Name: Old Fashioned Butter Cookies
Cook time: 6 min
Total time: 6 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: American food
Ingredients: 1 cup butter – room temperature; 1 cup sugar; 1 egg; 2-1/2 cups flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 2 Tablespoons orange juice; 1 teaspoon vanilla

Old Fashioned Butter Cookies

How many times have you found a really good recipe on the label of a product? This recipe is one included in a metal recipe box I ordered over 30 years ago from Land ‘O Lakes. Some of those recipes, like this old-fashioned butter cookies recipe, are still among my favorites. Land ‘O Lakes is still my favorite butter!

This brings up another point. Do not use margarine! Margarine with lower fat content contains more water. It does not work the same.

The first time I made these butter cookies and shared them with a neighbor, she said they were just like cookies from the bakery. Although the original recipe calls for using a mixer, I prefer mixing most cookies by hand and adding a little extra love.

As I’ve shared before, the key to making cookies by hand using a wooden spoon is having the ingredients at room temperature. The butter blends in nicely and the eggs incorporate easily. Let your ingredients come to room temperature. If your butter is not at room temperature, you can use a mixer to make it a little easier.

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I kept coming across Nordic Ware cookie stamps on Amazon and decided they would be perfect for adding interest to these little cookies. So, I ordered an Heirloom Cookie Stamps set. They are also great for sugar cookies, gingersnaps, peanut butter, and shortbread cookies.

The cookie stamps are cast aluminum with wooden handles and made in the USA! As with most aluminum, they should be hand-washed. The box they come in suggests you should always chill the stamps prior to using them.

Since I forgot to chill the stamps first, as recommended. I push the stamp into the dough in the bowl. Then, dip the stamp in flour.

Press the stamp in the cookie dough and dip into flour. — Press the stamp in the cookie dough and dip it into flour.

You’ll notice the small prep bowl in the picture. This bowl didn’t work very well for dipping the stamp into the flour. It didn’t take long to realize that the flat-bottomed bowl works much better. Ultimately, this process worked nicely and I didn’t have trouble with the stamp sticking to the dough.

Be sure you check the design on the stamp to be sure the flour is not caked. Then, gently tap the stamp on the metal edge to release any caked flour.

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Butter Cookies Recipe

Ingredients for Butter Cookies:

1 cup butter – room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Makes 4 dozen cookies

Directions for Butter Cookies:

Preheat oven to 400°

Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy. It is best to use a hand mixer for this step. (If the batter is not light and fluffy, use a hand mixer for this step. To ensure the cookie is light, it’s best to use a mixer.)

Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg. Mix in the juice and vanilla.

Add the egg and beat thoroughly. Then, stir in the orange juice and vanilla.

Whisk the flour and baking powder together

In a separate bowl, whisk the baking powder into the flour. ( I always do this so the flour and baking powder are well combined. You don’t want a bite of baking powder!) Next, stir half of the flour mix into the butter, sugar, egg, juice, and vanilla mixture.

Mix in the flour and baking powder mixture

Then, stir in the remaining flour mixture.

Using a “1-1/4″ ice cream scoop, scoop, and then, place each ball of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet pan. (I love the AirBake cookie sheet pans. I have the 20″ x 15.5″ pan. It is perfect for baking a dozen cookies at a time and the cushion of air almost guarantees the bottoms won’t burn!)

Then, stamp them with the design of your choice. You want your pressed cookie dough to be about 1/4-inch thick.

Bake at 400° for 6 – 10 minutes until golden brown on the edges. (In my oven, these are perfect at 8 – minutes.) Cool on a wire baking rack. If you use a larger scoop, you will have to adjust the time. Check your cookies at the 6-minute mark, then add time if needed. Once you know the perfect amount of time, just set your timer for the remaining trays.

Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to set for a couple of minutes. Then, remove with a thin blade spatula◄ like this Norpro spatula. If your spatula is too thick, you will destroy your cookies when you try to remove them from the sheet pan. This one works like a dream.

To Use Cookie Cutters Instead Of A Cookie Stamp:

Roll out half of the dough to 1/4 - inch thickness.  Cut out with cookie cutters.

Place cutouts on an ungreased cookie sheet pan.

Bake at 400° for 6 - 10 minutes until light golden brown on edges.  Cool on a wire baking rack.

How To Make Old Fashioned Butter Cookies — Butter Cookies With Decorative Sugar

Although I personally like these cookies with no extras, thinking of the grandkids, I sprinkled decorative sugars on top of some of the stamped cookies. It does add just a little sweetness to the tops of the cookie.