Butter Cookies

By John, 30 December, 2013
Description

Butter CookiesThese are the butter cookies that I made as a child with my mother. We made them with large cookie cutters, then poked holes in the unbaked cookies with a toothpick near the top. After they cooled,we painted them and hung them on the Christmas Tree with ornament hangers poked through the holes.

Now I usually make smaller cookies, but the large ones are just as delicate and delicious - this is a wonderful recipe! 

Yield
60 Cookies
Preparation time
5 hours
Ingredients
1 c Butter (Unsalted) (softened)
2⁄3 c Sugar
1 t Vanilla extract
1 egg
1⁄2 t Salt
2 1⁄2 c Flour
Instructions
  1. Cream together the butter and sugar.
  2. Add the vanilla and the egg.
  3. Sift together the salt and the flour and add it to the butter mixture.
  4. Chill dough 3-4 hours. If it's too soft, you'll have trouble getting the cookies from the cookie cutters.
  5. Preheat oven to 350.
  6. Roll out the chilled dough on a floured pastry cloth and cut it into shapes with floured cookie cutters. If you want to hang them on the Christmas tree, poke holes in them near the top before baking.
  7. Place on a buttered cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes, until browning around the edges.
Notes
This is the Rich Roll Cookie Dough recipe from The Joy of Cooking. You can paint them, but the flavor is so good that I prefer them unpainted.
Source
Rich Roll Cookies from The Joy of Cooking