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December 5, 2022 BASICS

Simple Butter Cookie Dough for All kinds of Cookies (+VIDEO)

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butter cookie dough and many cookies made from it

In this post, I am sharing the simple butter cookie dough recipe that you can use for multiple kinds of cookies; such as chewy cookies, snowball cookies, piped cookies, cut-out cookies, icebox cookies, gingerbread man, and Linzer cookies... and so much more!

Jump to Recipe Video Print

Bake any cookies with this cookie dough for your next project. (Yes, chewy cookies from butter cookie dough! Check out the hack in this post.)

many kinds of holiday cookies on trays

The butter cookie itself has a buttery, crispy texture that is SO addicting. It is not too crunchy, it is crispy yet very light.

Check out this post to see how you can make 10 kinds of holiday cookies from this dough. - You no longer need to make a few kinds of dough to make multiple kinds of cookies! Make chewy to crispy cookies with just one batch of the recipe all at the same time!

Jump to:
  • 📌 Frequently asked questions
  • 📌 Learn how to make it visually!
  • 📌 Ingredients for butter cookie dough
  • 📌 How to make butter cookie dough
  • 📌 Step 1: Mix soft butter, powdered sugar, and salt in a bowl until everything looks even.
  • 📌 Step 2. Add a whole egg and yolk and mix until it looks nice and smooth. (Clean the side and the bottom of a bowl on the way.)
  • 📌 Step 3. Add all-purpose flour and almond flour and mix until the dough looks even. (Clean the pedal and the bowl on the way.)
  • 📌 How to roll the dough
  • 📌 Bake!
  • 📌 How to enjoy
  • 📌 Printable recipe
  • Simple butter cookie dough

📌 Frequently asked questions

How should I store the cookie dough?

Wrap the dough tightly and store it in a fridge for up to 4 days or a few months in a freezer.

Can I make add any flavors to this dough?

Yes! You can add any flavors you like. I shared how to make vanilla, gingerbread, and chocolate flavors from the dough in this post. Check it out if you are interested.

Can I store this dough at room temperature?

I do not recommend that since it contains raw eggs in it. Store in a fridge or freezer for food safety reasons.

📌 Learn how to make it visually!

To learn how to make this cookie dough visually and have a deeper understanding of all, watch this video.

I appreciate it if you can leave feedback on the video if it was helpful😉

📌 Ingredients for butter cookie dough

the ingredients to make butter cookie dough

Makes about 800g | 28.2oz of the dough

  • Unsalted butter: 226g | 8oz or 2 US sticks
    • Use soft butter so that everything blends easily!
  • Powdered sugar: 142g | 5oz
    • If you don't have powdered sugar, use granulated sugar. By using powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar, you can enjoy a more crumbly, flakier texture.
  • Salt: ¼ tsp
  • Whole egg: 1 egg
  • Egg yolk: 1
    • Save the egg white for egg wash when the cookie recipe requires it.
  • All-purpose flour: 285g | 10oz
  • Almond flour: 85g | 3oz
    • By adding almond flour, the texture of the cookies gets crumbly and not too crunchy. About more flavorful!
    • If you can not consume nuts, alternate with about ⅓-3/4 amount of all-purpose flour as you like. The more flour you add, the texture of the cookies gets crunchier and spread less in the oven.

📌 How to make butter cookie dough

The simple 3 steps:

  1. Mix soft butter, powdered sugar, and salt in a bowl until everything looks even.
  2. Add a whole egg and yolk and mix until it looks nice and smooth. (Clean the side and the bottom of a bowl on the way so that the pedal can pick up all the butter.)
  3. Add all-purpose flour and almond flour and mix until the dough looks even. (Clean the pedal and the bowl on the way again.) Done!

📍 The printable recipe with instructions is at the very end of this post.

Jump to Recipe

Check out below to see the steps with more detailed tips and images


The detailed steps with images:

📌 Step 1: Mix soft butter, powdered sugar, and salt in a bowl until everything looks even.

💡 The most important thing in the process is to use SOFT butter. That allows all the ingredients to blend a lot easier.

adding powdered sugar to butter

👩🏻‍🍳 Mix the butter and powdered sugar at a lower speed first so that the sugar does not scatter everywhere. And gradually turn up the speed!

mixing butter and powdered sugar

📌 Step 2. Add a whole egg and yolk and mix until it looks nice and smooth. (Clean the side and the bottom of a bowl on the way.)

adding eggs in a mixing bowl to make cookie dough

💬 The butter and eggs look very separated at first since oil and liquids don't get along well! But no worry, clean off the side and the bottom of a bowl and continue mixing. It'll come together shortly!

mixing butter, salt, sugar and egg
still separated.
cleaning the side of a mixing bowl to make cookie dough
a mixture of butter, salt, sugar and egg
Now it looks smooth!

👩🏻‍🍳 The more you whip, the more it contains air in it and the cookies expand in the oven as you bake. The texture gets lighter as well. Today, I stopped right after it looks smooth. Chose how much you want to mix depending on the result you want!


📌 Step 3. Add all-purpose flour and almond flour and mix until the dough looks even. (Clean the pedal and the bowl on the way.)

mixing almond flour and all-purpose flour

💬 All-purpose flour is not as lumpy as cake flour, so it is not a deal-breaker even if you don't sift. But just in case, sift or mix well with a whisk when you can!

blended almond flour and all-purpose flour
adding flours in a stand mixer to make cookie dough

💬 Some butter and flour are left around the pedal and the bowl at this point. It is so important to clean on the way to make an even dough!

mixing cookie dough with a stand mixer
The left fours on the bottom of a bowl
cookie dough in a stand mixer
Clean and mix again.
a close-up of butter cookie dough
Complete!

