Danish Butter Cookies (Blue Tin Copycat)

Danish butter cookies with crisp ridges arranged on a white plate.

Danish Butter Cookies (Blue Tin Copycat)

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: European

Diet: Vegetarian

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 20

Chilling Time: 15

Total Time: 55

Servings: servings

Calories: 93kcal

Author: Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju

Crisp, sandy, piped butter ring cookies reverse-engineered from the Royal Dansk blue tin. One egg yolk, no leavener, superfine sugar + they snap clean when cold and taste like the tin ones.

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Equipment

1 large open star piping tip, about 1/2 inch (13 mm) opening Ateco 846 preferred; Wilton 1M works
1 Sturdy piping bag, no coupler (double up thin disposables)
1 Light-colored baking sheet
Parchment paper
Stand or hand mixer

Ingredients

200 g all-purpose flour 1⅔ cups, I prefer to measure this in grams though.
½ teaspoon fine salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, 140g
110 g superfine or caster sugar ~½ cup + 1 tablespoon
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon whole milk plus more if needed

Instructions

Heat the oven to 350°F. Line a light-colored baking sheet with parchment.
Whisk the flour and salt together in a bowl.
Beat the butter and sugar for 60 to 90 seconds, until smooth and creamy but not pale and fluffy.
Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla.
Add the flour mixture and mix on low until a soft dough forms. Scrape the bowl and mix another 20 to 30 seconds; it sits as dry crumbs and then comes together suddenly.
Add the milk and mix to combine. Test a spoonful through the piping tip: you want a continuous ridged rope. If it breaks into short segments, add milk half a teaspoon at a time and test again.
Fill the bag. Pipe 2 inch rings about ¼ inch thick, 1 inch apart. One closed loop, overlapping the ends by about ¼ inch and pressing gently to join.
Chill the piped cookies on the sheet for 15 to 20 minutes.
Bake 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway, until the ridge tips and outer edges are golden and the valleys and centers stay pale. They will still be soft.
Cool 5 minutes on the sheet, then move to a rack for 10 minutes more. They crisp as they cool.

Notes

Superfine sugar is granulated with smaller crystals, not powdered. Pulse granulated in a food processor 20 to 30 seconds and stop before it turns to powder.
The dough needs the full tablespoon of milk. A dough that holds when squeezed can still fracture through a star tip; the rope test is the real test.
If they spread, reduce sugar toward 100 g before touching the butter.
Store in an airtight tin at room temperature up to 2 weeks; freeze baked cookies up to 3 months.
For a lighter, more porous cookie closer to the factory version, dissolve 1.5 g ammonium bicarbonate (baker's ammonia, hjortetakssalt) in the milk. Ammonia smell during baking is normal and gone once cooled.

Nutrition