Spritz Cookies

Almond flavored buttery cookies are always a holiday favorite. These tender cookies are bite-size delicacies and are perfect without any adornments. But I can’t resist, these cookies just sing out to be decorated with sugar sprinkles, glitter, dragees, or even candied fruits. I like adding a red or green candied cherry half to the center of the wreath shapes, but better yet, try a bit of fruitcake glace mix.  

Spritz cookies are a Scandinavian cookie, named for the German word spritzen, meaning ‘to squirt,’ and are pressed from a cookie press or piped from a pastry bag. This recipe makes dough that is extremely easy to work with and the perfect consistency for pressing through a cookie press.

 

Ingredients:

Dough: 

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large egg yolks

1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

½ teaspoon pure almond extract

Decorations (optional): 

Sugar Sprinkles or nonpareils

Dragees

Edible Glitter

Candied fruit such as cherry halves and Minced Fruitcake glace mix 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Baking sheets may be ungreased, lined with parchment paper, or lined with a non-stick baking mat.

Dough:

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt; whisk together to mix. Set aside. 

3.In a large bowl of an electric mixer, add butter and sugar and mix together on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Use a rubber spatula to scrap down the side of the bowl as needed. Add the egg yolks, vanilla extract, and almond extract, beat until thoroughly blended. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing just until combined. 

4. Fill a cookie press with dough and fit the cookie press with a plate of your choice. Press the dough at least 1 inch apart onto the baking sheet. Refill the press as necessary.

Decorations:

5. Before baking, decorate the cookies as desired. Sprinkle with sugar sprinkles, dragees, or edible glitter. The cookies that are pressed into a wreath shape are perfect for adding a candied cherry half or filling with a little bit of fruitcake glace mix.

Bake:

6. Bake 11 to 12 minutes or until the cookies are set or just barely a pale gold around the edges. Do not over bake and do not brown. Remove from oven and use a metal spatula to carefully transfer the fragile cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool.

Makes 80 to 90 cookies 

Spritz Cookie Tips:

1. The cookie press should come with a selection of plates to create different shapes. A cookie press allows you to turn out batch after batch of beautiful cookies. By simply changing the plate you can make cookies of different shapes such as stars, wreaths, flowers, and trees. 

2. Bake a test batch, about 2 or 3 cookies, to test the consistency of the dough. Spritz cookie dough should be room temperature. However if the cookie does not hold its pattern, refrigerate the dough for 10 to 15 minutes before pressing. If the dough sticks to the gun while pressing the cookies it is too stiff; thin the dough with a small amount of milk. 

3. When filling the cookie press, form a portion of the dough into a log slightly smaller than the cookie press cylinder and fit into the cookie press.  

4. To avoid air pockets, load the cookie dough into the cylinder from the bottom end where the plate is. 

5. To press the cookies, hold the press upright and apply even pressure on the handle to press out the shaped cookies. 

6. Dough may be tinted with food coloring. Use small amounts of color until you reach the desired shade. 

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