Description
This Butter Cookie Box recipe delivers a delightful assortment of buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cookies in classic, chocolate, and matcha flavors. The dough is rolled thin, chilled, and baked to crispy perfection, with optional decorative toppings like melted chocolate, crushed pistachios, jam, and spreads. Ideal for holiday gift boxes or special occasions, these cookies combine simplicity and elegance in every bite.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough Base
- 560 g all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 450 g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 200 g granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Flavor
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
Matcha Flavor
- 1 ½ teaspoons matcha powder
Decorations
- Coarse sugar crystals
- White chocolate, melted
- Dark chocolate, melted
- Pistachios, roughly crushed
- Nutella or Biscoff spread, warmed until melty
- Jam
- Powdered sugar
Instructions
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, stir together the all-purpose flour and salt. Set this mixture aside for later use.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer to beat the softened butter on medium speed until very creamy. Add the granulated sugar and continue to cream the mixture until fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add Egg and Vanilla: Add the large egg and vanilla extract to the butter mixture and mix until fully combined. Then, add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just incorporated. The dough will be crumbly but should hold together when squeezed; some dry flour patches are acceptable.
- Divide and Flavor Dough: Divide the dough equally into three bowls, approximately 400g each. Leave one bowl plain, add cocoa powder to the second bowl, and matcha powder to the third. Knead each flavored dough gently by hand until the powders are fully incorporated.
- Roll and Chill Dough: Place each portion of dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out until about ⅛ inch thick. Transfer all three rolled dough sheets to the refrigerator and chill for at least 1 to 2 hours or until solid.
- Cut Out Cookies: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Starting with one dough sheet, peel off the top parchment but leave the dough on the bottom sheet. Use cookie cutters of choice to cut shapes and transfer the cookies onto the baking sheet, spacing them about ½ inch apart. Refrigerate the baking sheet while you preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Re-roll scraps between parchment paper and chill until firm before cutting more cookies.
- Bake Cookies: Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes, depending on cookie size, until the edges start to turn a light golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely before decorating.
- Decorate: Dip cookies into melted white or dark chocolate or drizzle the chocolate over them using a piping bag. While the chocolate is still soft, sprinkle crushed pistachios on top if desired. Add dollops of jam, Nutella, or Biscoff spread on half of the sandwich cookie bases, then dust the tops with powdered sugar before sandwiching them together.
- Assemble & Store: Arrange your finished cookies neatly in a cookie tin or box, layering large cookies with smaller ones to fill gaps. Store in an airtight container to keep them fresh.
Notes
- Wreath Cookies: Use two sizes of round cookie cutters to make a smaller round cutout within a larger round cookie; use the small rounds as standalone cookies.
- Sparkly Sugar Cookies: Sprinkle coarse sugar crystals lightly on cookies before baking for a sparkling effect, avoiding excess on parchment paper.
- Sandwich Cookies: Cut two rounds for each sandwich; on half, cut out a smaller shape in the center to create a window.
- Inverse Cutout Cookies: Press smaller cutout shapes from one flavor into matching cutouts of another flavor to create colorful, contrasting cookies.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie (approx. 20g)
- Calories: 95
- Sugar: 5g
- Sodium: 35mg
- Fat: 6g
- Saturated Fat: 3.5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.3g
- Trans Fat: 0.1g
- Carbohydrates: 10g
- Fiber: 0.3g
- Protein: 1.2g
- Cholesterol: 20mg
