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This Spritz Cookies recipe is a family favorite that is full of Christmas memories and they happen to be delicious, too!
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday! I love getting started on my Christmas activities Thanksgiving weekend. How about you? I’m not a big Black Friday shopper but there are other things I like to do. If we have time we may pick out our Christmas tree or I might get started on Christmas baking.
Since I live in a different state as the rest of my family they can feel a little farther away than usual this time of year. Baking some of my favorite childhood cookie recipes can help me feel a little bit closer to them. Today I thought I would share with you a recipe for Spritz Cookies.
Spritz cookies are German Christmas cookies. Their name comes from the German word Spritzen, which means “to squirt”. They are traditionally prepared by pushing the dough through a cookie press. If you don’t have a cookie press, don’t worry, I have a variation that you can make without one!
I love these almond-flavored cookies. Just the taste of them reminds me of when I was a kid and Christmas was the most magical time of the year! Anytime I make these little cookies, people just rave about them! All the different shapes you can make with the cookie press is really fun.
You can make all kinds of different variations. The ones that I make with the cookie press I’ll usually decorate with sprinkles and colored sugar. You can also add food coloring to the dough to make them more festive.
I’ll be showing you three different variations. Two you’ll need a cookie press for and one you don’t. If you don’t have a cookie press you can easily buy one online here. The first variation is the traditional method of using the cookie press.
In the second variation, I like to add food coloring to the dough before pressing it through the cookie press. I then melt some chocolate and dip the bottoms of the cookies into the chocolate before pressing them together to make little cookie sandwiches. So yummy!
I actually used Trader Joe’s semi-sweet chocolate chips and they were perfectly delicious for this recipe! Feel free to mix it up though, you could use milk or white chocolate, too!
In the third variation, I add some chopped pecans to the dough and then roll it into small balls. After they are done baking, I roll them into powdered sugar while they are still warm. I definitely recommend indulging in one or two before they completely cool because they are Ahh-mazing!
There is so much you can do with these cookies! That’s one of the reasons why I love this recipe so much! I hope you and your family enjoy these Spritz Cookies as much as we do!
If you know of anyone who would love these cookies, please share this post with all your friends and family. Just click on the social media icons below! Have a wonderful holiday weekend and enjoy!
Spritz Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsp milk
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 4 cups all-purpose flour sifted
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips Variation 2
- 1 cup chopped pecans Variation 3
- powdered sugar Variation 3
- favorite sprinkles and colored sugar Optional
Instructions
- Start out by creaming together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer.
- Add the egg, milk, vanilla, and almond extract; beat well.
- Whisk together or sift together the flour and baking powder in another bowl.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and mix into a smooth dough. Now, just to forewarn you, this is a very tight and thick dough. I’ve actually burned out a hand mixer before when making these cookies during this section. What I’ve started to do is when I feel that the dough is getting difficult to mix; I mix the rest of it by hand. Now, if you have a heavy duty mixer, then you probably won’t need to do this, but if you’re not sure, better safe than sorry!
Variation 1
- Divide the cookie dough into thirds. Use one-third of the dough to make with the cookie press. Force the dough through the cookie press onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate the cookies with colored sugar and sprinkles if you desire. Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven for about 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Variation 2
- Take the second third of the dough and divide it in half. Add red food coloring to one half and green to the other half. Once again force the dough through the cookie press onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Make sure you have an even amount of each cookie design for this variation. Decorate and bake in the 400-degree oven for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- In a double boiler melt the chocolate chips stirring until they are melted and smooth. I actually just use a glass bowl that I set over a pot of simmering water. I recommend keeping the water simmering in case you need to reheat the chocolate or add more chips.
- Dip the bottom of each cookie into the chocolate and smash together with each matching cookie making a cookie sandwich. Let cool until chocolate is set.
Variation 3
- Mix chopped pecans in the last third of cookie dough. Scoop out small amounts of dough and roll into about 1-inch balls. Bake in the 400-degree oven for about 8 minutes. Roll each ball into powdered sugar while still warm then cool.
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