Easy Eggless Butter Cookies (with just 5 ingredients!)

Quick and easy, melt in the mouth butter cookies recipe that I used to make as a kid in my granny’s kitchen.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Easy butter cookies

My Granny and her Butter Cookies

These butter cookies are one of those childhood recipes that will always remind me of my enterprising granny with whom I spent a large part of my growing up years.

They have an amazing melt in your mouth feel, I’m always reaching for more and you know I have a propensity to dunk everything in my tea or coffee don’t you? Well, they’re even better that way!

My granny was a seamstress and a cook from a fairly young age. She married quite young, as women in certain cultures did at that time; I believe she had my mum when she was only 17 and my uncle the following year! She also adopted two more babies a few years down the road, my two aunts, the youngest is only about 7 years older than me!

my granny (mum’s mum)

And over the years, she took in so many “strays” that as we were growing up, that’d be a constant stream of strangers, knocking on our door, thanking her for her love, her care, her direction, yada, yada.

She really was something else! I was just telling my kids yesterday that as we were growing up, we didn’t buy any clothes because my granny would always be dressing us in the latest fashion, all done with her trusted Singer sewing machine.

A couple of months before every festive season, she’d be besieged with tailoring orders from folks all over, all by word of mouth. In Singapore, this would be about four times a year as we “officially” celebrate Christmas, Eid, Diwali and the Chinese New Year. And this is before we get into the food business she ran from home for many, many years!

Coffee, tea, take your pick, with a dose of Jane Austen on the side

Our Butter Cookies

Now I have tweaked the recipe. I remember my granny’s used to be a little on the crunchy side. I’ve made the dough much softer, giving you that melt in your mouth feel.

Some would call them shortbread but as we have a shortbread recipe made with part semolina, we insist on butter cookies!

We like to press out the cookies using a cookie press because we have one! That’s exactly how we used to make it in my granny’s kitchen 30 – 40 years ago! The cookie press is easily found everywhere, especially online. Click here to get it on Amazon, through my affiliate link.

Another Family Recipe

Fancy another eggless family recipe? Deliciously crumbly, traditional Norfolk Shortcake recipe, originally from Bacton, via Leicester and handed down to me by my father-in-law.

Eggless Norfolk Shortcake
Deliciously crumbly, traditional Norfolk Shortcake recipe, originally from Bacton, via Leicester and handed down to me by my father-in-law.
Get the Recipe!
Norfolk shortcakes on a cooling rack
cookie press
the cookie press just like my granny’s from the 70s
  • Roll the dough out into a long sausage, place it in the fridge, then slice it into discs.
  • You could even just roll them into little balls, place them on your baking sheet, then press down slightly.
  • If you don’t want to get a cookie press, a piping bag with a large star or flower piping nozzle like the Wilton 1M or 2D will work perfectly.

👉 see images in the recipe card for working without a cookie press.

Butter Cookies
If you have a cookie press, use it

The dough doesn’t spread much, so you don’t have to space them out too much.

Images by LinsFoodies

If you like the recipe, don’t forget to leave me a comment and if you’re feeling like a star, that 5-star rating! Thank you!

And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor, and hashtag it #linsfood

Lin xx

Easy butter cookies

Easy Eggless Butter Cookies

Quick and easy, melt in the mouth butter cookies recipe that I used to make as a kid in my granny's kitchen.
5 from 32 votes
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Course: Cookies
Cuisine: International
Keyword: cookies, cookingwithkids
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 20
Calories: 113kcal
Author: Azlin Bloor

Ingredients

  • 180 g plain flour
  • 30 g cornflour (cornstarch in the US)
  • 180 g salted butter
  • 50 g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
  • ½ tsp good quality vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Sift the flours together.
  • Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until thoroughly mixed and light and pale. A minute will do.
  • Stir in the vanilla or any flavouring you prefer.
  • Tip in the flour mix and work with the wooden spoon, then your fingers to form a dough. DO NOT knead, work lightly.
  • Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 15 minutes.
    Preheat the oven to 160˚C/310˚F.

