Easy Step By Step French Buttercream Cookies
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French Buttercream Cookies are light and buttery and the perfect cookie to brighten up any holiday dessert table. Add some food coloring to this simple cookie dough or just sprinkle some colored sugars on the top for a pretty dessert perfect for sharing.
French Butter Cookies
Cookies are the hallmark of our family’s Christmas season. Our mom starts baking cookies right after Thanksgiving so she has enough time to make the dozen or so varieties that will grace festive holiday plates, boxes and platters.
From the mail carrier to our teachers, anyone and everyone who touched our lives would receive an assortment of our mom’s baking treasures during the Christmas seasons of our childhood. While she has limited her distribution list in recent years, Mom still expresses her love through her cookies!
While cookies featuring chocolate are still my number one choice, these French Buttercream Cookies have always been a favorite choice from the cookie platter. They have a buttery flavor and a slightly crumbly texture that pairs perfectly with a glass of milk or mug of hot chocolate or coffee.
What makes this butter cookie recipe so great is that you can change up with coloring to make them fit whatever you are celebrating.
For Christmas, tint the dough red or green or simply use red or green colored sugar crystals on the top. For Easter or birthdays, use pastel colors of your choice. You get it where I’m going with this, right? Or you can add a frosting to the top.
Ingredient List
- Powdered Sugar (confectioners sugar)
- Baking Soda
- Cream of Tarter
- Salt
- Room Temperature butter
- Large Egg
- Vanilla Extract
- All Purpose Flour
How to Make French Buttercream Cookies
Step by Step Instructions
- In a large bowl, add together all ingredients, except for the flour. Combine with a mixer (stand mixer or electric mixer) on low speed for 1 minute.
- Gradually add the flour to mixture until well mixed.
- Tint the dough (if desired).
- Cover and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes until dough can be rolled into balls.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Roll dough into 3/4-inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet or one lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- Flatten each cookie with a fork in a criss-cross pattern. Dip fork into flour if it sticks to dough.
- Bake for 5-8 minutes or until set but not brown.
- Remove from oven and let cookies rest on the pan on top of a cooling rack for 1 minute.
- Take cookies off baking sheet and let cool on rack.
Storage Instructions
Store cookies in an airtight container. They also can be stored in the freezer if you want to bake them a few weeks ahead.
Find the full recipe at the bottom of this post.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes
- Grandma’s Three Layer Chocolate Squares
- Sour Cream Sugar Cookies
- Dainty Log Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips
- Crock Pot 7 Layer Bars
- Sour Cream Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Salted Nut Squares
Linking up to Meal Plan Monday.
French Buttercream Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups flour
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients EXCEPT flour on low speed with a mixer for 1 minute.
- Add flour and blend at low speed until well mixed.
- Tint dough if desired (not required).
- Chill dough for 30 minutes.
- Shape into 3/4-inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet about two inches apart. If the dough begins to warm up, it may be necessary to chill it between each pan.
- Flatten each cookie ball with a fork (dip fork in flour if it sticks to dough).
- Sprinkle each cookie with colored sugars.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 5 to 8 minutes until set but NOT brown.
- Let cookies stand on cookie sheet for about 1 minute. Remove cookies from pan and cool on rack.
Notes
- What makes this butter cookie recipe so great is that you can change up with coloring to make them fit whatever you are celebrating.
- For Christmas, tint the dough red or green or simply use red or green colored sugar crystals on the top.
- For Easter or birthdays, use pastel colors of your choice.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container.
- Want to bake ahead? Just stick these cookies in the freezer and pull them out when you need them. They will stay good for several weeks if frozen.
- Looking for some more Christmas cookie options? Try our Mom’s Dainty Logs and Chocolate Crinkles.
- The nutritional information below is auto-calculated and can vary depending on the products used.
