3-Ingredient Brown Sugar Cookies!

You know how much I love creating 3-ingredient recipes! This Christmas cookie season is no exception. If you have butter, flour and some brown sugar you're all set to bake these quick, nutty, buttery treats. Bonanza! 

I'm obsessed with how easy and versatile this shortbread-like dough came out to be! Whip up a batch, then pick and choose how you'd like to finish it off. You could make a whole gorgeous cookie tin from this ONE recipe! In this post (and the video I just posted on YouTube), I'll walk you through my three favorite ideas...

But first, the dough! Here's the thing: You can make this recipe in a stand mixer, with a handheld mixer (shown) or by hand with a spatula and a little elbow grease. How annoying is it if a recipe calls for a stand mixer and you don't have one? Or the bowl's dirty and you just can't...Well, this recipe worked with any and all mixer options! First beat the butter and sugar until fluffy, then slowly and carefully beat in the flour until you get a shaggy dough like  you see in the bowl on the right.

Once you get your shaggy dough, go ahead and get our hands dirty! It all comes together once you press and knead the dough together into a ball. Depending on how hot and sticky your hands are (mmmm, sexy!) you may want to flour those palms before diving in.

If you're looking for a particular shape or style, shoot me an email or leave a comment and I'll help you figure it out. In the video and instructions, below, I turned the dough into: Cut-outs, spritz cookies and two-tone swirls which are so stinkin' cute I can't even handle it!  

3-INGREDIENT BROWN SUGAR COOKIES

2 sticks salted butter, softened 

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1. Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

2. Beat the butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

3. Add the flour. Starting on low speed, beat flour into the butter mixture until combined and the dough sticks together when pressed between your fingers.

4. Gently knead the dough with your hands until it comes together into a ball, flour your hands if needed. Pick a cookie style, below...

CUTOUTS: Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Transfer to baking sheet; bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. 

SPRITZ: (Don’t use parchment for this one.) Transfer dough to a cookie press. Press shapes onto the un-greased baking sheet. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

SWIRLS: Divide dough in half and place in two separate bowls. Tint two different coloring using food coloring. Roll out to 1/8-inch tick on a lightly floured surface. Stack dough on top of each other and roll up into a tight log. Tightly wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Slice into 1/4-inch thick rounds and bake until set, about 15 minutes.

Have you baked all of your Christmas cookies yet? What's your go-to recipe? Let me know if you give this easy Christmas cookie idea a try xo Erin