German Butter Cookies Recipe

4.75 from 12 votes

Crispy German butter cookies or Butterplätzchen are a classic Christmas cookie recipe, perfect for baking with children.

Prep Time30

Cook Time10

Additional Time30

Total Time1 10

Course: Cookies

Cuisine: German

Servings: cookies

Calories: 94kcal

Author: Adina

Dough: Place the flour, cold cubed butter, sugar, vanilla sugar, a pinch of salt, and egg in the food processor. Process shortly to form the dough.
250 g all-purpose flour/ 2 cups + 150 unsalted butter/ ⅔ cup + 125 g granulated sugar/ ⅔ cups + 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar + pinch of salt + 1 egg
Refrigerate: Turn the dough onto the working surface and press the dough into a disc. Don't knead. Wrap in plastic foil/cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer.
Preheat the oven to 350°F/ 180°C and line the baking trays with parchment paper.
Roll the dough about 0.2 inches/ 5 mm on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin. Cut the cookies with any cutters you like. Place on trays (Note 4).
Brush: Mix the egg yolk and the milk, brush the cookies with the mixture. Sprinkle with the sprinkles.
1 egg yolk + 1 tablespoon milk + sprinkles
Bake for 7-10 minutes until only lightly golden. Let rest on the tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Repeat: Roll the remaining dough and repeat. Roll all the scraps again and make more cookies.

A digital kitchen scale (the Amazon affiliate link opens in a new tab) will give you the most precise measure, ensuring the best bake possible.
Alternatively, use ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract or a few drops of vanilla aroma. See the blog post for instructions on how to make vanilla sugar.
Alternatively, use chocolate sprinkles or leave the butter cookies plain. Plain cookies can be iced. To make the icing, mix 150 g/ 1 ½ cups powdered sugar with about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or water to form a thick paste that will not run down the pastries' sides. You can also decorate them with royal icing.
Baking sheets: If using only one tray repeatedly, don't place the second/third batch of cookies on a hot tray. Cut them, decorate them with sprinkles, and only put them on the hot/warm tray when they are ready to go into the oven. You will not have this problem using several trays, but most people don't have more than 2 anyway. Use a plastic spatula to transfer the unbaked cookies to the tray.