Marisa's Italian Kitchen

The Secret Ingredient Is Always Love

Baking

Butterball Cookies

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Cute as a button and with only 3 ingredients in the dough, these Butterball Cookies are simply irresistible! They’re sandwiched together with seedless raspberry jam and rolled in aromatic vanilla sugar for a sparkly appeal. They also make a wonderful nut free cookie recipe to add to your repertoire.

A three ingredient cookie dough. These Butterball Cookies are sandwiched together with raspberry jam and rolled in vanilla sugar.

This post was originally published in December of 2015 and republished December 4, 2018 with updated photos and content.

My exquisitely fragrant Vanilla Sugar is ready and waiting to coat these cute little one bite Butterball Cookies!

I am filling mine with raspberry jam as it seems to be everyone’s favourite. But also because the redness of the jam really adds a festive colour this time of the year. This is especially wonderful when you serve a platter full of Christmas cookies. They stand out like little jewels ready to be plucked off the tray!

Alternately the butterball cookies can be filled with Nutella or even chocolate ganache. However you choose to fill them they will garner many smiles from both kids and adults alike.

A three ingredient cookie dough. These Butterball Cookies are sandwiched together with raspberry jam and rolled in vanilla sugar.

Its not an overly complicated recipe or with any fancy techniques. We are taking a few simple ingredients, which you probably already have on hand. And, we are turning them into these irresistible buttery morsels.

So get comfortable, play your favourite holiday music and lets roll some butterballs!

A three ingredient cookie dough. These Butterball Cookies are sandwiched together with raspberry jam and rolled in vanilla sugar.

How To Make Perfect Butterball Cookies

You will need 3 cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.

Make sure your dough has been chilled at least 4 hours before rolling the cookies. You can also make the dough up to 5 days in advance and refrigerate till ready to use.

Measure out 1/4 teaspoon of cookie dough and roll in the palm of your hands, no bigger than the size of a hazelnut in it’s shell.

Continue with the remaining dough and chill the butterballs in your freezer for 30 minutes before baking.

When ready to bake space them out on the cookie sheet about 2 inches apart as these will spread. Bake one cookie tray at a time while keeping the remaining cookies chilling in the freezer.

Once the cookies are baked and cooled, place a small dollop of jam on the flat surface of one half of the cooled cookies and top with another half to sandwich them together. Roll the cookies in the vanilla sugar.

They’re simply beautiful served in an elegant footed glass bowl and also make a wonderful addition to any holiday cookie platter.

Which ever way you serve them, they’re sure to impress your guests!

If you make this recipe remember to tag @marisasitaliankitchen on Instagram so I can see your creation!

A three ingredient cookie dough. These Butterball Cookies are sandwiched together with raspberry jam and rolled in vanilla sugar.
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Butterball Cookies

Irresistible Butterball Cookies! They're sandwiched together with seedless raspberry jam and rolled in aromatic vanilla sugar for a sparkly appeal.

Course Dessert
Cuisine Italian
Keyword nut free cookie, butterball cookie, sandwich cookie, vanilla sugar, raspberry jam
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 8 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 8 minutes
Servings 50 cookies
Author Marisa

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
  • 1 cup vanilla sugar for rolling

Instructions

  1. Using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for about 3 to 5 minutes until the butter is light and fluffy. Mix in the sugar until well blended then add in the flour and continue mixing until the dough is formed. Wrap the dough with saran wrap and chill the dough for about 3 hours. Chilling the dough will prevent the cookies from spreading out too much when baked.
  2. Preheat the oven to 375*F.
  3. Use a small spoon to tear out small pieces of dough and use the palm of your hands to roll them out into small balls about the size of a hazelnut. Place them on a cookie sheet and chill them in the freezer for 30 minutes.

  4. Line 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets (cookies will spread). Bake one sheet at a time for 8 to 10 minutes or just until the cookies are firm and pale golden in colour. Keep the remaining cookie sheets chilled till ready to bake the next batch.

  5. Spread the flat side of half the cookies with the jam and then top with remaining cookies to form a sandwich. Once you have paired them and formed little sandwich cookies, roll them in vanilla sugar to coat all over.

Recipe Notes

This recipe is adapted from a wonderful cookbook: Chocolate and Vanilla by Gale Gand

 

Vanilla Sugar

by 18 Comments

Vanilla sugar

December is my absolute favorite time of the year. A time where after much planning ahead, I finally start the cookie baking madness. As friends and family and colleagues know me well, I live and breath cookies during this busy holiday season. My dining room table is littered with cookbooks, baking magazines and recipe clippings that I have acquired throughout the years and in the next few weeks I will be sharing with you some of my favorite holiday treats. So do join me because this month it’s all about the cookies and I’ll give you tips and tricks on how to get through the baking madness!

With a little bit of planning ahead you too can bake up some delicious baked goods to share with family and friends. Today we are starting off with a super easy, two ingredient recipe…Vanilla Sugar. Yes it’s that easy, like 5 minute easy and far superior to any store bought version. And in the coming days I will share with you a family favorite recipe using this fragrant sugar.

Vanilla sugar can be utilized in various ways, from sweetening coffee, tea, baked treats and yes even savory recipes. It can be poured into decorative glass jars or bottles and gifted to guests as a “sweet” way of saying thank-you (pun intended). 🙂

vanilla pod

With a sharp knife slice open the vanilla bean and use the back of the knife to scrape out the seeds.

vanilla sugar

Combine the sugar and vanilla seeds together in a bowl and stir until the seeds are well dispersed. You can also use 2 rubber spatulas to slowly rub together the sugar and vanilla seeds to release larger clumps.

Vanilla sugar

Transfer the vanilla sugar into an airtight container and bury the pod deeply into the sugar.

Over time the Vanilla Sugar becomes more and more fragrant, so go ahead and make it a couple of weeks in advance before you start your holiday baking.

Here’s a tip, when a recipe calls for vanilla seeds only, don’t discard the pod. Rather give it new life by adding it to your vanilla sugar canister, as this will help to maintain the flavor of your vanilla sugar and refreshes it at the same time. And continue filling with more granulated sugar as the quantity depletes.

gift tags

For those expecting savory dishes this month I hope you are not too disappointed because…well…have I mentioned that this month is all about the cookies!! I have friends requesting trays of cookies for their family gatherings and I gift a lot of my baked goods…so what is this girl to do but bake…like a lot of cookies. 🙂

vanilla-sugar
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Vanilla Sugar

Aromatic vanilla scented sugar
Course Dessert
Servings 2 cups
Author Marisa

Ingredients

  • 1 Vanilla Bean
  • 2 cups granulated sugar

Instructions

  1. Slice the Vanilla Bean down the middle from end to end with a sharp knife. Using the back of the knife, scrape out the seeds.
  2. Combine the sugar with the vanilla seeds in a medium bowl and stir until the vanilla seeds are well dispersed.
  3. Transfer to an airtight container and bury the pods deeply in the vanilla sugar. It can be stored indefinitely.
  4. Use in your favorite coffee, tea or desserts.