How to Make Spritz Cookies

Around the holidays, spritz cookies are my absolute favorite treat. This past Christmas I wasn't in Ohio for the first time in my life during the holidays, so I had to make my own spritz cookies. I borrowed a spritzer from my neighbor and they turned out great! I posted somewhere (Facebook, maybe?) a picture of my Christmas spritz cookies and my brother mentioned I should explain how to make them, so I made them again for a friend's birthday, and this time, I took pictures. Enjoy!

Grandma's Spritz Cookies

1 Cup Butter, Softened

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

1 Egg

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract

2 1/3 Cups Flour

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Food Coloring of Choice

Sprinkles of Choice

You can use any butter or butter substitute you would like; in fact if you're looking to cut calories, I would recommend something less fattening.

However if you're looking for optimum taste, go with Salted Sweet Cream Butter.

I only use this for baking, but I notice a difference in my cookies. Oh, and a word about softened butter: I read that it is important that you do not over-soften your butter. If the recipe, like this one, calls for softened butter, the best option is to leave it out overnight. Try to avoid microwaving it if possible because it is easy to melt. The consistency of the cookies can be compromised if the butter is too hard or too soft. Learn something new every day!

The first thing you need to do is cream together the butter with the powdered sugar. It's best to use an electric mixer for this. After the butter and sugar are well blended, add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract. It should look like this:

Then I take this opportunity to add whatever food coloring I'd like. For this batch I chose blue, mostly because during the holidays I almost always use red and green. The blue turned out pretty, but it was more turquoise. You can add the food coloring later, but I find it easier to mix if it's added before the flour.

The next thing you want to do is add the flour and salt. You can continue to use the electric mixer, but this might be more easy done with a wooden spoon or something along those lines. When you're finished, your dough should look like this:

Here's where you need to have your spritzer. If you don't have one already, you can get one anywhere where cake supplies are sold. I saw them at Michael's the other day, although they look a lot newer and nicer than the old ones I've always used.

The one my grandma has is an old, metal, hand crank kind! Anyway, follow the directions on your spritzer to make sure it's put together correctly and you have the desired tip connected to the end. This particular spritzer is electric. After its all put together, load it with dough as directed. A side note: If you would like to make the dough ahead of time, this is a great time saver, especially during the holidays when you may be really busy the day you plan to bake. Store

the dough in the refrigerator, but make sure you take the dough out the night before or the morning you plan to bake. The dough MUST be soft before you load it into the spritzer!!

Put the bottom of the spritzer on an ungreased cookie sheet and pull trigger or pump the hand

pump until the desired amount of dough is released. This may take some trial and error at first as you won't be able to see how much dough is coming out without picking the spritzer up to look. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it quickly! Fill the cookie sheet with cookies. Sprinkle a complimentary colored sugar over the cookies.

Bake at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes or until the bottom of the cookie just starts to brown. The cookies will be soft! Let cool for about 5 minutes before using a spatula to remove cookies.

Enjoy the finished cookies! They will go fast!