Danish Butter Cookies

Danish butter cookies—also fondly known as the "cookies in the blue tin"—are a common sight around Christmastime, popping up on cookie plates, at church gatherings, and potlucks throughout the holiday season. The buttery cookies can come in a variety of shapes, are carefully separated by white cupcake liners, and are all tucked away in a shiny blue tin.

Are Danish butter cookies the same as shortbread cookies?

Both shortbread cookies and Danish butter cookies are very similar in texture, taste and ingredients used. Like Danish butter cookies, shortbread cookies use a good amount of butter, but normally do not use a leavener, like egg or baking powder. They bake up dense, crumbly and buttery. These Danish butter cookies call for an egg, which doesn’t leaven the cookies so much as it adds color and richness in flavor. Shortbread cookies are commonly rolled up and sliced, or rolled into a sheet and cut with a cutter, whereas these cookies are piped.

Do I need any special equipment for this cookie? 

This recipe calls to pipe the cookie dough into the iconic Danish butter cookie ring shape. We recommend using a large, wide piping tip to make the signature ridges in the surface of the cookie that trap all of the coarse, crunchy sugar. You can use a "closed" or "open" star tip; we recommend the Wilton 8B tip. Its easy to order online, as are large piping bags. If you don’t have a proper piping bag, you can always use a gallon-sized, zip-top plastic bag with the tip inserted into a cut corner.