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Danish Butter Cookies: Recipe and 4 Baking Tips

Written by MasterClass

Last updated: Dec 23, 2023 • 3 min read

Danish butter cookies are a quintessential holiday favorite. Skip the cookie tin, and learn to make these melt-in-the-mouth cookies at home.

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What Are Danish Butter Cookies?

Danish butter cookies, also known as Danish biscuits or spritz cookies, are Scandinavian-style baked goods often served with coffee. These classic Christmas cookies (known to many by their signature blue tin) are buttery in flavor and slightly grainy in texture.

Butter cookies have a longstanding association with Denmark, though similar styles of cookies, like French sablé and Scottish shortbread cookies, exist worldwide. If you feel like experimenting with alternative grains, try Apollonia Poilâne’s rye sablé cookie recipe.

4 Tips for Making Danish Butter Cookies

They may look ornate, but the key to simple butter cookies is finesse and patience. Here’s what to know.

  1. 1. Chill the dough. Let the shaped dough chill in the fridge before baking. Chilling the dough prevents the butter from melting and seeping out of the cookies before they are fully baked and ensures the distinct ridges stay in place.
  2. 2. Use high-quality butter. These cookies get most of their flavor from butter, so use the best quality you can find.
  3. 3. Rotate the cookies. To get perfectly even golden-brown cookies, set your oven racks in the upper and lower positions and bake two sheets at a time. Halfway through baking, swap the sheets and rotate them from back to front. (In most ovens, the back of the oven is hotter than the front, and the top rack is hotter than the bottom.)
  4. 4. Change the piping tip or shape. To give these buttery cookies their neat shape, transfer the dough to a pastry bag and pipe out each cookie. While a wreath shape piped with a star piping tip is traditional, experiment with different tips or designs in one batch. Try figure-eights, pretzel shapes, or ladyfinger-style sticks, with one end dipped in melted dark or white chocolate. Note that the baking time may be slightly longer for larger shapes or shorter for smaller designs.

Easy Danish Butter Cookie Recipe

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3 Ratings | Rate Now

makes

72 cookies

prep time

40 min

total time

1 hr

cook time

20 min

Ingredients

Note: Total time does not include up to 50 minutes of inactive time.

  1. 1

    Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line three cookie sheets with parchment paper.

  2. 2

    In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until it’s very light and fluffy, about 1–2 minutes.

  3. 3

    Add the sugar and continue to mix until smooth, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula as needed.

  4. 4

    Add the egg yolks and vanilla and continue to mix the butter mixture until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed.

  5. 5

    In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

  6. 6

    Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture until fully incorporated, scraping down the sides as needed.

  7. 7

    Using a rubber spatula, scrape about a third of the batter into a piping bag fitted with an open star tip.

  8. 8

    Pipe a dot of cookie dough onto the four corners of the cookie sheets to adhere the parchment to the cookie sheets.

  9. 9

    Pipe small swirls onto the prepared baking sheets, about a ½-inch apart. (Alternatively, use a cookie press or cut the cookies into rectangles.)

  10. 10

    Sprinkle the piped cookies with Demerara sugar.

  11. 11

    Refrigerate the piped cookies until firm, at least 20 minutes.

  12. 12

    Bake the cookies until golden brown and crispy, about 9 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through baking.

  13. 13

    Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet until set, about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let them cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes.

  14. 14

    Meanwhile, fold the chocolate chips into the remaining dough, if desired, and repeat the process.

  15. 15

    Store the baked cookies in an airtight container and enjoy within the week.

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