Spritz Cookies are easy to make with a cookie press decorated with colored sugars. They are great for a crowd, party, or bake sale.
What are Spritz Cookies?
Spritz cookies are different from roll-out or drop cookies because they are formed with a cookie press. The noise they can make when coming out of the press sounds like “spritz”, and that may be how the name came about.
If you have never used a cookies press, you are missing out. You make the dough, put the disc you want to use in the bottom of the press, put some of the dough in, put the top on, and squeeze over a cookie sheet. The dough comes out, stop squeezing, and make the next one. Believe it or not, it’s easier and much quicker than scooping out cookies.
I’ve used several cookie presses, and in my opinion, the best one is the *Wilton Cookie Press with metal discs. You can get presses with plastic discs, but they are more prone to break.
Making Spritz Cookie Dough
Spritz dough is a pretty standard dough of flour, sugar, and butter. Milk is added to make the dough a little less stiff than roll-out cookie dough so that it comes out of the press more easily.
Temperature is important. If your room is too hot, the cookies may come out too loosely. To cool the dough, put the press with the dough inside in the refrigerator to cool for about 10 minutes. If the room is too cold, put the press in a towel and warm it with your hands.
When you make the dough, feel free to add coloring gel or other flavoring to it. Fiori di Sicilia with its combination of bright citrus and warm vanilla flavors, would make wonderful cookies. You could make two batches of peppermint dough and dye one red for Candy Cane Spritz cookies. Want to dip the cookies in melted chocolate? No problem. The possibilities are endless!
Spritz Cookies Recipe
Email Me the Recipe
Spritz Cookies
Equipment
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Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400.
- 1 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup granulated sugarIn a stand mixer, thoroughly cream butter and sugar.
- 1 egg, 2 tablespoons milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extractAdd egg, milk, vanilla and almond extract; beat well
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powderStir together flour and baking powder in a separate bowl.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the mixer bowl, mixing to make a smooth dough. DO NOT CHILL the dough.
- Place dough into the *Wilton Cookie Press using the Spritz disc and press cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet 6-7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.
Notes
Nutrition
May 12, 2010, was Spane’s last day in Catechism for the year. It was also the May Crowning at our parish.
Maria had asked me weeks ago if we were going to have anything special for the children as we did for Christmas. Last week when I saw Sandra, she mentioned that she was going to BUY cookies for a gathering after class. I told her to not buy cookies, and that I would happily make cookies and bring them. Since I knew it would be the May Crowning, I thought that flowers would be appropriate.
I am obviously a glutton for punishment, but I really do enjoy baking, and my good friend Amber loves to bake and decorate as well. Plus, I had the new “toy” to play with, the Wilton Cookie Press that I had used when I went crackers. Both of us remembered working with an old-style metal cookie press that was just a disaster. I assured her that this was a really good one, and she agreed to come over and help me.
We made two kinds of cookies, Spritz cookies, and Roll-Out cookies. I thought that Amber was going to fly through the roof when she saw how easy the new cookie press was.
Amber had told me that one could make one’s own colored sugar, and I had looked at recipes on the Internet, but I still didn’t get it. So, when I told Amber that I needed yellow sugar, she simply put some sugar in a bowl, added some food coloring, and started to mix it. I grabbed it from her, went to the little food processor, put the sugar in it, and whirred it. It made yellow sugar in the blink of an eye. Then I decided that I needed Marian Blue, I decided to try using the blue pastel gel from Wilton instead of liquid food color. It worked like a charm! Now I can make any color I want. Yes! Thank you, Amber, again and again!
Amber had brought part of her collection of cookie cutters. That’s the thing, once you start collecting them, you don’t stop! I probably have about 30 cookie cutters, she has many, many more. Heck, she even has a Noah’s Ark cookie cutter!
Since the theme was flowers, I made spritz flowers and discovered that pressing them out in a hot room is not a good idea. Putting the dough in the freezer to cool it off made pressing that much easier. Amber rolled out all her cookies and baked them, then it was time for decorating.
Amber has the best eye for decorating. Anything she does is stunning. Her cookies are always get eaten first, and I love that!
Oh, wait a minute, we had to go and pick up our children at school, so we left the cookies out to cool. One of our friends was treating his daughter and friends to MacDonald’s because she had done well on her test. So, there was the issue of trying to get Spane to leave for Catechism. Finally, Amber just picked him up like a sack of potatoes, put him in the car, and I brought the shoes he refused to put back on his feet.
We drove back to the house and got the cookies, and Amber was nice enough to help me bring in the cookies. Sandra had brought in ice cream, so with the help of another mother and a great student, we served one cookie with one scoop of ice cream per child.
