Egyptian Easter Butter Cookies

These are my beautiful mom’s famous Egyptian Easter Butter Cookies that many people have asked me about.  I grew up eating these cookies every 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 Spring days when I could run to the kitchen whenever I wanted and munch on these cookies all day long. 

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 through the machine. You can see from the photo below 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.  

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 below, the cookies come out perfectly formed every time! I’ve also included a link below to a cookie press machine similar to the one I use when making these cookies:

Wilton Simple Success Cookie Press, 13-Piece

 

Then comes the fun part: decorating the cookies! 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 chocolate 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 be sharing these Egyptian Easter Butter Cookies with everyone. I feel like such a true Egyptian being able to make these cookies on my own. I’m very blessed my momma taught me how to make these incredible butter cookies. 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 Baklava Recipe next!

Egyptian Easter Butter Cookies

Course: DessertDifficulty: Easy

Servings

36

cookies

Prep time

20

minutes

Bake time

12

minutes

Calories

91

kcal

These delicious 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

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 
• 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, then 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.