Our family just moved to the great city of Chicago. We love it, and we've been so busy! There's always something to do and it's so easy to get around on foot, train or by car. Between all the unpacking and exploring, I’ve managed to squeeze in some baking and sample some really good cookies. At our house, we call these School Butter Cookies or more specifically, CPS Lunchroom Butter Cookies. Update: I made a video just for fun! It's near the bottom of the post.
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CPS Butter Cookies
A friend gave me this cookie last week. It was made by her friend who wraps each cookie individually and shares or sells them. He obviously puts a lot of love in his baking, and his cookie seems like it might be reminiscent of the ones they used to serve in Chicago public school lunchrooms. It's a cross between a butter cookie and a sugar cookie and is made with just four ingredients -- butter, sugar, flour and vanilla. There's no chemical leavening agent, but the cookies bake up light and crispy thanks to the air that's whipped in with the butter and sugar. The texture is much lighter than shortbread, but the butter flavor comes through loud and clear.
I made a batch yesterday using a mishmash of different CPS butter school lunchroom cookie copycats. Mine are smaller than the originals and not exactly the same, but they got a vote of approval from a friend who attended Chicago public schools. So even if they're not the same cookies, they're good on their own merit.
Notes on the Butter
I used Danish butter from one of my neighborhood grocery stores. It's called Lurpak, and I've been seeing it at more American grocery stores. I used unsalted and added my own salt to the recipe, but most shortbread type recipes advise using salted. You can experiment with different brands of butter. Land o' Lakes, New Zealand Grass Fed and Kerrygold work well too.
Notes on the Flour
For the flour I used Pillsbury's Best bleached. I normally used unbleached, but I figured CPS probably used bleached. Also, from my experience, cookies with bleached flour don't spread quite so much. The key is getting the amount of flour just right so that the cookies don't spread too much or too little. That can be tricky since volume measurements of flour aren't always accurate, so if you have a scale it's best to weigh, but also go by the feel of the dough. The dough should be stiff enough to work with and not require any refrigeration.
Steps to Make CPS Copycat Cookies
For this recipe, you'll need salted butter, sugar, flour and vanilla. If using unsalted butter, you will also need about ¾ teaspoon of salt.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Have ready one or two baking sheets lined with Silpats or parchment paper.
- Using a stand mixer with the whisk, beat the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. When you are about done beating the butter and sugar, add the vanilla.
- Add flour and stir it in by hand. If desired, you may switch to the paddle attachment. 2 cups of flour weighing 280 grams should work. Start with 1 ½ cups, then add remaining flour 2 tablespoons until the dough is just firm enough to form into a ball.
- Using a generously rounded tablespoon, scoop the dough and shape it into 24 balls. Arrange on baking sheets, 12 to a sheet, spacing about 2 ½ inches apart. Dampen fingers and press index, middle and ring fingers into each dough ball to make indentations and flatten. At this point you can bake the dough or put the flattened rounds on a plate. Cover with plastic and chill until ready to bake.
- Bake one sheet at a time for about 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned around the edges. Let cool for about 3 minutes on the baking sheet, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Recipe
Chicago Public School Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks good salted butter at cool room temperature (230 grams)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 more tablespoons flour optional, only if needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and have ready an ungreased or Silpat lined baking sheet.
- With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, scraping bowl often, until very light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and scrape sides of bowl again.
- Gradually stir in flour, ½ cup at a time, until a smooth dough forms.
- Using a generously rounded tablespoon, scoop up dough and shape into 24 balls.
- Arrange the dough balls on baking sheets spacing about 2 ½ inches apart. Dampen fingers and press index, middle and ring fingers into each dough ball to make indentations and flatten. At this point you can bake the dough or put the flattened rounds on a plate, cover with plastic and chill until ready to bake.
- Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Carefully transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
Notes
Also, I recommend you add the flour gradually. Start with 1 ½ cup and then add the flour a few tablespoons at a time stirring until the dough is just firm enough to be shaped into a ball.
Use the best butter you can get find. The Danish butter is good, but KerryGold works really well too and gives the cookies a yellow hue.
Laurie raymond says
Excellent - nothing better - simple and so good ! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Anna says
Adrienne, the peanut butter ones were my favorite, but I lived in Texas so they were probably different. The cookies that come closest to the ones we had in Texas were these. They are made with shortening which is what gives them the great texture. https://www.cookiemadness.net/2020/07/21/school-lunch-peanut-butter-cookies/
Adrienne says
Does a recipe for the Chiago Public Schools Peanut Butter Cookies exist? These cookies were my favorite.
the PB butter cookies were my favorite.
