Specier – a classic Danish butter cookie
I don’t know the English word for the Danish cookie SPECIE – plural specier, so I call it specie and specier here.
Specier are delicious crispy cookies.
Classic Danish butter cookies.
A traditional cookie the Danes serve with coffee (or tea) all year long.
But especially for Christmas.
You can make a very simple crispy and classic butter specie.
Or you can make lemon specier, orange specier, nut specier, chocolate specier… all good cookies.
You can go directly to the recipe.
Find den danske udgave her.
Cookies
There is something hyggeligt about traditional homemade cookies.
Mainly the kind made and eaten at Christmas time.
(Hyggeligt a Danish word – something cosy, friendly, good and nice)
In Denmark, we have småkager (every type of classic butter cookies) and cookies – the chocolate cookie type.
The classic butter cookies have an old-fashioned reputation.
Many Danes have replaced butter cookies with different types of international cookies or something else – like chocolate.
My parents still eat butter cookies all year long and of course at Christmas time.
So, this time of year, I bring them traditional home-baked butter cookies.
(And yes, the rest of the year, I bake other types of cookies and cakes…)

Freshly baked (Christmas) cookies can be something special.
They smell great – and taste just as good as they smell (or better).
That’s why it’s a shame that the traditional cookies are banished to December.
There are many good classic cookies to choose from: specier, shortbread cookies, vanilla wreaths, crispy honey cookies, and soft gingerbread cakes.
(Many more in Danish)
The photos you see here are of the classic specier, cookies made with butter, flour, sugar and a little water.
They are a hit – I made them 4-5 times last December.
Variation on theme
Do you like classic butter cookies?
Or would you like to make several different cookies out of one dough?
(Easy Christmas baking)
Then twist the recipe.
You can add a little zest from an organic lemon or orange and use the juice from the citrus fruit instead of the water.
Use vanilla – vanilla bean, vanilla powder, or vanilla sugar. Or use vanilla extract instead of (some of) the water
Chop nuts, almonds, or a bar of good chocolate, put some of it or all of it in your cookie dough – mix and match!
Want more festive specier?
Sprinkle them with coloured sugar, nuts, or spicy sugar, such as cinnamon sugar or sugar mixed with (Christmas) cake spices.
You can also make coloured icing using icing sugar, a little egg white and food colouring – powder or paste.

Save your (some of) your dough
I usually split the portion in half.
I bake one half, and the other I save in the fridge if I know I want to bake later the same week. Otherwise, it gets in the freezer.
Right now, I have several cookie doughs lying in the freezer – it makes it easier (and faster) to serve different cookies.
I also want to make enough specier to serve cookies for Christmas guests at home and bring cookies with me as a gift.
The cookie dough can rest up to a week in the refrigerator.
Do not store it for more than 2-3 months in the freezer.

What do you think of the classic Danish butter cookie specier?
Please share any comments and photos of your cookies – here or on Instagram.
Tag your photos @danish.things or #danishthings
How to make

Specier – a classic Danish butter cookie
Equipment
- Mini blender or coffee grinder
- Food processor
Ingredients
- 75 g blended sugar or icing sugar
- 200 g butter
- 260 g flour
- ½-1½ tbsp. cold water - try orange juice lemon juice or coffee
Optional decoration
- coloured sugar cinnamon sugar, sugar mixed with cake spice, chopped nuts or almonds ...
Instructions
Specie dough
- Blend your sugar in a mini blender or a coffee grinder to get a "sugar-flour".
- Cut the butter into cubes.
- Mix butter and flour in a food processor until the butter is like small crumbs.
- Add your "sugar-flour" and a little liquid, mix until the dough starts to come together.
- The dough should not come together completely into a ball until you shape it with your hands.
- Divide the dough into two and make them into approximately 3 cm (1.18 inches) in diameter rolls.
- Put the rolls in a freezer bag, or wrap cling film very firm around the dough.
Rest time
- Put the dough in the fridge for a few hours - preferably overnight. Alternatively, you can put the dough in the freezer for ½-1 hour.
Bake
- Turn the oven on 180°C fan oven (200°C or 400°F)
- Cut the dough into slices of approx. ½ cm (0.2 inches) and place the cookies on a baking sheet with greaseproof paper or a silicone mat.
- Sprinkle some cookies with coloured sugar, cinnamon sugar, sugar mixed with cake spice, chopped nuts or almonds.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes until they have a golden edge - remember that ovens bake differently, so keep an eye on the cookies.
- Cool the cookies on a baking sheet.
- Store the cold specie cookies dry and airtight.
Notes
(More cookies out of one dough) Try to add:
- ½ tsk. vanilla powder, 1/4 vanilla bean - or replace some of the sugar with vanilla sugar
- 25-50 g chopped nuts or almonds
- 25-50 g chocolate
- 1-3 tbsp. finely chopped lemon or orange zest - replace the water with juice from the citrus fruit
If you use US Customary, remember that the recipe is made using Metric and converted via a plugin.
Private notes