These are my favorite spritz cookies! Using a cookie press, shape this easy buttery 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.
I originally published this recipe in 2018 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and additional success tips.
What Are Spritz Cookies?
The base dough is very similar to my sugar cookies, butter cookies, and pinwheel cookies. Each are shaped a different way, and spritz cookies are shaped with a cookie press. They’re buttery and sweet and, with the right recipe, hold their intricate shape when baked. 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!
One reader, Julie, commented: “The cookies came out great, and tasted delicious! I’m very new to baking, so I ordered the OXO cookie press, read all of your tips, and was thrilled with the results. If I could make these, anyone can! I can’t wait to make these again! ★★★★★”
Another reader, Patti, commented: “I have been making spritz cookies forever. I saw that you were using the same cookie press that I have so I decided to try your recipe. This is the nicest my cookies have ever looked since I started baking them. ★★★★★”
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 than a rolling pin and cookie cutters!
- 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! I always include it in my annual guide full of Holiday Gifts for Bakers.
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:
- Uses very basic ingredients
- 1-bowl recipe: Like snowball cookies, another easy and classic Christmas cookie!
- No dough-chilling required
- Fun to decorate, with no separate icing recipe required: Use sprinkles, chocolate chips, melted chocolate; and try tinting some of the dough a color.
- Freezer-friendly: After thawing, they still taste fresh!
- Ship wonderfully: These cookies hold their shape during the journey! Learn more about how to ship cookies.
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, with the bottom pressed against your baking sheet. Press the lever until it clicks and lift up the cookie press. The shaped cookie will be on your baking sheet! *If the cookie dough sticks to the cookie press, use your fingers or a knife 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 or chocolate butter cookies recipe, which is this cookie dough with a little milk to help make it pipe-able. 🙂
Can I admit I prefer making these over decorating sugar cookies with royal icing? Spritz cookies are much neater and faster to make, and are festive right out of the oven!
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page.
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 (16 Tbsp; 226g) 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 1/3 cups (291g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- optional: gel food coloring, sprinkles, chocolate chips, and melted chocolate for decorating
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Line 2 or 3 large baking sheets with silicone baking mats, or use nonstick baking sheets with no liner. (Do not use parchment paper because the cookie dough, when pressed out of the cookie press, will not adhere to it.) While the oven is preheating, and if your refrigerator or freezer has room, it’s helpful to chill your lined baking sheets. It sounds odd, but dough coming out of the cookie press adheres much better to a cold surface.
- Make the dough: 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 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) 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 cookie press 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 cold 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—this 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, 7–9 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 5. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months; thaw before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | OXO Cookie Press | Cooling Rack | Gel Food Coloring (if desired for tinting the cookie dough) | Sprinkles (such as Red Sanding Sugar, Green Sanding Sugar, Sapphire Sanding Sugar, or 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 make it pipe-able.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I decided to try this recipe over my ususl from my Betty Crocker cook book. I put the first cookie sheet in the oven and they sread out and stayed soft. Couldn’t figure what i did wrong. Realized the listed ingredients is missing baking powder. I had to throw away and start over using my original recipe
Hi Sheryl, this recipe doesn’t use baking powder. Sorry to hear the cookies didn’t turn out for you. If you ever try this recipe again, make sure your butter is cool at room temperature— that’s the usual culprit behind cookies over-spreading. You can also chill the shaped cookies in the freezer before they go into the oven. The colder the shaped dough, the less they will over-spread—and it’s easier to chill the shaped/pressed cookies rather than trying to get cold dough through the press. We hope this helps for your next batch!
Unfortunately this didn’t work for me at all. Followed the recipe to a tee. The dough was too hard for cookie press. Think too much flour.
Hi C R! How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Spritz cookie recipe does not have enough flour listed
Hi Dawn! Did you try the recipe? We’re happy to help troubleshoot if the cookies didn’t turn out for you.
Loved this recipe! Really similar to her delicious butter cookies recipe.
Of course, all Sally’s recipes are amazing , always.
Just finished making these and they are delicious ! Reminded me of making made these with my Mom when I little. I will always use this recipe. Definitely a keeper!
Thank you for sharing!
I’ve been making these for years, but with a different recipe. I tried your recipe this year and they are 1000% better! Buttery and so tasty. I use the flower shape and put a dab of jelly in the middle – my husband and daughter’s favorite. Thank you for the yummy recipe
First couple of batches were perfect but then I chilled the dough and waited for my kids to get home. When we resumed, I brought the dough to room temp and couldn’t get it the same again. It was flaky and dry. Doesn’t taste the same after cooking either. What could have caused this?
Great recipe with useful hints. Chilling the cookie sheets made the cookie dough easy to form into cookies. Followed the recipe exactly and results were perfect. Easiest time making spritz cookies.
Hi Sally,
I just bought the OXO cookie press you recommended and am excited to try it. (I think it will work much better than the old-style cookie press I have used in the past). However, before I make the recipe, I have one question:
My mother’s old recipe is almost identical to yours, but she always used cake flour rather than all-purpose flour, which I have always done, as well. Is there any reason you would recommend all-purpose flour over cake flour? (I also noticed that you use all-purpose rather than cake flour in your snowball cookies, so I have the same question for those).
Thanks!