Timeca S. says
I'm from Gary, Indiana and we had these cookies in our school system also.
These are so good...just like I remembered! They taste like high school!! Thank you for this recipe!!!
Anna says
Cheryl, good luck with this one. Hopefully it will work well for you.
cheryl mason says
I have the actual cps cookie recipe but it is for a massive amount of cookies (uses 5 lbs of butter) I have been saying I was going to try to figur the amounts for a much smaller batch. I am looking forward to using your measurements.
Anna says
I love it when CPS alum approve! Thanks for the review.
Joanne Crisanti says
Thank you for sharing you CPS lunchroom cookie recipe. It was exactly the
cookie that was loved by my husband. I made it for him for "Father's Day".
Well done! He really likes nostalgia. It brought back his fond memories of child-
hood.
Diane Riley says
I found your blog by accident and zeroed in on the Chicago Public School cookies. I attended high school in Chicago and bought these cookies regularly. They were delicious. That was 50 years ago. How exciting to find the recipe. Diane
Anna says
I love this comment so much.
Riff Raff says
Came out great! I don't know about all this "use best butter" available. CPS didn't go out and get Danish or Kelly butter, they used what they got, in bulk. I did add a little more vanilla then the recipe. man did the memories come flooding back. it's been 47 years since I've had them. I felt like a kid again, back in the over crowded cafeteria. Now I want to find the CPS cake recipe.
Anna says
This recipe calls for granulated sugar. It partially dissolves during the intense whipping process. I haven't tried this recipe with powdered sugar, but I have tried others and the results are just a bit different. These cookies are somewhere between shortbread and butter cookies. They're not as starchy textured as ones made with powdered sugar. The only drawback to this one is that it involves so much whipping.
Malik says
Should it be granulated sugar or confectioners sugar(powder)?
victoria says
i have the actual recipe typed up by CPS and the sugar is powdered sugar. makes them melt in your mouth
Anna says
Maybe put sprinkles on a few and see what you think. They'd probably be okay for a little pop of color.
Amy Kamakaiwi says
Can u add sprinkles to this recipe?
Anna says
Thank you for the review, Michael! I'll try to keep posting very detailed directions.
Michael says
OMG I just made the cps butter cookie recipe u posted I’ve made the cps butter cookies before another recipe not this one and I have to tell u I never had it turn out so amazing I followed ur recipe to the T I’ve had cookies before that I made they flattened out they all ran into each other on the cookie sheet turned out more of a sugar cookie than butter but this is truly heaven on earth the texture the flavor the cookies are the best I’ve ever made want to thank you for tweaks in the recipe it worked perfectly it made my cookies perfection yumm wow I’m so excited to share w my friends thanks again ur the best
Anna says
McCutcheon is still there and it's a STEAM school now.
MARY E COMBS says
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! I was reminiscing with some classmates from middle school (50 years ago!) and happened to ask if anyone remembered the shortbread cookies from McCutcheon School cafeteria. We would come to school early and the kind lunch ladies would give them out warm and delicious from the oven. On a cold winter day, they were heaven! Then someone mentioned your post! Thank you thank you!
Anna says
Thank you! That is the goal.
Renee Jones says
I made them. it brought back memories in my childhood
Anna says
The glasses with the sunburst pattern on the bottom make such pretty cookies. Thanks for sharing that tip!
Patricia Christie says
The Chicago Butter Cookies are a favorite of everyone! Easy to make and delicious to eat!
I made a few minor changes, I roll the dough into a log and store it in the refrigerator. I cut them into 15 gram pieces, roll them in to little balls. Instead of stamping them with my fingers, I used a pretty glass with a sunburst on the bottom.
Anna says
Clarence, thanks for testing the different flours. I've never made the CPS cookies with self-rising flour, but I'm definitely going to try it very soon. And thanks for mentioning the brand. I'll pick up some Great Value flour next time I'm at Wal*Mart. I don't think I've used Great Value yet, but I tend to buy all different brands depending on what I'm making and what's on sale and it's interesting how different brands and types of flour work in recipes.
Clarence says
Great simple recipe.
I've made successful batches of butter cookies following your guide with batches made with generic Great Value brand flour. The first two batches was made using All-Purpose Flour paired with salted butter, they came out great. Then on my next run I did successful batch using Great Value Self-Rising Flour paired with unsalted butter, and these came out equally the same as the previous batch. Proving to me that you can use either flour types, provided you have unsalted butter for Self-risings since that flour is already packed with salt. The brand of butter I used was Prairie Farms butter.
