These are my favorite spritz cookies! Using a cookie press, shape this easy cookie dough into intricate shapes and have fun decorating with sprinkles, chocolate, and chocolate chips. No cookie dough chilling required and the cookies freeze and ship wonderfully.
Welcome to day 2 in Sally’s Cookie Palooza!
We started my annual Christmas cookie countdown yesterday with Peppermint Bark Cookies and I have an equally festive CLASSIC CHRISTMAS COOKIE recipe for you today.
These are my favorite Spritz Cookies.
What are Spritz Cookies?
Spritz cookies are a lot like sugar cookies. They’re buttery and sweet and, with the right recipe, hold their intricate shape when baked. Sugar cookies are shaped with cookie cutters and spritz cookies are shaped with a cookie press. Spritz cookies are also similar to shortbread cookies, but spritz cookies usually contain an egg. Eggs help the spritz cookies hold their shape when baked, so they don’t crumble like shortbread cookies do.
The word “spritz” actually comes from the German word spritzen which means “to squirt.” This refers to squirting or pushing the cookie dough through a cookie press. I don’t know why, but I always associate the word spritz with “spritely” because spritz cookies remind me of something little spritely fairies would eat!
What is a Cookie Press?
I added a cookie press to my baking tools collection a few years ago. Inside this baking tool is a metal plate with a stenciled shape. A cookie press presses your cookie dough through the metal plate to create beautifully shaped cookies. It’s actually a lot easier (and more fun) than a rolling pin and cookie cutter!
- I recommend this OXO cookie press. This is not a sponsored post; I genuinely love this cookie press. It’s the easiest to use and comes with 12 different shapes you can swap out. Just read the hundreds of positive reviews. It also makes a wonderful holiday gift!
How to Make Spritz Cookies
This is my favorite recipe for spritz cookies. I love it so much that I published it in my cookbook Sally’s Cookie Addiction. Here’s why this is my favorite:
- BASIC INGREDIENTS. Butter, flour, egg, sugar.
- 1 BOWL. Easy recipe.
- FAST RECIPE. Chilling the cookie dough is not required.
- STICKS TO THE BAKING SHEET. Not the cookie press.
- FUN TO DECORATE. Use sprinkles, chocolate chips, melted chocolate, etc!
- FREEZER-FRIENDLY. They literally taste like new after thawed.
- SHIP WONDERFULLY. Hold their shape during the journey!
The dough comes together in 1 bowl using a mixer. There is no baking powder or baking soda needed; these buttery spritz cookies are dense, not airy. They hardly spread, so you can fit a bunch onto your baking sheets. Since the cookies are small, you can use 1 batch of dough to make a variety of shapes with your cookie press. You can even tint some of the cookie dough red or green like you see in my pictures!
How Do I Use a Cookie Press?
Each press comes with a set of instructions and the OXO cookie press I recommend is super user-friendly. Select a plate, such as the snowflake shape, and place it in the bottom compartment. After your cookie dough is prepared, spoon it inside the tube. Attach the top of the cookie press to the tube. Hold the cookie press upright– the bottom pressed against your baking sheet. Press the lever until it clicks and lift up the cookie press. Shaped cookie will be on your baking sheet! *If the cookie dough sticks to the cookie press, use your fingers to release it and place onto the cookie sheet.
- No Cookie Press? Instead, use a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch (13 mm) open star tip and use my butter cookies recipe, which is this cookie dough with a little milk to help it pipe-able. 🙂
Grab your kids, friends, cousins, grandkids, siblings, etc and have fun decorating. Can I admit I prefer these over decorating sugar cookies with royal icing? Ha!!! Spritz cookies are much neater and using a cookie press is really fun!
What is Sally's Cookie Palooza?
Sally’s Cookie Palooza is a tradition since 2013. Every December we countdown to Christmas with 10 new cookie recipes in a row. Over the next two weeks, I’m publishing 10 brand new cookie recipes as well as giveaways, the December Baking Challenge, Christmas cookie video tutorials, and so much more. This is the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Sign up for instant updates and you’ll receive a free email alert whenever I publish a new recipe. 🙂
Click to see Sally’s Cookie Palooza over the years!
