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Enjoy rich, buttery butter cookies with this quick small batch recipe, ready in just 20 minutes. These cookies are tender, slightly crisp around the edges, and melt in your mouth. Easily customizable, they can be topped with nuts, dipped in chocolate, or enjoyed plain—perfect for when you want a simple, homemade treat.
Looking for more delicious small batch cookie recipes? Try our buttery Shortbread Bites, soft Ricotta Cookies, frosted Sugar Cookies, and warmly spiced Molasses Cookies!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Fast and Easy: You’ll have warm, freshly baked butter cookies ready in just 20 minutes.
- No Waiting: No need to chill the dough—just mix, bake, and enjoy.
- Customizable Treats: Add your favorite toppings like nuts, sprinkles, or dip them in chocolate.
- Delicious Texture: Buttery and soft inside with lightly crisp edges.
- Perfect Size: This small batch easily doubles to serve more.
Ingredients
If you have any ingredients leftover from this small batch butter cookie recipe, check out our Leftover Ingredients Recipe Finder.
- Butter: Use salted butter at room temperature. Butter adds rich flavor and helps create the light, airy texture of these cookies. The butter should feel cool to the touch but soft enough to press into. Creaming the butter with sugar is key for tender cookies.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar provides sweetness and combines with the butter to form the base of the dough.
- Egg Yolk: You’ll need just one egg yolk, which makes the cookies moist and rich. Save the egg white for one of our egg white recipes like Flourless Chocolate Cookies or Mini Texas Sheet Cake.
- Vanilla Extract: A small splash adds flavor, giving these cookies their classic taste.
- Flour: All-purpose flour is perfect for creating the ideal structure and texture in every bite.
- Optional Toppings: Customize your cookies with pecans, walnuts, sanding sugar, melted chocolate, or colorful sprinkles for extra flair and flavor.
Recipe Variations
Butter cookies are wonderfully adaptable, making it easy to customize them to your liking. Try one of these fun ideas to make this recipe your own:
- Nutty Butter Cookies: Press a pecan or walnut into the center of each dough ball before baking. The nuts add crunch and a rich, nutty flavor.
- Fruity Center Cookies: Add a small piece of maraschino cherry or a teaspoon of fruit jam to the center of each cookie for a pop of sweetness and color.
- Spiced Butter Cookies: Mix a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg into the dough to give your cookies a warm, spiced flavor. Perfect for fall or winter treats!
- Zesty Lemon Butter Cookies: Stir in 1/4 teaspoon of lemon zest to the dough for a fresh, citrusy twist. These cookies are light and refreshing—great for summer.
- Chocolate-Dipped Butter Cookies: Once baked, dip half of each cookie in melted chocolate and set them on parchment paper to cool. For an extra flair, sprinkle a bit of sea salt or colorful sprinkles on the chocolate before it hardens.
How To Make Butter Cookies
These step-by-step photos and instructions help you visualize how to make a small batch of butter cookies. See the recipe box below for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions.
- Cream the Butter and Sugar: In a medium bowl, use an electric hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy. This should take about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add Egg Yolk and Vanilla: Mix in the egg yolk and vanilla extract until fully combined.
- Incorporate the Flour: Gradually add the flour to the mixture and blend until the dough forms.
- Shape the Cookies: Scoop out the dough and place it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Roll each portion into a ball.
- Flatten the Dough: Gently press down on each dough ball to flatten it to about 1/4-inch thickness. You can use the bottom of a drinking glass or your hand. If the glass sticks to the dough, dip it in sugar before pressing.
- Optional Toppings and Baking: For added flair, top each cookie with a nut or a sprinkle of decorating sugar. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (177°C) for 10 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. Let the cookies cool before enjoying!
Expert Tips
- Read the Recipe First: Before starting, read through the recipe and check the Ingredient Notes and process photos. This ensures you’re familiar with the steps and helps your butter cookies turn out perfectly. All the details you need are included in this post.
- Measure Flour Correctly: Use the spoon-and-level method for flour. Spoon the flour into a dry measuring cup, slightly overfill, and level it with the back of a knife. Avoid scooping directly from the bag, as this can pack the flour too tightly and affect the cookies’ texture.
- Prepare Your Baking Sheet: Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Skip greasing the sheet, as it can cause the cookies to spread too much and result in a greasy texture.
- Flatten Dough Evenly: Gently flatten each cookie dough ball with the bottom of a drinking glass. This ensures the cookies bake evenly and hold their shape.
- Bake to Perfection: Keep an eye on the cookies while baking. Remove them as soon as the edges start to turn lightly golden to avoid overbaking and maintain their soft, buttery texture.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, this recipe is designed to skip the chilling step, saving time while still producing perfectly textured cookies.