💡 Clean off all the dough stuck to the bowl and pedal. You should be able to get 800g | 28.2oz of the dough in total.

butter cookie dough in a bowl

📌 How to roll the dough

The dough is very soft at room temperature.

  • If you want to roll it right away, use parchment paper so that your rolling pin does not touch the dough directly.
  • Or chill the dough in a fridge first and roll it later!

📌 Bake!

🔥 Bake at 345F | 174C for about 6-15 minutes (or more!).

  • Adjust the time and temperature depending on the oven and the size and thickness of your cookies.
  • To enjoy the light and crispy texture, bake the cookies until you see nice golden caramelization around the edge.

👩🏻‍🍳 Chill the cut-out or piped cookie dough completely until right before baking By doing that, they don't spread too much in the oven. I like to freeze them to maximize the result!

📌 How to enjoy

You can make multiple kinds of cookies with this dough such as cut-out cookies, piped cookies, snowball cookies, icing cookies, Linzer cookies, chewy cookies, etc!

Check out this post to see how you can make the festive holiday cookie box from one batch of this recipe.

💬 If you loved this recipe, please share your feedback on this post! I always love to hear how you enjoyed it at home with your friends and family.

📌 Printable recipe

cookie dough in a standing mixer

Simple butter cookie dough

ayacaliva
Amazing cookie dough for buttery and light cookies. Use it as a base to many any kinds of cookies you like!
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Share on Facebook Share by Email
Total Time 15 mins
Course Cookie
Cuisine Baking
Servings 12
Calories 291 kcal

Equipment

  • Stand mixer with a pedal Or a bowl with a whisk and spatula
  • Whisk to mix flours
  • Spatula
  • Plastic wrap to wrap the dough to store

Ingredients
 
 

  • 8 oz Butter (soft) 2 US sticks
  • 5 oz Powdered sugar
  • Salt
  • Whole egg
  • Egg yolk Save the egg white for egg wash if you need it.
  • 10 oz All-purpose flour
  • 3 oz Almond flour

Instructions
 

  • Mix soft butter, powdered sugar, and salt in a bowl until everything looks even.
    8 oz Butter (soft), 5 oz Powdered sugar, Salt
    adding powdered sugar to butter
  • Add a whole egg and yolk and mix until it looks nice and smooth. (Clean the side and the bottom of a bowl on the way.)
    Whole egg, Egg yolk
    adding eggs in a mixing bowl to make cookie dough
  • Add all-purpose flour and almond flour and mix until the dough looks even. (Clean the pedal and the bowl on the way.) Done!
    10 oz All-purpose flour, 3 oz Almond flour
    adding flours in a stand mixer to make cookie dough
  • If you want to roll it right away, use parchment paper so that your rolling pin does not touch the dough directly.
    Or chill the dough in a fridge first and roll it later!
    rolling vanilla cookie dough
  • Bake at 345 F | 174 C for about 6-15 minutes (or more!).
    Adjust the time and temperature depending on the oven and the size and thickness of your cookies.
    To enjoy the light and crispy texture, bake the cookies until you see nice golden caramelization around the edge.
    holiday cookies on a tray in the oven

Video

Notes

Chill the cut-out or piped cookie dough completely until right before baking By doing that, they don't spread too much in the oven. I like to freeze them to maximize the result!

Nutrition

Calories: 291kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 7gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 117mgSodium: 39mgPotassium: 59mgFiber: 1gSugar: 0.4gVitamin A: 581IUVitamin C: 0.003mgCalcium: 35mgIron: 2mg
Keyword Butter coookie, Cookie, cookie box, cookie dough, cut-out cookies
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Go back to the top of this post.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Erika says

    December 14, 2022 at 4:26 pm

    Hi Aya,

    I would like a full recipe on the Mini Chewy Chocolate cookies that you made in your 10 holiday cookies video. Please, God bless you and your new journey.

    Chewy mini chocolate cookiesChocolate dough: 100g | 3.5oz Brown sugar: 16.6g | about 0.6oz (⅙ of the chocolate dough)Baking soda: ⅛ tspMilk: 1 & ½ tsp 

    Reply
    • ayacaliva says

      December 14, 2022 at 6:27 pm

      Hi Erika! I listed the quantities of the ingredients and directions in my separate blog; "10 holiday cookies from one dough". You can also jump from the link in this post. I hope that is what you are looking for!

      Thank you so much for watching my videos and hopping on here as well!

      Reply
  2. Aurora says

    December 20, 2022 at 3:32 am

    5 stars
    This is by far the best cookie dough I have ever made. They turned out incredible, so buttery and delicious. Truly an impeccable recipe I am so glad I came across it. Also loved all your tips on how to freeze the dough to retain shapes on cooking.

    Merry Christmas and happy baking xx

    Reply
    • ayacaliva says

      December 22, 2022 at 4:10 pm

      I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing🥰 Merry Christmas!!

      Reply

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About Aya Caliva Page on Pastry Living
Hi, I'm Aya!
Welcome To Pastry Living

Welcome to Pastry Living!

Hi, I'm Aya. I’m the pastry chef behind the blog.

I started my career in the baking world in 2009 and now opened up my blog so that you can get trusted recipes with detailed explanations anytime, anywhere for your special occasions!

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