The Best Butter Cookie Recipe For Cookie Cutters (2024)

FAQs

What kind of butter is best for butter cookies? ›

Unsalted, American-style butter works well in goods like cookies, pound cakes and pancakes that require the high-fat content of conventional butter and more flexibility with salt and flavor content.

Sandwich your dough between two sheets of parchment, roll, then freeze; it makes cut-out cookies a breeze! If you plan to store it for only a few hours or days, there's no need to overwrap the baking sheet; for longer storage, wrap the entire baking sheet tightly with plastic wrap before freezing.

Dip your cookie cutters in flour with each cut. Work from the center of the rolled-out dough to the edges, cutting shapes close to one another to prevent extra scraps and extra rerolling. If the cookie cutters get really sticky, wipe them off with a damp paper towel.

Due to differing ratios, shortbread cookies are crumblier and more "sandy" than butter cookies, which are firm and solid enough to be iced. This mostly has to do with flour and eggs. Shortbread doesn't use eggs, while butter cookies do, making butter cookie dough more pliable and robust than its shortbread counterpart.

Most baking recipes tend to call for unsalted butter. This is because there is no standard salt content in butter, so it varies from brand to brand and country to country.

If you describe something as having a cookie-cutter approach or style, you mean that the same approach or style is always used and not enough attention is paid to individual differences.

And when it comes to baking cutout cookies, if your butter is too warm, your cookies will very likely spread. Try using more chilled butter. When I'm making cutout cookies, I use butter that has been out of the fridge for less than 30 minutes or simply zap in the microwave for 12 second on half-power.

“The best cookie cutters have a small rolled lip of metal or plastic around the top to protect my hands and give me an edge to grab onto to pull the cutter back up,” Bushman says. “I also look for a nice seam where the metal of the cookie cutter joins together so I don't have a weird shape on one edge of my cookie.”

I keep a little salad plate of flour right by my rolling area and dip my cookie cutter in it between cuts. This keeps the cutter from sticking to the dough and stretching or tearing the shape.

There's no need to spray cookie cutters with cooking spray. Simply coat your cookie molds with flour in between molding each cookie to prevent the dough from sticking.

How do you make cookie dough less sticky for cookie cutters? ›

Yes, adding more flour can help make your dough less sticky. However, be careful not to add too much flour, as it can change the texture and taste of the cookies. It's best to add flour a little at a time until the desired consistency is reached.

The most common mistakes when making shortbread are over-working the dough, and incorporating too much flour. The less you work the dough, the more crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth your shortbread cookies will be.

Cornstarch provides the shortbread with structure, but its biggest job is keeping the cookies extra soft, tender, and light. I love adding a small amount to chocolate chip cookies too. Optional Coarse Sugar Topping: For an optional sparkly crunch on your shortbread wedges, add a sprinkle of coarse sugar before baking.

For cakes, cookies, and pastries, butter (unsalted, that is) provides richer flavor.

When using salted butter in baking, it's important to keep in mind that it may impact the final taste of the product as it contains added salt. It's recommended to either reduce the amount of salt in the recipe by a 1/4 teaspoon or omit it completely. The amount of butter used in the recipe should not be changed.

The higher butterfat percentage in European butter is one of the main reasons why many consider butters from across the pond to be superior to those produced in the US. It's better for baking, but it also creates a richer flavor and texture even if all you're doing is smearing your butter on bread.