french butter cookies

As a child, I grew up eating these delicious Danish butter cookies. Eating them now completely takes me back to my childhood, where I would sit next to my mother in the evenings and watch her dip those little buttery beauties in her tea.

I was pretty overjoyed when I had found this recipe on Martha's website. There's something about these cookies that are so irresistible. Especially when dipping them in your evening tea or coffee. The flavors compliment each other so well, it's amazing.

While these bare little similarities to the Danish ones, they were still incredibly buttery and crumbly with a slight shortbread flavor. Since these cookies rely on butter for much of their flavor, make sure you use the best quality creamery butter you can find.

My whole family loved these cookies and have since asked me to bake them again. I know I can always count on Martha to deliver incredible recipes and this one was no exception.

French Butter Cookies
by Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup turbinado or granulated sugar

Directions:
In a medium bowl, beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, and mix to combine. Add flour and salt, and mix on low speed until flour is incorporated.

Roll dough into three 1 1/2 inch diameter logs, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours or overnight.

Heat oven to 350F (175C). Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll cookie log in sugar, coating it evenly and cut into 1/4 inch rounds. Place cookies on baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Using a toothpick,  make four decorative holes in each cookies. Bake until slightly golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes, more or less. Remove from oven and let cool completely on wire racks.