My Grandma’s Holiday Butter Cookies…So Basic, Yet So Good!

If you’re looking for Pinterest cookies and picture-perfect photos, this is not the blog for you. But if you’re looking for something yummy, homemade, and super basic then keep reading! This was the butter cookie recipe my late Grandma used to make. And she passed it down to my mom. Who passed it down to me. And now my daughter is in the mix. Four generations of basic butter cookies!

The Original Baker

My grandma was a public school music teacher who also loved to bake. Grandma, also affectionately known as “Auntie Dot” to some, baked everything from Barbie birthday cakes, to peach cobblers to sweet potato pies. But one thing I always remember is that she kept freshly-baked holiday cookies in her cookie tin year-round. Every time I came to her house, there were cookies waiting for all of her grandchildren.

Grandma Dorothy got the recipe from an old-school 1960s recipe book and it stuck to our family like glue. We’ve passed the recipe down like a relic.

Ingredients

• 4 sticks of butter (or margarine)
• 1 1/2 cups of Confectioner’s Sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 4 cups of sifted flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 small jar of Maraschino cherries (optional)
• Chocolate chips (optional)
• Christmas cookie press (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. If you use cherries, pre-cut a portion of the cherries into 1/3s, place aside
3. Cream butter and sugar (if the butter is cold, I warm it up a tad first)
4. Add vanilla to the mix
5. Slowly add 4 cups of sifted flour (don’t get lazy like me and add unsifted flour. My grandma said to sift it, so SIFT IT!)
6. Add salt
7. Let batter chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to toughen up (optional, but cooler dough cooperates better in a press)
8. Use any Christmas cookie press to make different cookie shapes on pan (or just place the cookies on the pan and press down with your fingers)
9. Add cherries, and/or chocolate chips as you see fit
10. Bake each pan on 350 for 8-10 minutes (Tip 1: my grandma used to rotate between 350 and 375 degrees. Tip 2: this time varies. Just keep looking in the oven to see your cookies turn golden. If the edges are too dark, you’ve cooked too long. Like my mom used to say, when you “smell” the cookies, it’s time to take them out!)
11. Step and repeat. Step and repeat. Until all batter is gone!

The best part of this activity is that I had my kids help with most of the grunt work.

Jordyn helped with the mixing.

Jordyn and Dallas each placed cherries on the cookies.

They shared the task of adding chocolate chips. Caution: kids are NOTORIOUS for “stealing” bites of chocolate chips during this step. Watch for moving mouths.

Cookie sheets baking.

All done! Grandma’s legacy lives on!