When I was a little girl I would spend hours in the kitchen helping my mom make old fashion Sand Tarts during the holiday season. If you’ve never had them…they’re a thin shortbread butter cookie with a little bit of crispiness. These cookies do take 2 days to make…so they don’t whip up quickly. However, they’re delicious and worth your effort to make.

Once you have the dough mixed up you’ll need to refrigerate it overnight. Don’t skip this part! The cold makes the dough easier to roll out and causes “less” sticking. If you find the dough starting to stick to everything…place it back into the refrigerator to get cold again. Here’s my grandmother’s recipe and it makes a lot of cookies!

Additional Tip: These cookies freeze well. I like to place 10-12 cookies into a freezer safe container or bag. Seal. They’ll keep in the freezer for 3-6 months. Then thaw at room temperature for 2 hours when you’re ready to enjoy.

Sand Tarts Cut-Out Christmas Cookies Recipe

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 medium eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon milk
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
egg white
extra flour for dusting the pastry board
non-stick baking spray

In a large mixing bowl sift together the all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt.

In another large mixing bowl cream together the softened butter and granulated sugar. Beat in the 2 medium eggs, vanilla extract and milk. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients until everything is combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 6-8 hours.

Dust a pastry board with flour. If you don’t have one a tempered glass cutting board lightly dusted with flour works great too! Matter of fact, I prefer it because I can toss it into the dishwasher after I’m done.

Roll out the dough until thin. Use cookie cutters to cut out your desired shapes. Place cut-outs on a lightly sprayed baking sheet or a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat. I use silicone baking mats due to the non-stick and they help to keep cookies from getting too dark on the bottom.

Separate an egg and reserve just the egg white. Use a brush and lightly brush the egg white on top of each cookie. Decorate with sugars and sprinkles while the egg white is still wet.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the baking sheet into the oven for 4-8 minutes. The baking time will vary depending on the thickness of the cookies. Once done transfer to a cooling rack. Once cool, store in an airtight container.

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