Irish Butter Cookies
Jennifer recently traveled to Ireland and she can’t stop talking about the AMAZING dairy products! The cheese is fantastic, but the butter…ahhh the butter! Most of the butter in Ireland is salted and it is a beautiful shade of yellow, apparently due to the grass feeding of the cows. They must put a little fairy dust in there too, because it really is a treat!
Some of the best baked goods in Ireland were the Irish butter cookies – rich with butter, yet light and airy, these cookies will melt in your mouth and make you want to do a little Irish jig!
Happy Irish cows make the best butter!
Mix, roll and wrap.
Coat with egg wash and roll in sanding sugar.
Slice about 3/8″ thick.
Bake and enjoy your Irish butter cookies!
Irish Butter Cookies
- 1 ¼ cups (6.4 oz) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (2.3 oz) corn starch
- 1/8 tsp salt
- ½ cup (3.5 oz) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (8 oz ) cold salted Irish butter (such as Kerry Gold), cut into small cubes
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- Turbinado or sanding sugar for rolling
In bowl of stand mixer, combine the flour, corn starch, salt and sugar. Mix on low setting with paddle attachment until well combined. Add butter and mix on low speed until mixture looks like coarse meal. Add vanilla and continue mixing on low speed until a crumbly dough is formed.
Divide dough in half between 2 pieces of parchment or waxed paper. Use your hands to bring the dough together and roll each half into a log measuring about 1 ½” in diameter and 7” long. Wrap each log in the parchment or waxed paper, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. Lightly beat the egg. Working with one log at a time, brush outside of log with egg and roll the log in sugar, completely covering the sides. Using a sharp knife, slice log into 3/8” thick rounds. Place 1” apart on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating cookie sheet 180 degrees half way through baking time. Remove cookies from oven when they are light golden brown around edges. Allow to cool completely on baking sheet placed on wire rack.
Baked cookies can be stored in an air tight container for about one week. Unbaked logs can be frozen for up to one month. Thaw in the refrigerator before slicing and baking.
Makes about 30 cookies