My Favorite Spritz Cookies
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 84 bite-size cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These are my favorite spritz cookies! Using a cookie press, shape this easy cookie dough into intricate shapes and have fun decorating with sprinkles, chocolate, and chocolate chips. No cookie dough chilling required and they freeze and ship wonderfully.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks; 230g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- optional: sprinkles, chocolate chips, and melted chocolate for decoration
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract, and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- On low speed, beat in the flour and salt. Turn up to high speed and beat until completely combined.
- Press the dough– follow manufacturer’s directions to fit your cookie press with a decorative plate. Scrape some of the dough into your cookie press. Hold the cookie press perpendicular to the lined baking sheet and press out the cookies 2 inches (5 cm) apart. If desired, decorate the shaped cookie dough with sprinkles or press a chocolate chip into the center. Note: It’s helpful to lightly brush the shaped cookie dough with water before adding sprinkles. Helps them stick.
- If the cookie dough becomes too soft as you work, chill the shaped cookie dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes before baking.
- Bake until very lightly browned on the edges, 7 to 9 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. If desired, drizzle with melted chocolate.
- Cookies stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for up to 4 days before pressing the dough through the cookie press. You can also freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months; allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before continuing with step 4. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months; thaw before serving.
- Special Tools: KitchenAid Stand Mixer | Green Food Coloring | OXO Cookie Press | Silpat Baking Mat | Baking Sheet | Cooling Rack | Red Sanding Sugar | Green Sanding Sugar | Wilton Pearlized Sugar | Christmas Nonpareils
- Almond Extract: Almond extract adds such a wonderful flavor and I don’t recommend skipping it. If desired, you can leave it out completely or add another 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract in its place. You can also substitute with 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract, lemon extract, or another flavor extract you enjoy. Adding 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon is delicious too!
- Food Coloring: I tinted 1/4 of the cookie dough green with 1 very tiny drop of green food coloring. I recommend gel food coloring. Use sparingly; 2 drops is plenty for the entire batch.
- No Cookie Press? No problem! Instead, use a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch (13 mm) open star tip and use my butter cookies recipe, which is this cookie dough with a little milk to help it pipe-able.
Don’t miss my updated coconut macaroons!
Made this recipe twice. First time I couldn’t get it through the cookie press. Tried all the tips but that was a bust. Tossed them and tried again today. They went through the press and I was so excited to have my kids try them out but they didn’t like them. The peanut gallery said it needed more almond extract and something else it was just too plain. Thank you for the recipe though.
★
Made these with my grandson. Easy to mix and worked great with my manual cookie press.
This is my new favorite recipe. Delicious flavors.
★★★★★
made these again this year. perfect again. just follow the recipe. amazing how that works
★★★★★
I tried this but the dough was too thick and they wouldn’t come out. I ended up making thumbprint cookies with the dough. I followed the recipe to the letter.
Followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfect!
★★★★★
I made these Christmas morning with the kids and used Nuttelex Original vegan butter, halved the recipe using a scale and they turned out great! My kids practically finished the whole half batch in one day despite saying they kind smelled like Play Doh. . My little one who has a dairy allergy did not like the taste but will try again perhaps using cinnamon, the texture is soft like a snickerdoodle.
★★★★★
Made this recipe with my husband today! He pressed them out fine and they were great for eating and gift giving too!
★★★★★
I followed all instructions and measured the flour and sugar by weight, but they spread awfully in the oven and looked a dreadful mess. I think the reviewer who noted there was probably too much butter was right. I’d use a half stick less next time, as well as chill the cookie dough after mixing to ensure maximum liquid absorption into the flour, and chill the pans so that the shaped cookies remain fairly cold prior to cooking. On the plus side, the cookies were quite delicately tasty and easy to mix.
