Egyptian Holiday Butter Cookies Recipe

These are my beautiful mom’s famous Egyptian Holiday Butter Cookies that many people have asked me about!  I grew up eating these cookies every Christmas and Easter. Some of my best holiday memories involve these cookies. I must admit, I didn’t realize how much I took these cookies for granted until I was married and out of the house. I miss the winter and spring days when I could run to the kitchen whenever I wanted and munch on these cookies all day long. My mom would make a few batches every couple of weeks until the end of Egyptian Christmas in January or Easter during the spring. She made sure to always make extra to hand out to family and friends. It was something EVERYONE looked forward to every year (and still do!). 

INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR THESE EGYPTIAN BUTTER COOKIES:

• 2 and 1/8 cups flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ cup butter
• ½ cup shortening
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 large egg

As you can see, the ingredients for these cookies are very precise. My mom always tells me it took a while for her to find just the right measurements for each ingredient to make sure the texture was perfect for baking. You’ll have to use a Cookie Press machine (pictured above) so it’s important the dough is not too thick, otherwise it will be very difficult to push it through the machine.

You can see from the photo above that the dough in this recipe is very light and crumbly looking. Once baked, the cookies have a sweet, buttery flavor that’s extremely addicting. I promise you won’t be able to eat just one. 

USING A COOKIE PRESS MACHINE

As I mentioned earlier, a cookie press machine is highly recommended for this recipe! They are usually very cheap and they come with at least a dozen different shapes already in the kit. It’s extremely easy to use a cookie press for this recipe. You just switch out the different discs depending on what shape you want and you press the trigger a few times to dispense the shaped cookie unto the baking pan. As you can see from the photo above, the cookies come out perfectly formed every time! Here’s a link to a cookie press machine similar to the one I use at home:

Wilton Simple Success Cookie Press, 13-Piece

DECORATING THE COOKIES

Then comes the fun part: decorating the cookies! Since it’s Christmas time, these particular cookies were decorated as such. You can use sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, or cookie icing. You can even dip the cookies in melted chocolate once they’re done baking and give them a chocolaty candy shell. Get creative and have fun with this part. The cookies still taste amazing no matter what you put on them!

I’m very happy to finally be sharing this recipe with everyone. I feel like such a true Egyptian being able to make these Egyptian Holiday Butter Cookies on my own. I’m very blessed my momma shared this one with me. It is one of her most popular recipes and once you try them, you’ll know why! So please give them a go and let me know what you think! Also, check out my mom’s Egyptian Chocolate Shortbread Cookies as well. 

Egyptian Holiday Butter Cookies Recipe

Course: DessertDifficulty: Easy

Servings

36

cookies

Prep time

20

minutes

Bake time

12

minutes

Calories

93

kcal

These delicious Egyptian Holiday Butter Cookies have the perfect amount of sweetness and a rich buttery flavor. They’re a staple in any Egyptian household during the holidays!

Ingredients

• 2 and 1/8 cups flour

• ½ tsp baking powder

• ¼ tsp salt

• ¾ cup sugar

• ½ cup butter

• ½ cup shortening

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1 large egg

• Sprinkles or chocolate chips (optional for decorating)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees
• Soften the butter SLIGHTLY (do not let it completely melt, it should be soft to the touch but keep its shape)
• Mix the butter, shortening and sugar on medium for about 3 minutes until very smooth (My mom uses a food processor for this part but it’s okay to use a regular mixer as well)
• Add the vanilla and mix
• Add the egg and mix for about 1 minute on low
• In a SEPARATE bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt together
• Next, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together by HAND OR SPATULA (do not use a mixer for this part as it will alter the consistency of the dough) Once mixed, the dough should have a light, crumbly texture
• Use a Cookie Press machine to form your cookies into different shapes. Put as much dough as will fit in the cookie press machine and choose whichever shapes you like (usually the kit comes with several cookie discs to choose from)
• Press the machine unto a NON-GREASED baking pan (the dough will be fairly fragile once it’s shaped, so make sure you press the machine directly unto the pan otherwise it will be difficult to move the shaped dough once it’s pressed)
• If you want to add any sprinkles, now would be the time to do it so that it sticks to the cookie. You can add anything you like! I used regular sprinkles and mini chocolate chips. You can also decorate with cookie icing or melted chocolate AFTER they’re baked
• Once the baking pan is filled and cookies are decorated, place it in the preheated oven and bake for about 12-14 minutes (cookies should be very slightly tan in color but not brown. They will burn easily if you leave them in too long so make sure to check on them regularly because cooking time will vary depending on each oven)
• Remove from oven, let cool and store in an airtight container at room temperature. Enjoy!

Notes

• Calories & Nutritional Info may vary based on different brands and ingredients used. Nutritional Info below was calculated using Very Fit Well’s Nutrition Calculator.