Danish Sugar Cookies

Remember eating Royal Dansk butter sugar cookies?  If you haven’t had them, you have been culturally deprived.  Here is a sample of the melt in your mouth Danish sugar cookie to have a small bite of Danish culture.  My Grandma was Danish making me ¼ Dane.  That must be why I love them so.

1 cup butter

½ cup sugar

Pinch salt

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

3 tablespoons milk

Coarse sugar for coating

Beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and salt and mix them thoroughly.  Add the vanilla extract.  Add the flour until incorporated.

Gather the dough into a ball without kneading. Divide into 4 pieces and roll each piece into a log, about 1 1/4 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap or parchment paper, and place in the fridge to firm up for at least 1 hour.

You can freeze all or part of the logs to bake later; thaw partially at room temperature for about 1 hour before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.

Preheat the oven to 300° F. and line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.

Remove the logs from the fridge. Working with each log in turn, use a pastry brush to coat the log with  milk on all sides, then sprinkle with coarse sugar until coated all over.

Use a sharp knife to slice the logs into rounds, about 1/3 inch in thickness. Arrange the slices on the prepared baking sheet, leaving just a little space around the cookies (they won't expand much).

Bake for 30 minutes, until the dough is set in the center -- the cookies will barely color -- and the sugar is lightly caramelized on the sides. Let rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Place in an air tight container after sampling what you need.

Have a great Saturday, be happy and may God bless you and yours.