Hi Kathy, I missed your comment last month! Great question, and I hope you love that OXO press, it’s a good one! For both the spritz cookies and the snowball cookies, I recommend all-purpose flour because it gives the cookies a little more structure and helps them hold their shape as they bake, especially when pressed or rolled. Cake flour is much softer and lower in protein, which can make cookies spread more and turn out more delicate or crumbly. That said, if you’ve had great success using cake flour in your mother’s recipe, it can certainly work; you’ll just get a slightly more tender texture. For these specific recipes, though, all-purpose flour produced the most consistent results during testing.
I make these every year and they always come out perfectly. Typically do a 2x recipe and my yield is more like 70 cookies per batch. One batch I do with orange or a different flavoring than the almond. Thanks for a great recipe!
My dough spreads upon baking. What temperature should the dough be to get through the press but not spread upon baking? I cannot seem to get pretty cookies at all!
Hi Joyce, thank you for trying this recipe. If you ever try this recipe again, make sure your butter is cool at room temperature— that’s the usual culprit behind cookies over-spreading. You can also chill the shaped cookies in the freezer before they go into the oven. The colder the shaped dough, the less they will over-spread—and it’s easier to chill the shaped/pressed cookies rather than trying to get cold dough through the press. We hope this helps for your next batch!
One cookie sheet, non stick, of cookies pressed came out great. After that I could not get the pressed cookie to stick to the cookie sheet. I even washed and rechilled it. Is there a trick to getting the cookie dough to release from the press and stick to the pan?
Hi Kathryn! If the cookie dough sticks to the cookie press and not the baking sheet, use your fingers or a knife to release it and gently place onto the cookie sheet.
What would by best bet be if I do not have any silicone baking mats and do not have nonstick baking sheets?
Hi Ashley, we would try using un-greased baking sheets. They’re buttery enough that they shouldn’t stick too much after they’re baked.
First time making these cookies. I love this recipe and the recommended cookie press. This dough is easy to work with and the press works well. Hands down the best recipe! Thank you for all your hints and notes to make this a very successful Christmas baking endeavor!
Do I need to alter this recipe in anyway if I use European butter?
Hi Ginger, We typically do not recommend using a European-style butter in our cookie recipes (unless specifically tested that way) since it has a higher fat content. If you want to try it, you may need to add a little more flour if the dough is too sticky or the cookies spread too much, but again, we haven’t tested it. Let us know if you give it a try!
Hi Stephanie,
I live in France, where I cook with French butter, and my cookies have always spread (including these!). I could never figure out why, but your response made me wonder, could it be the butter?! When you say to add flour, are we talking a tablespoon or two? Is there something in the texture to look for? Thanks!
Cookies turned out perfectly. Thanks for all the helpful tips.
I made these recently and couldn’t believe they tasted so good! I will definitely make them again!!
Where is the cornstarch?
Hi Susan! This recipe doesn’t call for cornstarch.
How can I make the dough chocolate?
Hi Marie, you can use our chocolate butter cookies recipe in a cookie press – see recipe Notes on that post for details. Happy baking!
Followed recipe, almost exactly and they came out great! (Used salted butter so omitted the salt, used 1/2 teaspoon almond and 1 1/ 2 teaspoons of vanilla) I used the gram measurements and found 291 g of flour was much less than the cups called for, but I went with it! I used my mom‘s vintage press and nonstick Farberware cookie sheets that were cold and had relatively no problems. Recipe made 60 cookies rather than 84 though.
Can we swap out the almond extract for more vanilla extract? We have nut allergies in the family. Thank you.
Hi Toni, see the recipe note about almond extract: 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!
I’m going to make one batch now but wondering if this recipe can be doubled?
Hi Marie, you should be able to double the recipe without issue, but if you find it’s getting too warm as you work (and therefore needing more flour), it may be better to make separate batches.
Can this be made with Gee?
Hi Kelsey, we haven’t tested that substitution so we’re unsure of the results. For best results, we recommend sticking with butter.
*Ghee
These cookies look good
How many does this serve?
Hi Riley, this makes about 84 bite-size cookies.
If I don’t have silicone baking mats, do I need to grease my cookie sheets?
Hi Carol, no, do not grease the cookie sheets. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
Sally, I just made your cookies and I think they will taste better in a day and chat told me that in fact is what happens because I remember them being delicious but just slightly cool from the oven they taste pretty bland to me but also why do your spritz cookies look so much bigger than the ones that I make when I use my oxo cookie press. mine are really tiny.
Thank you so much,
Hi, Sally! Can I make these cookies without the press? Thanks so much ! Love your site! <3
Hi Olivia! Our piped butter cookies or cut-out sugar cookies would be a better choice without a cookie press 🙂
These look great & super easy. Was wondering about making gingerbread cookies in the press. Have you tried that?
Hi Lynda, we haven’t tested a gingerbread dough that would work well in this cookie press, but what a great idea! Let us know if you come across a recipe you love.
Thanks for reminding me I had one of these presses in the cupboard. I now have a pile – you get a lot out of this recipe – of little Christmas trees ready for a Christmas gathering! I might even try making the next batch green …
Can you make these with salted butter? That’s all I have in the house at the moment.
If using salted butter, you can reduce the salt to 1/4 teaspoon.
Thank you…I’ll do that!
I’ve made this recipe before, better than my regular recipe (sorry Mom). I just have one question. When do you add food coloring?
Hi Karen, you can add the food coloring when you add the vanilla. So glad they’re a favorite!