★★
I’m reading all the reviews about how they spread in oven, etc…..it sounds to me like the area that we live in makes a big difference, altitude, time of the year, dry areas as opposed to wet/hot/cold..all that stuff…that will make an impact on the results. Just a reminder to everyone. Would that be something to consider Sally?
★★★★★
Just finished making these using the Wilton cookie press. They’re awesome! I followed recipe exactly, very straight forward. I didn’t have parchment paper so I just pressed them directly onto an ungreased cookie sheet. I also ran out of trays and stuck some on a glass pan. I’m really curious why some others who commented struggled. One of the comments suspected different altitudes affecting the results. I’m at sea level, if that helps. One thing I would caution is that these are very delicate. I wouldn’t ship these without some extra padding or else the recipient is just going to get a box of crumbs. Will definitely be making these again…Sally’s never steered me wrong!
I agree with you in your statement that Sally’s never steered me wrong. If I am looking for a new recipe to try and her name is there, I will try hers before I try something else. We just finished a batch of Molasses Ginger Cookies (not her name for them) which I have made several times and love and I had decided some spritz cookies would be a nice change and I have made these before too and they turned out fine. Yes altitude affects the outcome as does humidity, temperature, the barometric pressure, everyone’s individual oven, how long you mix, what temperature the ingredients are at as well as how old ingredients are, the temperature of the cookie batter when complete, the temperature of your house and so much more. Sally cannot cover every single thing that could possibly affect the outcome. Home cooking/baking is never a total guarantee but if you want a guarantee……………………….
★★★★★
Perfect! I made these with my 13 year old. She has been taught to spoon (not scoop) flour and wipe off the excess with a knife for an accurate measure. Butter and dough were at room temperature. Initial panic as they didn’t stick to the parchment paper, but they came out of the press fine pressing on the cookie sheet directly.
★★★★★
Made these today. First 2 cookie sheets the cookies came out of the press perfect. Not sure if the dough got to soft while the cookies were baking but dough would not come out of the press. So I chilled the dough for 20 mins. Still had trouble.
My family found these cookies a bit dry though flavor was good. I substituted half the butter with shortening and cut down the flour by 1/4 cup when I made them the second time. This improved the texture. Also they were easier to press directly onto cookie sheet than on parchment.
★★★★
I have made this recipient several times and it sure is a crowd pleaser! They are soft, well flavored, and the perfect size. I have found that you don’t need to refrigerate the dough because it goes through the press very well. I have a metal cookie press and it works very well. They have always worked very well for me. Love it so much! Thanks Sally! I cant wait to try some of your other recipes!!
★★★★★
Loved this recipe. I used the wilton cookie press and it worked wonderful. Instead of almond extract i just doubled the vanilla extract and they tasted delicious!.
Great recipe, thanks. Its the first time i´ve managed to make my press work!
★★★★★
I’ve made these cookies about 30 times. No changes to receipe except I use 3 teaspoons of pure almond extract because we love the flavor of almond. These cookies won’t be mistaken for a butter or sugar cookie. They are perfect year round and so fun to decorate according to the occasion. They keep a long time in a tin and make lovely gifts. Also, they are just so delicious.
★★★★★
These came out perfectly. I followed the directions exactly, using room temp baking trays and silicone baking sheets.
★★★★★
Spritz are my favorite German cookie and I make them every year, but they cannot be eaten in the first week. They don’t have their taste yet.
I powder sugar my cookies and let them sit. Usually in week 2-3 they taste their best, think English short bread.
★★★★★
I made these several months ago and they turned out great. It was the first time I’d used a cookie press and I was surprised at how easy it was. Sally, is there a way to add lemon to this recipe to make it a summer cookie?
★★★★★
Hi Tammy! You could add some lemon zest (about 1 Tbs) or some lemon extract (1 tsp) for a lemon spritz cookie. Let us know how they go!
I made this recipe but subtracted 3 tablespoons of butter, and it turned out beautifully, no spreading at all (which has been a problem in the past for me).
★★★★