Danish Strips- easy butter cookies

This is a recipe we make most years. It tastes like the Danish butter cookies that one buys in the tins, but is very easy to make, and makes a LOT! It is a "traditional family recipe" that I clipped from the paper many years ago. :)

Danish Strips

Makes a LOT- 150-200?

2 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups or 1 pound butter, and quality matters here!
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups AP flour
1 scant teaspoon salt

Decorations: sugar- colored or not, pref big crystals; finely chopped nuts; small choc chips; various seasonal sprinkles, etc.- we usually use colored sugar and/or seasonal sprinkles

Separate 1 egg, reserving white.

Mix other egg, yolk, sugar, butter, and vanilla. Beat until fairly light. (This is very forgiving, and while the end result will differ, they are all yummy!)

Stir in flour and salt. Can be refrigerated or frozen here; if frozen, thaw before proceeding.

Grease cookie sheet. Roll 3-3.25 oz dough into a cookie-sheet-long cylinder. Put 3 such cylinders on sheet. Pat out until they are roughly 1.5 inches wide and 0.25 inches thick.

Beat reserved egg white with 1 teaspoon water till frothy. Brush patted-out dough with wash; sprinkle on decorations. Do not go too heavy; these are delicate cookies!

Bake at 350F for 8-10 min (more like 12-15 min in our oven). I like the edges somewhat browned, though that is not supposedly not ideal; go with what you prefer! It will take longer if the dough has been chilled than if you are doing it straight from the mixer, and straight from the mixer it will spread more.

Remove when at your preferred doneness. While hot, use a pizza wheel cutter to slice them into diagonal strips. Allow to cool till stiff, remove from pan with a long flexible spatula.

Cool completely, and store in closed container.