German Butter Cookies (Butterplätzchen) – Ready in 30 Minutes

Your best friend texts that she is stopping by in an hour. The in-laws announce a spontaneous coffee visit. Or you just want your house to smell like fresh-baked butter cookies. With this recipe and my time-saving tricks, you can make that happen in about 30 minutes.

One honest note first: spontaneous baking only works if you keep the basics in your pantry. Luckily this recipe asks for nothing special. I am willing to bet you have everything on hand already.

The slice-and-bake method is a wonderful way to get homemade cookies on the table fast, with hardly any cleanup. Even the smallest kids can help cut the slices (with an age-appropriate knife, of course), though that usually adds a few minutes to the clock. If you love this style of cookie baking, you might also like my slice and bake cookies with 7 flavors and hidden nutrients.

Top tip: how to soften butter fast

I regularly forget to take the butter out of the fridge ahead of time, and this recipe wants soft butter. So what do you do when you are in a hurry? Here is the trick:

• Fill a tall glass or heatproof bowl with hot water. Pick a container wide enough to fit upside down over your butter.
• Put the butter on a plate. Cubing it first speeds things up even more.
• After about a minute, carefully pour out the hot water (use a pot holder or kitchen towel) and dry the container well.
• Place the warm container upside down over the butter.
• Within a few minutes the butter will be soft and ready to cream.

Easy ways to decorate German butter cookies

If you have a few extra minutes, you can dress up these simple cookies. The classic move is sprinkles and all the other wonderful sugary stuff right after baking. But you can also stamp pretty patterns into the raw dough slices before they go into the oven. Here is what a hunt through my own kitchen turned up:

A fork
Press the tines into the dough, then offset the second press, and you get a neat diamond pattern.

A fine-mesh sieve
Pick one with a firm, not-too-dense mesh, press it gently into the dough, and you get a pretty grid.

A citrus juicer
The ridged cone end, pressed into the dough, stamps a cheerful flower or sun pattern.

An apple slicer
Press it down without cutting all the way through, and the ring in the middle looks like a little blossom.

A potato masher
Depending on the pattern of your masher, you get a neat circle or a wave.

A whisk
A balloon whisk, or even the beater attachment of a hand mixer, pressed into the dough leaves a snowflake or star.

Textured glass
Old glasses often have a patterned base, and old dessert bowls can press beautiful floral prints. I inherited a cream bowl from my grandmother that stamps the prettiest patterns into cookies.

Have a look around your own kitchen and see what you can find. Just make sure whatever you use is food-safe and easy to clean. Smooth materials like metal or glass work best. Have fun!

Yield: about 40 cookies (2 dough rolls)

German butter cookies (Butterplätzchen)

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Soft, buttery German (Christmas) cookies you can mix, slice, and bake in about 30 minutes.

Prep Time 12 minutes

Chill Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 7 tablespoons (100 g) soft butter
• 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar (or 1 tablespoon sugar plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (250 g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 large egg

Instructions

1. Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla sugar, and egg with a hand mixer until fluffy. (The butter-softening trick in the blog post is your friend here.)
2. Mix in the flour and baking powder with the mixer first, then knead everything by hand into a smooth dough.
3. Shape the dough into rolls about 1 1/2 to 2 inches (4 to 5 cm) in diameter.
4. Wrap the rolls and chill them in the fridge for 10 minutes.
5. While the dough rests, preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C) fan/convection and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. Unwrap the rolls and cut them with a sharp knife into even slices about 1/3 inch (1 cm) thick. Spread the slices on the baking sheet.
7. Bake for about 8 minutes, depending on how golden you like your cookies. While the first sheet bakes, slice the second roll onto the next sheet.
8. Let the butter cookies cool briefly on a wire rack, then try to stop at just one.

Notes

Use a beeswax wrap, foil, or plastic wrap for chilling the dough rolls

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

40

Serving Size:

1 cookie
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 53Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 24mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 0gSugar: 3gProtein: 1g

Do you have a favorite cookie shortcut? I would love to hear your go-to recipe for spontaneous baking.

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