Dipping butter cookies in chocolate adds a delicious touch. Use about 2 ounces (or 1/2 cup) of chocolate chips for this. Place the chocolate chips in a glass bowl with 1/4 teaspoon of butter, vegetable oil, canola oil, or avocado oil. Microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring after each round, until the chocolate is smooth and fully melted. This usually takes 2–3 rounds. Dip half of each cookie into the melted chocolate, then place them on parchment paper to set.
To soften butter, leave it on the counter for about 30 minutes before baking. If you’re in a hurry, microwave it for 10–15 seconds, but watch closely to prevent melting. The butter should feel soft but still hold its shape.
Absolutely! These cookies are delicious plain but can be even more fun with frosting. Use your favorite frosting recipe or try options like vanilla frosting, sugar cookie frosting, or cream cheese frosting. Pre-made frosting also works well for a quick decorating option.
Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. For longer storage, freeze them for up to 3 months.
More Small Batch Cookie Recipes
Ways To Use Leftover Ingredients
If you have any ingredients leftover from this recipe, check out our Leftover Ingredients Recipe Finder or you might like to consider using them in any of these single serving and small batch recipes:
If you’ve tried this small batch butter cookie recipe or any recipe on One Dish Kitchen please let me know how you liked it by rating the recipe and telling me about it in the comment section below.
Also, if you take a picture please tag us on Instagram (@onedishkitchen) we’d love to see it!
RELATED: Single Serving Comfort Food Recipes
Small Batch Butter Cookies
Watch How To Make This
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons salted butter -softened (¼ cup)
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- Optional toppings: walnuts, pecans, sanding sugar, melted chocolate or sprinkles
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350° F (177° C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a medium bowl, use an electric hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy. This should take about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Mix in the egg yolk and vanilla extract until fully combined.
- Gradually add the flour to the mixture and blend until the dough forms.
- Using a medium sized cookie scoop or a large tablespoon, scoop out the dough and place it onto the lined baking sheet. Roll each portion into a ball spacing the dough 2-inches apart.
- Gently press down on each dough ball to flatten it to about 1/4-inch thickness. You can use the bottom of a drinking glass or your hand. If the glass sticks to the dough, dip it in sugar before pressing.
- For added flair, top each cookie with a nut or a sprinkle of decorating sugar. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to continue cooling.
- Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to continue cooling.
Notes
- Read the Recipe First: Before starting, read through the recipe and check the Ingredient Notes and process photos. This ensures you’re familiar with the steps and helps your butter cookies turn out perfectly. All the details you need are included in this post.
- Measure Flour Correctly: Use the spoon-and-level method for flour. Spoon the flour into a dry measuring cup, slightly overfill, and level it with the back of a knife. Avoid scooping directly from the bag, as this can pack the flour too tightly and affect the cookies’ texture.
- Prepare Your Baking Sheet: Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Skip greasing the sheet, as it can cause the cookies to spread too much and result in a greasy texture.
- Flatten Dough Evenly: Gently flatten each cookie dough ball with the bottom of a drinking glass. This ensures the cookies bake evenly and hold their shape.
- Bake to Perfection: Keep an eye on the cookies while baking. Remove them as soon as the edges start to turn lightly golden to avoid overbaking and maintain their soft, buttery texture.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Thank you for these delicious recipes. I love making Butter Cookies but I live alone and not many ppl in my building can eat sweets so this is perfect! I never made them with just an egg yolk before, I always used 1 egg but WOW it really made a difference. I did add some pure lemon extract and ground ginger but since I am not used to small batch I need to add more next time. I will also double the recipe since it will still be smaller than my other recipe. This is now my favourite Butter Cookie recipe…..Thank You!
i followed the recipe and was pleased with the results except, the cookies turned quit dry i dont know if its supposed to be or i did something wrong.
but all and all it was tasty.
10/10
EXCELLANT!
Made these small batch butter cookies 3 times now!
First time, went right by recipe: and spot on!
Second batch, cut the dough into 8 balls, flattened by pressing balls between base of thumbs, dough worked great, no sticking to hands. Then, pressed each flattened cookie onto diced Macadamia nuts. Proceeded to bake, as in recipe, and DELICIOUS! Third time was repeat of second time, as they were eaten SO FAST! BTW, baked in toaster oven and cooled as stated in recipe.
GREAT texture, nice light brown crisp edges, and perfect texture to cookie.
GREAT versatile little recipe, that I will continue making and trying new combos of flavor ingredients to this great base.
I Live at High Altitude, 7,200′ and the recipe works PERFECTLY!
Thank you and will continue connecting to web site-ONE DISH RECIPES-!!
I’m so happy you love the butter cookies recipe, thank you so much for your feedback.
A nice simple cookie for those who don’t like chocolate.
A nice simple cookie for those that don’t care for anything chocolate.( I can’t imagine why). Can always dip an end in melted chocolate and chopped nuts to dress it up. Very good.