Christmas Butter Cookies

I love making these cookies at Christmas time when the Christmas spirit is high and the craving for sweet treats is even higher! This recipe is so easy to follow and you can get creative with the cutters you choose to use as well as the fillings for this recipe. 

If you’re looking for other additions to your cookie box this year, then have a look at this recipe for Dulce de Leche Cookies, these Hazelnut Chocolate Cookies, or this recipe for Lemon Cookies. 

Ingredients

To make these holiday butter cookies you will need the simple ingredients listed below. Remember to always use fresh room temperature ingredients when baking. 

• Unsalted butter 
• Castor sugar 
• Extra-large eggs 
• Vanilla extract 
• Cake flour 
• Salt 
• Strawberry jam 
• Confectioner's sugar 

Unsalted butter – choose unsalted butter rather than salted butter when baking, so that you can adjust the saltiness on your own. Take the butter out of the fridge about an hour before making this recipe. It shouldn’t be rock hard or too soft.

Castor sugar – use castor sugar or superfine sugar for this recipe.

Cake flour – use cake flour or all-purpose flour to make these cookies.

Extra-large eggs – out of their shell, the eggs I use weigh 56 grams, if you aren’t sure if you have the same eggs – weigh the eggs you have and adjust accordingly.

Strawberry jam – I used strawberry jam to fill these cookies, you can do the same or pick your favorite jam. The type of jam you use is completely up to you!

See the recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

To make this butter cookie recipe follow the simple steps below. First you will make the dough and then rest it in the fridge for about an hour, once chilled roll out the dough and use your favourite festive cutters to shape it. After baking the cookies are sandwiched together with jam and dusted with icing sugar. 

STEP 1: Cream butter and sugar. Add the softened butter and sugar to a food processor. Pulse until well combined and there are no lumps of butter.

STEP 2: Add the eggs and vanilla. First, add the whole egg to the creamed mixture with the food processor running, and pulse until combined. Then add the egg yolk and vanilla and pulse again.

STEP 3: Add the dry ingredients. Sift together the flour and salt and add this flour mixture to the egg and butter mixture all at once. Pulse until a dough forms, do not overmix.

STEP 4: Chill dough. Remove the dough from the food processor, cover it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour.

STEP 5: Preheat the oven. Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F) and line two large baking trays with parchment paper.

STEP 6: Roll dough. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll it out on a floured work surface to a thickness of ½ cm ( ¼ inch) using a rolling pin.

Instructions for baking

STEP 1: Shape cookies. Use an assortment of Christmas cookie cutters to shape the dough, I have used snowflakes, Christmas trees, fluted circles, and stars. Choose how many cookies you’d like to fill with jam and leave some plain. Remember that the bottom cookies must be left intact if filling them, so don’t cut circles or shapes out of these ones. Place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet in a single layer.

STEP 2: Bake. Bake the cookies in a preheated oven for 15 minutes or until the cookies are light golden brown. Allow the baked cookies to cool on a cooling rack.

STEP 3: Fill and decorate cookies. Spread a teaspoon of jam over the cookies that will form the cookie base. Place the top cookie onto this and then dust the top of the cookie with powdered sugar as well as any remaining cookies.

Hint: If your dough is difficult to roll, place it back in the fridge to firm up. Chilled dough is much easier to work with and holds its shape better when baking.

Variations

This is a great recipe to get creative with! You can choose to fill these cookies in so many different ways – try out different jams like sweet raspberry jam, apricot, or blueberry. Or you could fill these cookies with chocolate spread, peanut butter, lemon curd, or even drizzle them with melted white chocolate and holiday sprinkles. 

You can also add flavors to this simple sugar cookie dough like lemon zest, almond extract, and even spices! Have a look at this recipe Spiced Cherry Cookies to learn how to make your own cherry jam. 

Equipment

To make the cookie dough you will need a food processor or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. This recipe can also be made using an electric hand mixer.

You will also need a large cookie tray, a wire rack for cooling, and an assortment of cookie cutters to create different shapes. If you don’t have heart-shaped cutters, you can use circles too. 

Storage

After baking and decorating these sugar cookies, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for about four days.

Unfilled cookies can be kept in an airtight container for up to one week, choose to crisp them up in the oven before filling them with jam.

For freezing, the cookie dough can be frozen before baking. Cover the dough in plastic wrap store it in the freezer for up to 3 months and bake them at a later date. Thaw the dough in the fridge overnight before using.

I do not recommend freezing cookies that have already been filled with jam.

Baking during the festive season just hits differently, it’s a time when you really want to spoil the people you love most and everyone is usually up for a treat regardless of the time of day!

I hope you give these delicious Christmas butter cookies a try and add them to your cookie boxes this year! If you give this recipe a try and love it as much as I do, please leave a comment and star review below. I love hearing from all of you!

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Happy Baking 

With Love, 

Kitty