Expert: Elyse Grau - 11/25/2009

Question
Hello Elyse,

I have tried many recipes for Old-Fashioned Cut Butter Cookies. I have not found one yet which has a rich, buttery flavor, and also is very thin and not too hard. My mother used to make them that way, but her recipe is long lost and forgotten.

Can you help?

Thank you, Ken.

Answer
Ken:
I'm not sure if I have what you want. I think of butter cookies as a softer dough than for rolled cookies, like Spritz, and not so much crisp as tender and "melt-in-your-mouth". I don't have a recipe for those kind.

When I think of thin and crisp, I think of sugar cookies. Here's my favorite recipe, but I don't think it has a really buttery flavor. You can roll these in a ball and flatten them with a glass or cut them out if the dough is cold.

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

I'll assume you know how to put the recipe together.

Elyse