Butter cookies are great for anytime of the year they are easy to make and if done right they are extremely tasty and crumbly. Their golden brown, crisp edges and soft buttery centre gives them versatility like no other. They can be enjoyed with a bowl of ice cream, a cup of coffee or just simply by themselves. Although butter cookies may look plain and unappetizing, they are in fact tasty and can be very addictive.
Tools
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Electric or hand mixer with bowl plus 2 additional bowls
- Strainer
- Clear plastic wrap
- Rolling pin (optional, if you want to shape your cookies it is a must)
- Cookie cutters (optional)
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup room temperature butter (for a substitute to butter use 1 cup soy margarine instead)
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. lemon zest
- 1 large egg
Method
- Place the butter and sugar in a bowl. Cream both ingredients until the mixture is light and fluffy (having the consistency of cream)
- In another bowl sift the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder together. This ensures that the ingredients are equally distributed in the dry mixture.
- Gradually add dry mixture into the bowl with the creamed butter and sugar.
- When the dry mixture is completely folded into the cream, crack another egg into a separate bowl and wisk until air bubbles appear.
- Add the egg, vanilla extract and lemon zest to the mixture and combine all the ingredients until you get a sturdy yellow dough.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts, shaping both parts into logs. Wrap the logs in clear plastic paper and place them in the freezer for at least 24 hours.
- When ready to bake your cookies, remove logs from the freezer and cut cookie dough into 1 inch pieces. The cookie dough is fresh for a maximum of three months if kept frozen all the time.
- Place the cookies on your baking sheet lain with parchment paper.
- Pre heat the oven for 10 minutes at 350? F and place the oven rack into the centre of the oven. After 10 minutes put the baking sheet with cookies into the oven and bake for 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown.
- Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on a wire rack
To shape butter cookies
Instead of rolling dough into logs and placing it in the refrigerator, you may use a rolling pin to flatten your fresh dough to a thickness of around a inch. Use cookie cutters to cut the shapes you desire. Shaping cookies immediately after the dough is made gives you a fresher cookie.
Tips
For those who may be lactose intolerant or vegetarians, you may substitute butter with soy margarine. Soy products may cause allergic reactions in some individuals so it is important to find out if you are allergic to soy before eating soy products.
