Every year for Christmas, my grandma makes hundreds of cookies, at least 20 different varieties. She also makes a huge dinner, so it’s always a really tough decision choosing between eating a massive meal or enjoying a small supper before gorging yourself on cookies. Unfortunately for me, I’m never able to make that decision in a timely manner so I end up eating a huge meal and then eating so many cookies and then feeling ill all night. I always eat at least one of every kind of cookie, but usually at least 10 butterhorns. They’re my absolute favorite and I never regret it in the end, no matter how sick I end up feeling. Call it my Christmas tradition.
This year, obviously we can’t all go to Grandma’s house, so she sent us her cookie recipes to make ourselves. I had always thought that butterhorns would be really difficult to make, and it might seem like they are given my 16-step recipe, but trust me - my grandma’s recipe fit on a single index card; I just added extra steps to help less experienced bakers. There are a few key steps in this recipe. The first is hand mixing the butter into the flour, literally with your hands. The second is chilling the dough overnight. The third is whisking the frosting ingredients with an actual whisk and not a fork. Follow the steps and you’ll be fine.
Warning: These cookies are no joke. The recipe has a pound of butter and yields between 80 and 100 cookies. For a true butterhorn lover like myself, that’s really not a lot, but for your everyday responsible human who cares for his or her own health, it might seem a little daunting. To me, it’s totally worth it. The cinnamon sugar reminds me of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, the walnuts add a great crunch and obvious nuttiness, the frosting is really sweet but not too sweet so its actually almost refreshing. The cookies themselves are so flakey and buttery, but not greasy or heavy. Be careful because they’re addictive. I honestly ate 20 of them just in the time between frosting them and putting them into the tupperware for storage.
Butter Count: 32 Tbsp
INGREDIENTS:
32 Tbsp (4 sticks) butter, cold from the fridge but not frozen
4 cups flour
2 egg yolks
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup yogurt
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 Tbsp milk
INSTRUCTIONS:
Cut the butter into cubes, about 1/2-inches, but the size of the cubes doesn’t really matter as long as they are workable in the next step.
in a large bowl, combine the flour and butter and use your fingers to squish the butter into the flour until there is no longer any butter in cube form, and all of the butter is at least covered in flour. It should be combined, but not so thoroughly that it is one single block of dough - it should be pretty loose.
Add the egg yolks, sour cream, and yogurt. Squish everything together with your hands until all of the flour is completely incorporated into the dough ball, and there are no wet ingredients sticking to the side of the bowl. Form the dough into a single ball. Sprinkle the dough with flour and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill the dough in the fridge overnight.
Combine the sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts in a bowl.
Preheat the oven to 375F.
After the dough has chilled overnight, remove it from the fridge and slice the ball into six wedges. Squish the wedges into rough ball shapes.
On a clean, lightly floured surface, squish the ball down a little so it is more like a disc than a ball. Use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll the disc out to a 1/4-inch-thick circle.
Slice the circle into wedges. For bigger cookies, slice the circle into 6-8 wedges. For smaller cookies (which I prefer), slice the circle into 12 wedges.
Sprinkle the whole thing with the cinnamon-sugar mixture so that the dough lightly is covered.
From the outside of the circle, roll each wedge toward its tip. Place the cookie on an ungreased baking pan, seam side down, and curve the cookie into a crescent shape away from the narrow end (you can really curve it in either direction). Pinch the edges together if you want, or don’t (but this will risk the cookie unraveling while baking. Repeat with the rest of the wedges in the circle.
Repeat steps 6-9 for the remaining balls of dough. Fill the entire baking pan with cookies, only barely separated from one another. I could fit about 30 cookies per pan.
In batches, bake each pan for 20-22 minutes.
Transfer the cookies to a wired rack, or any cool surface really, and allow them to cool completely.
In a clean bowl, use a whisk to combine the confectioner’s sugar and milk. It will start out pasty, and thin out as you continue to whisk. When it is a liquid, transfer it to a piping bag with a small circular tip.
When the cookies are completely cool, lay them all in rows on the counter and zig zag the frosting over them until you are completely out of frosting.
NOTE: It’s totally fine to simply use a spoon to drizzle the frosting over the cookies, but I like the look from a piping bag more so that’s what I did. Up to you!
NOTE: These cookies can be frozen in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 3 months!
Eat 100 cookies.