spray makes the cookies even better with melt-in-the-mouth texture. Trust me on this!
- Chill the cookie dough for 30 minutes. This will ensure that it’s easier to roll out and cut into shapes.
- Use cookie cutters instead of cookie press for the best results. I find cookie press a hit-or-miss, it all depends on the cookie press you use. Sometimes the dough is stuck on the cookie press and it’s very hard to form the beautiful shapes. With cookie cutters, you can control how the cookies look by cutting out the shape you desire.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
When does the milk go in? It does not say?
Hi Krista, it’s in the first step: Cream butter with Pam cooking spray (if using), sugar, egg yolk, salt and vanilla extract until fluffy. Add in the milk and mix well.
I just made these and they turned out amazing! The measurements were really clear. Thank you for this recipe :)
Thanks Steph, I am so glad that you had great success with the recipe! :)
I’ve made these cookies 4 times and every time the dough is very soft & can’t used a cookie cutter. I have to pipe them out. What am I doing wrong?
Thank you.
Rosslie
Did you measure the ingredients by weighing with a scale? Did you chill the dough? I have just made them yesterday and it was fine.
Under normal conditions US household use cups as unit of measure and don’t use weighing scale when baking .
Simply put ,majority of US household don’t own kitchen scale.Thats where confusion start .
Baking require precise measurements and I respect the author’s point of view.
Conversion scale dry cups to oz
1/4 c = 2oz
1/3 c= 2.6 oz
1/2c = 4 oz
3/4 c = 6 oz
2 c = 16 oz
The recipe may not come out as good since author uses / recommends metric measurements.
USA is the only country that don’t use metric measurements .
When it comes to baking I drive my sister crazy when I visit her In London
Thank you
Hi Maria, I agreed. The measurements can’t be converted to cups precisely so you need to measure via scale. Actually a scale is one of the best kitchen tools in the kitchen and it costs only $10-$15 on Amazon. If you don’t have a scale, please do buy one this holiday season. Investing in one is better than getting mediocre results from baking, or worst, failed baking and wasted ingredients which might be more than the $10-$15.
If this recipe makes 100 cookies, about how many batches of two cookie sheets would this be?
Also, I don’t have a food scale. I would need to know how many cups, teaspoon, etc. the stated ounces would be. Thank you for your help!
Hi Lisa, sorry, the recipe is in grams or ounces, can’t be converted precisely into cups if you want the best results as seen on my pictures. Food scale is only $10 on Amazon, it’s worth it to have for all kinds of baking. Two cookie sheets would be enough.
Hello again Rasa. Reading through the comments, I see that many people have been confused by the measurements. It appears that some ingredients in the recipe are liquid measurements and some measured by weighing on a scale. This explains some of the confusion some of us have had. For example, as one commenter said, “10 oz unsalted butter (2 1/2 sticks)” is not 2 1/2 sticks in the U.S. You insisted that it was but in the U.S, 10 oz is 1 & 1/4 sticks of butter. In another comment I saw in your reply that you weighed some of the ingredients on a scale. In the U.S, when baking, typically we go by cups and tsp or TBS and never use a scale. Again, I think this accounts for some of the confusion and some dough being to hard or too soft and some of the other issuse some people may have had. So no, it’s not entirely clear but I’m going to try this recipe anyway because these cookies look amazing.
Hi Charlene, you are wrong. 1 stick of butter is 4 oz, so 10 oz is 2 1/2 sticks of butter, as stated in the recipe (4+4+2). The original recipe is in metrics (all in grams) and I had to convert the recipe to American measurements. I don’t use cups for baking, it’s not precise and in MANY baking, you can’t afford to be off. If you are a baker, you ought to have a scale because I have readers from all over the world and the measuring cups in Asia and Australia are completely different. For the best and precise results, scale is the way to go, even as simple as a pound cake, it’s using weight measurement because that’s how baking should be. This recipe works, I have baked the butter cookies countless times. For readers that have problems, they either misread the recipe, do their own conversions wrong or do not use scale. It’s really that simple!
I’m a little confused with the measurements. How much of these ingredients should be used. Are these liquid or dry measurements? You were very clear with the butter by adding the number of sticks but these I’m not so sure about. 3 oz of powdered sugar seems like a very small amount. There’s more cornstarch than sugar.
3 oz 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
11 oz All-purpose flour
4 oz Cornstarch
Hi Charlene, the measurements are all very clear. It’s stated 3 oz + 1 tablespoon powdered sugar. The measurement is correct. I have made these butter cookies many many times and they are amazing.
I believe you which is why I want to get it all right. So all of the measurements I listed above are “liquid” measurements as opposed to dry measurements obtained by weighing on a kitchen scale?
They are all weighing on a kitchen scale.
Thanks Raisa. You’re right about the butter. Since I live in the US I’ll stick with the cups because that is what I have in my kitchen. Finding a scale to borrow in any room other than the bathroom, will be difficult to find in the homes of my friends and neighbors. Again, these cookies look amazing, and adorable. I’ll figure things out. Thank you for your reply. Happy baking.
Gonna try your recipe :), looks yummy.
Will the cookies do well with royal icing decorations after? Or are they better just plain?
Making half batch to try. Converting to g, just 43…, is that enough sweetness, you think?
Thanks. Looking forward to making it :)
Hi Chris, this recipe is very good. You can try icing but I don’t think you need it.
Hi I have not make the cookies yet ‘re butter cookies.
I don’t want to make so many. Just 50.
How do I half the ingredients??
Thank you
Patricia.
Patricia
How are these so low in carbs if using all purpose flour ?
Hi Deb, I am using a nutrition program to calculate the calories. It is 41 calories per cookie.
Hello, these sound delicious and easy!! How far in advance can I make the dough without compromising the texture and flavor?
Thank You for your wonderful recipes!!
I think you can make the dough a few hours before shaping them into cookies.