Colorful Tie-Dye Butter Cookies
Move over, tie-dyed loungewear – there’s a new psychedelic star in town: tie-dye butter cookies.
Okay, raise your hand if you have fallen back in love with tie dye lately. Because, same.
Once resigned to Grateful Dead concerts and Girl Scout camping trips (in undoubtedly mutually exclusive audiences), the trend has made a serious comeback. And honestly? It feels deserved.
Tie-dye has always carried a certain optimism — a chaotic joy that somehow works. And while the original movement was grounded in earthy ideals, today’s versions lean unapologetically bright. Lucky for us, nature’s rainbow is now available through some amazingly saturated plant-based food-coloring powders.
These tie-dye butter cookies take a classic, simple butter cookie base and give it a colorful, swirled glaze finish that feels playful without being fussy.
Why You’ll Love These Tie-Dye Butter Cookies
Surely, tie dye’s return signals happier times. And what’s not to be happy about? These tie dye butter cookies start with a simple, buttery cutout cookie base — tender, lightly sweet, and sturdy enough for cookie cutters. Add a delicate layer of glaze, and suddenly the classic butter cookie feels entirely new.
These are legitimately some of the best butter cookies I’ve ever had. Just sweet enough that you could argue they belong next to a cup of coffee in the morning.
The dough rolls out cleanly and holds its shape when baked, making these ideal cutout butter cookies for birthdays, holidays, or just a colorful weekend baking project.
How to Create the Tie-Dye Glaze Effect
The cookie’s swirled design is deceptively simple.
Mix up small batches of glaze icing in your choice of colors; as you can see, I chose pink, blue and yellow. Add one spoonful of each color to a small plate. For a pastel effect or to create space between the colors as I did, include a spoonful of uncolored icing as well.
Using a toothpick, gently swirl, but do not over-mix. You want movement, not mud.
Holding the edges, dip your baked cookie into the swirl and gently lift. Don’t worry about letting the glaze drip – the beauty is in the mess! How groovy is that?
Peace, love and butter cookies, baby.
Colorful Tie-Dye Butter Cookies
Equipment
- Circular cookie cutters
Ingredients
Butter Cookies
- 14 Tbsp. unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar 100 g
- 1¼ tsp. kosher salt
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 256 g
Royal Icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar, divided 240 g
- 6 Tbsp. or more whole milk, divided
- Food coloring as needed
- ¼ tsp. kosher salt divided
Instructions
Prepare the Butter Cookies
- Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and salt in a large bowl, scraping down sides and bottom of bowl as needed, until light and creamy, about 3 minutes.
- Add egg yolks and vanilla and beat until incorporated, about 1 minute.
- Reduce speed to low, add 2 cups flour, and mix until incorporated. Dough will be semifirm but can be rolled out without chilling. If your kitchen is very warm and/or dough is sticky, pat it into a 1″-thick disk, wrap in plastic, and chill 15 minutes to let firm up before rolling out.
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Roll out dough on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper, dusting with more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking, to about ¼” thick.
- Punch out shapes as desired with lightly floured cookie cutters and transfer to 2 parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1½” apart.
- Pat scraps into a 1″-thick disk, wrap with plastic, and chill 10 minutes if soft. Repeat process.
- Bake cookies 10-15 minutes, rotating halfway through, until edges are golden brown.
- Let cookies cool 10 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
Making the Icing & Decorating the Cookies
- Whisk 1 cup powdered sugar, 3 Tbsp. milk, food coloring (start off with just a few drops and add more as needed), and half of salt in a small bowl until no lumps remain. Glaze should be the consistency of heavy cream; add more milk if needed.
- For a deeper color, whisk in more food coloring 1 drop at a time until desired color is achieved; adjust with milk if needed. Repeat with second food-coloring, remaining salt, remaining 1 cup powdered sugar, and remaining 3 Tbsp. milk, adjusting intensity of color as desired.
- Spoon 1 tsp. first glaze in the center of a small plate. Drizzle 1 tsp. second glaze over the first and use a toothpick to slightly swirl colors together; don’t go overboard. (If you want to decorate larger cookies, add 1 tsp. glaze to plate for each additional inch.)
- Gently press the top of a cookie into glaze, then lift up and allow excess glaze to drip back onto the plate.
- Using a toothpick, pop any air bubbles and swirl colors more if desired.
- Transfer to a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet.
- Repeat with 2 more cookies, adding ½ tsp. of each color of glaze to plate before each cookie is dipped.
- The glaze will lose its swirly effect at this point. Clean plate and repeat process, decorating cookies in batches of 3 until all cookies have been glazed.
- Let sit until glaze is set, at least 2 hours.