This recipe was so simple and fun to do that I'm going to soon try my hand at Chocolate Chip Cookies next.
Anna says
Hi Sylvia,
Yes! You can freeze the Chicago Public School Butter Cookies. Just let them cool completely, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then put in a heavy duty freezer bag.
Sylvia Jackson says
Hello. Can you freeze these cookies, if you have to bake ahead?
Thanks
Sylvia
Anna says
Let's hear it for lunch ladies! They all need a raise. Thanks for sharing that, V.
Vincent says
This is the way my mother made them, she was a great lunch lady.
Anna says
Thank you, Janice! I'll bet yours are great and love the idea of turning them into thumbprint cookies.
Janice Clarke-Reiter says
These cookies are delightful! I have made them a number of times following the recipe exactly. I also make them incorporating dried fruit or mini chocolate chips, toffee chips, nuts and so forth. I press some cookies and place a small amount of jam in the center for a mini thumbprint cookie. So happy I encountered your recipe.
Anna says
Hi Gail! I'm glad you like the recipe. As for why they are sometimes hard and sometimes soft, it probably has to do with the temperature of the dough and the bake time. Maybe you always use the same bake time, but sometimes the dough is colder so the cookies end up not baking quite as long and come out soft? I'm going to assume you use the same brands of flour, same brand of butter, etc. If that's not the case, using a softer flour like cake flour or even bleached flour (any brand) might make the cookies softer than if you'd used unbleached. The other thing would be if you are using margarine rather than butter. Margarine makes cookies softer.
Gail says
I love these cookies,they bring back old memories for me. I have made them many times and sometimes they are hard and not soft.
Can you tell me what I might be doing wrong.?
Gail
Anna says
Edmund, yes! Whole wheat flour is much dryer and will absorb too much moisture. The cookies will be dry and too hard to shape. I'm wondering if you meant "unbleached" flour rather than whole wheat. You can definitely use unbleached as opposed to bleached. But I wouldn't recommend whole wheat flour without other adjustments.
Edmund t. Scott says
Will it make a difference if using bleached whole wheat flour?
Anna says
Penny, that's a good question. I've never tried. My advice is to start with this size batch and if you like the results, try doubling. This recipe makes great cookies, but sometimes my cookies are flatter than others. I've found I get different results with different brands of butter, flour and most importantly, the amount of time spent whipping the butter. You really do have to whip as directed so the cookies will be light. Good luck!
Penny says
Can you make a double batch
J Blackmon says
Thank you for this simple, yet STUNNING cookie. Amazing flavor and quickly out together.
TxPepper says
I was wondering which city/state was going to be the lucky recipient of your move. Glad to read that you are getting settled in.
But! You're going to miss us. 😀
Carol says
Glad you are enjoying Chicago Anna! I lived in Peoria, IL for my first 32 years. We moved to PA almost 10 years ago. If you say you are from IL here, they always assume you have moved from Chicago :). Cookies look great!
Rebecca says
How exciting! We just came back from a trip to Chicago. I hope you will be trying to duplicate some of the treats from Sweet Mandy B's!
Anna says
Kelly, I've seen some versions that have either all powdered sugar or a mixture of the two. I'm going to try that one soon, but these were such a hit that I'll probably make another batch using this same recipe and testing with different butter. I'm wondering if the special Danish butter is really what made them so good. The people I made them for are still talking about them.
Katrina says
Looks like a fun, simple cookie!
Kelly says
Welcome to the upper midwest, from the Milwaukee area! I've been making a variation of this, with powdered sugar, as cut outs. Looking forward to trying with granulated sugar!
joan says
These look wonderful! Can't wait to hear about your cooking/eating adventures in The Windy City....
cookienurse says
Congratulations on your move to Chicago!
Anna says
Sugar is optional. I actually like sprinkling it on the hot cookies because it just melts a little and adheres, whereas if you sprinkle it on before, it soaks in. But that sugar dusting was just an optional last minute thing and is not necessary.
Darlene says
I know I would love these! The indentations from the fingerprints make them especially charming. Did you sprinkle the top of the unbaked cookies with sugar? It looks like you may have in the pictures.
So happy to hear you and your family are enjoying your new home!
Kimberly says
Oh my, those cookies look absolutely delicious! I will be making these this weekend for sure.