Mommy O's German Butter Cookies

by Jennifer
(Vancouver, Canada)

Butter Cookies (Ausstecherle)
Recipe for 3 baking pans

Pastry:
250 g flour
125 g butter, softened
125 g sugar
2 medium eggs
1 envelope Vanillin sugar (Dr. Oetker) or 2 tsp vanilla or ½ tsp grated lemon peel

Glaze 1
(spread on cookies before baking)
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon milk
coloured decorating sugar (optional)

or

Glaze 2
brush on cookies after baking while still hot)
125 g icing sugar
1 – 1 ½ tablespoons water, or orange juice or rum
some drops food colouring if desired

Beat softened butter. Add sugar and eggs and keep beating till mixture is nice and creamy. Mix in flour and Vanillin or lemon peal and kneed into a soft dough. To make the dough more pliable, put it in a cool place for some hours (the fridge is too cold). On a well-floured surface roll out dough (about 4 mm thick) and cut out cookies. Put them on baking pans lined with parchment paper and brush with the egg/milk mixture (glaze 1) and decorate with coloured sugar. Let cookies rest overnight and bake the next day at 350 F for 10 – 12 minutes in the centre of the oven. They should be just baked and still very light coloured.

If you use glaze 2 brush it on after cookies are baked yet still hot.