Using a Cookie Press

  • If using a cookie press, fill the press with the dough and stamp out cookies onto a baking sheet.
  • Press or pipe out the cookies onto a large baking sheet.
  • Bake for 12-15 minutes or so until the cookies are a light golden colour.

Without a Cookie Press

  • Divide the dough out into 2. Wrap one of them back in the clingfilm and place in the fridge until needed.
  • Roll the other half of the dough into a roll.
  • Using a sharp knife, slice little discs about ½ an inch thick (just over 1 cm). Work quickly, as the dough warms up, it'll soften.
  • Arrange the dough on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes until a light golden colour. Repeat with the other half of the dough. You can bake 2 baking trays at the same time.

Notes

You can control the feel of the baked cookies. The lighter the colour when you take them out of the oven, the more melt in the mouth they will be. A slightly darker shade will give you a crunchier cookie.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 113kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 65mg | Potassium: 12mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 225IU | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 1mg
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18 thoughts on “Easy Eggless Butter Cookies (with just 5 ingredients!)”

    1. Hi Yvonne, this is a pretty soft dough. So if you’re using a cookie cutter after placing it in the fridge, work fast. For me, rolling it into a log and cutting is the easiest option.

  1. Meera Girdhar

    Azlin cookies looks so perfect I am surely gona try these soon. your granny is so adorable

  2. 5 stars
    Azlin what a dream your website is, I dont even know what baking google search rabbit hole I went down, but Im glad I come across this page. The cookies have just this minute finished baking. My only tweak was using plant based butter, fingers crossed it turns out okay! Next on my list are the Moroccan Almond Biscuits.

    1. Hi Laura, thank you, I’m glad you came across my site too! 🙂 If you use social media, I’d love to see them!
      The Moroccan almond cookies are definitely a favourite with us, and these days, I make them eggless too, just not got around to posting the recipe.
      Thanks for saying hi. xx

  3. 5 stars
    Perfect cookies with the melt in the mouth texture. Your granny looks lovely and loved reading about her, a bit nostalgic as I went down the memory lane remembering my granny

  4. 5 stars
    Butter cookies have always been a favorite of my kids and me too since my childhood.. your post about your dear granny brought back so many memories of my grandmoms.. that generation was class apart when it comes to skills, being humble and so perfect in whatever they did..very nice tribute to her!! Your future generations will know what a humble lineage they have..

  5. Caz mclaughlin

    I was very moved by your story, Aslin. It paralleled my own with regards to my mum who sadly died at 43 when I was 17 years old. She too was a talented cook and dressmaker who took in orders from other people for both of those talents, too. Just like your Grannie, she packed so much in to her short time with us. She also taught herself to paint beautiful pictures by following a Japanese artist on the TV! Alas, that is the one talent of hers that only her youngest daughter (my baby sister) inherited. We were all taught to cook in the hands-on approach when we were barely able to stand on a chair and peer over the edge of the table. Thank you for sharing your recipes and stories at this time. Our beloved father died in his eighties on Easter Saturday. Ten years tomorrow. He never remarried.

    1. We are very fortunate to have had these women in our lives. I’m thinking of you today, Caz, Easter Saturday. I hope you are keeping well, it’s always good to hear from you. xx

  6. Made these 2 days ago and my family of 4 gobbles then up within 2 days. Need to make more soon.

  7. Ravishankar Swaminathan

    Lovely cookies. Your granny is a great human being. Loved the true story so much. Regards,

  8. May Hennigan

    These are so adorable! I love family recipes and memories and I just love that picture of your granny! I will be trying these recipes soon with my girls!

  9. I always wanted to play with one of these cookie presses! I used to LOVE Danish butter cookies when I was small and these look similar. Thanks for joining in with #BAKEoftheWEEK – round up and new week’s linky is now live on my site.

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