Melt-Away Butter Cookies literally melt in your mouth. These butter cookies are made from five everyday ingredients that produce a buttery cookie with an amazing texture and flavor. These tasty morsels are bite-sized, ultra-light, delicate, and totally addictive.
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Ingredients for Melt-Away Cookies
The five simple ingredients that I used in these meltaway cookies included unsalted butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and all-purpose flour.
You probably have all of these ingredients at your disposal right now!
Special Equipment Needed To Form These Tasty Morsels
I used a cookie press with a wreath disk to form these cookies. While there are a lot of different cookie presses available, mine is the Oxo Good Grips cookie press.
A cookie press is a piece of equipment that is used to make pressed cookies. These pressed cookies and wafers are often referred to as spritz cookies.
A cookie press consists of a cylinder to hold the dough with a plunger at one end and a decorative disk at the other end. The plunger is used to push the cookie dough through the disk onto a baking sheet.
Making the Dough for the Melt-Away Butter Cookies
Making the dough for these delicious cookies was super simple.
- The first thing I did was cream the room temperature butter on high speed with my electric mixer.
- Next, I added the confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, and salt to the butter. I beat the mixture on high with my electric mixer until it was light and fluffy.
- I added the flour once the butter/sugar mixture was light and fluffy. I beat the mixture on low just until the flour was well combined.
Pressing and Baking the Cookies
Once the dough was ready, I assembled the cookie press with a wreath disk. Then, I added the dough to the cookie press cylinder.
I placed the cookie press perpendicular to an ungreased cookie sheet with the disk side down. Then, I pressed the lever to force the dough out of the bottom of the disk.
When you use a cookie press, it's important that the cookie sheet be ungreased and not be lined with parchment paper, a silicone mat or anything else. The reason is that on a slippery, greased cookie sheet or lined cookie sheet, the dough will remain stuck to the press, not the cookie sheet. On an ungreased cookie sheet, the dough will be released from the cookie press.
Once I had pressed a tray of cookies, I popped them into a preheated 325°F oven for a little over 16 minutes.
At that point, the cookies were golden brown around the edges and were perfectly done. I removed them from the oven and continued baking the remaining cookies.
I removed the cookies from the baking sheets and placed them on wire racks to cool completely.
I ended up with seven dozen ultra-light, delicate, and buttery Melt-Away Butter Cookies. Yum!
Frequently Asked Questions
I used a cookie press in this recipe to produce the delicate little pressed cookies. However, I could have also formed the cookies using a piping bag and a star tip. I could have also rolled the cookies in a ball and flattened them on the cookie sheet.
These cookies are called melt-away because of their melt-in-your-mouth characteristics. Generally, melt-away cookies are soft and lightly sweet shortbread cookies with a unique texture produced by the combination of confectioners' sugar and lots of butter!
Spritz cookies are actually a type of German Christmas cookie. They are generally made with a combination of flour, butter, sugar, and eggs and are called Spritzgeback. The word Spritz had its origins from the German word "spritzer." Translated, "spritzer means "to squirt." As such, Spritz cookies are made by "squirting" the dough through a cookie press.
You can use salted butter if that's all you have on hand. However, you should omit the salt. However, even with the omission of the salt, the cookies will have a slightly saltier taste.
Other Buttery Cookie Recipes
If you're a fan of buttery cookies, you should check out these delicious recipes:
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Melt-Away Butter Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie Press (See Tip 1)
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks, 10 ounces) unsalted butter, softened (See Tip 2)
- ¾ cup (3 ounces) confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 ½ cups (12.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- In a large bowl, cream butter on high with an electric mixer. Add confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Beat on high until light and fluffy. Add flour. Beat on low just until combined.
- Fill a cylinder of cookie press with dough. Press cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet. (See Tip 2)
- Bake in preheated 325°F oven for 15 to 17 minutes or until cookies are golden brown around the edges. Cool on a wire rack.
- Store in an airtight container.
- Yield: 7 dozen cookies.
Video
Tips/Notes
- If you don't have a cookie press, pipe the cookies from a piping bag fitted with a star tip or roll the dough into small balls and flatten them with your hand.
- If you use salted butter, omit the addition of salt. Also, with salted butter, your cookies will be slightly saltier.
- It's important that you use an ungreased baking sheet. The cookie press will not work properly with a greased baking sheet or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. There is ample butter in the cookies to prevent them from sticking.
Jennifer says
I am literally in awe of your spritz cookies. Just like the last recipe, I followed your recipe exactly and weighed everything. These cookies totally melt in your mouth… I gave up on making this kind of cookie years ago. I not only could not make my spritzer work but the cookies tasted awful. I am a believer. Thank you once again for sharing. This recipe is totally amazing and I cannot wait to share them.
Chula King says
Awesome Jennifer!
Chula
Barbara Frazier says
Your recipe for Melt-away butter cookies was published in The Desert Sun, August 25, 2021. I made them today (the 26th) and like them very much. I appreciate that they baked very well. I did only get about 48 cookies and will see how I do on my next batch. I used two clicks with the cookie press. Should I have used only one click?
Thank you.
Barbara Frazier
Indio, CA
*****
Chula King says
Hi Barbara,
I only use one click from my cookie press which is the Oxo Good Grips cookie press (https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Cookie-Stainless-Storage/dp/B00ABH0PYI/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2LHZOASO5IZFK&dchild=1&keywords=oxo+cookie+press&qid=1630030593&sprefix=oxo+cookie%2Caps%2C189&sr=8-1).
Chula
CRi Sheridan says
Having an egg allergy I have been looking for a treat that I could enjoy to my hearts content. My family absolutely loves these deliciously buttery cookies. Never in a million years did I think they would disappear as quickly as I made them! I decided to take it a step further and add some pecans and craisins for toppers before baking and found a new permanent addition to my recipe box. A-MA-ZING! Thank you for sharing this recipe, it has become a new family favorite.
Chula King says
I'm so pleased that this recipe worked out for you! Your additions sound yummy!
Chula
debrapadilla says
Yummy!