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.
We started my annual 10-day 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?
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!
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 Holiday Baking Gift Guide.
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? Ha!!! Spritz cookies are much neater and faster to make, and are festive right out of the oven!
PrintMy 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 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 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.
Don’t miss these coconut macaroons!
Keep your dough warmer. It took me a long time to figure that out. I grew up in a tropical climate and had no probs. Then I moved to a California and I could not get the dough to release. Warmer dough is the answer.
I bought an OXO press, and it works a lot better than our ancient family one. Thanks for the rec! The cookies were great for me, but I’m not surprised they didn’t work with an old press. This is the first Sally recipe for me that took a lot longer than the estimate. Taste was great. I applied water with a pastry brush. I got some sprinkles to stick, but I also threw sprinkles everywhere. A little annoyed about that, but otherwise this was great!
Our familys favorite every year, except we also make them with Anise and Vanilla..its so good!
I’m a baker and have tried a lot of cookie recipes and this one is not great. This is very much a butter cookie that wishes it was a sugar cookie. Very boring flavor. The dough is very thick and not good for a cookie press but it can be rolled by hand and pressed very slightly with a sugar coated glass to add a bit more sugar for flavor. Do not add more sugar to the dough! Just sprinkle it on top. Adding more to the mix will cause your cookies to flatten too much and they’ll be chewy. If you like a butter cookie or a not so sweet sugar cookie this is for you. But if you’re going to eat the calories and like a sweet cookie, make a traditional sugar cookie instead.
These are amazing! This was my first time making spritz cookies and the only change I made was that I used king Arthur measure for measure gluten free flour. Use good old seasoned cookie sheets (so the dough sticks) and pop the cookies in the fridge for a few minutes before baking. Perfection! So delicious! Double this recipe!!
I’ve made this recipe before and the cookies turned out great.
Just made a batch for Halloween and they spread like pancakes. But I think it’s because my butter was TOO SOFT. Left at room temp, but I think that it was too long sitting.
Use the OXO press, on NordicWare or Fat Daddio sheets that I put in the fridge for a few hours and never have a problem with the cookies not sticking to the pan.
Then I place the raw cookies in the fridge for about 30 minutes before putting in a 375 oven. For my oven, I prefer the slightly higher temp. I also do only 1 sheet at a time so it takes about 3 batches.
I do like this recipe, but I think that next time, I’ll also add in 1/4 cup of Corn Starch as I’ve seen from other recipes. But I know that this recipe works for my press, on my sheets, in my oven. Even my hubby who doesn’t care for Spritz cookies loves them.
Hi Sally – I want to bake these cookies and send them to a friend overseas. When wrapped and packaged like you describe in your shipping cookies article, how long will these stay good? Shipping to this friend usually takes 4-6 weekdays, so I’m a bit nervous the cookies will be stale upon arrival!
Hi Lea, These cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Do not use parchment! The cookies will not release onto parchment. They do, however, stick to a cookie sheet. Parchment isn’t necessary. Butter cookies do not stick. I’m not sure about silicon baking matts, as I didn’t use one.
Thank you for this information. Exactly what I needed to know. I don’t have a silicone mat, but wasn’t sure if I could use a baking sheet and if it needed greasing. Thanks!
Would it be possible to make these chocolate? If so, how much cocoa powder would you add?
Hi Carla, try adding 1/3 cup cocoa powder, and make sure to sift it to remove clumps. Let us know how they turn out!
The original recipe is delicious. Thank you for the cocoa powder information. With the addition of the cocoa powder, would you eliminate the almond extract or keep it as is? I should have asked before. Thank you.
Hello! I had the same problem as many of the comments (cookies not sticking and coming out of the press clean) even slightly chilled. What worked for me was removing the parchment paper I had been using and pressing them directly onto the sheet. Not sure if this will work for everyone – but it worked for me and the cookies came out great! I am new to Spritz Cookies, so I appreciate and agree with the comment above about getting the tension just right. For me, with my OXO cookie press, I am finding it is one full click and then a little extra to get the perfect press!
Good luck, everyone!
Is there anything to bear in mind when unscrewing/screwing when refilling with more dough? Does it all have to be perfectly clean in order for the shapes to come out nicely, or does that not really afect a clean cut? I mean if some dough gets gets in the corners/edges…
Hi Mike, just do your best to refill the dough, it make take some practice to get your preferred technique down. It doesn’t have to be perfect!
What’s the consistency of the dough like?
Hi Sarah, it’s quite a thick dough. You can see photos in the post above for a visual!
This was my first time making spritz cookies and I thought these were delicious! Even my ugliest cookies got consumed. Like others, I also struggled to get my cookies to release from my press- I had read a tip somewhere about cooling the cookie sheet before pressing the cookies, and that seemed to help immensely with getting them to stick to the pan. I also followed Sally’s tip about brushing the cookies with water before adding sprinkles, and my sprinkles didn’t roll off! Great recipe! If I ever have the energy to make spritz cookies again, I will definitely make this recipe.
This worked well for me. I did notice that if there was any grease or if I tried to use the pan again for the 2nd batch without washing and cooling the sheet it was more difficult to release the cookies from the gun. I have a trusty Wilton press. I did also cook them at 400° or they spread too much on the pan.
I’m just waiting on my last batch in the oven … these cookies are so easy and taste great! I can’t believe I’ve never used a cookie press in my life! Made little hearts for Valentine’s Day and will be drizzling them with melted chocolate and putting sprinkles on. Thanks for sharing Sally!
Use 3 egg yolks instead of one whole egg and it will go through the press perfectly! Yum!!
This is the first time in maybe 35-40 years that I decided to make spritz cookies. I have my moms “vintage” Mirro cookie press. When I was in high school, I made 1000s of spritz cookies. I no longer have my original recipe, so I went online. I saw Sally’s and I trust her recipes. I followed it exactly. Epic fail. First of all cookies wouldn’t stick to parchment. I added a little more flour for a stiffer dough. Then I removed parchment. Flavor is so so. And it does not make 84 little heart cookies. I will look for another recipe. Sorry, Sally, not good.
Sorry Sal, these did not work for me. Followed your recipe down to the gram measurements too. Added an extra 1/4 cup flour plus extra 1/4 cup cornflour and it did the trick. Thanks anyway!
These taste amazing, just like I remember from childhood. I splurged for a good, heavy cookie sheet and got the OXO cookie press because I never had success with my old press. Wow that’s a good design. I made perfectly shaped, pressed cookie and I have arthritis.
My first time using a biscuit press after receiving one for Christmas and I can’t believe how well this recipe worked – I am a novice at baking and usually have lots of disasters when making anything, but this worked a treat! The consistency of the dough was perfect for the press and the almond extract with the vanilla extract is just delicious. Thank you!
This recipe was perfect and my cookies were amazing. I followed the recipe exactly but doubled it. I put my baking sheets in the fridge because I learned from last year. I also iced them and they are soooooo good.
Made these with no problem, even with it being my first time using my cookie press. I chilled the dough in between each batch. Took 25 mins not 9! I put icing on some cookies but I prefer without. The almond extract is a Must! Do not skip!
Out of all the cookie recipes I’ve tried from this website, these were absolute fail and just jammed in the cookie press. So I went back to my original recipe without any problems. . ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Followed exactly and even tried to chill the dough. They failed and i have never had a problem with spritz cookies i just couldn’t find my original recipe again. The proportions here might be wrong… the cookies flatten out chilled or not chilled.
Hi Dee, 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. Sorry for the trouble!
This was my first time using a cookie press – it got easier as time went on. I’m sorry I did not see the recommendation to chill the cookie tin. That probably would’ve made things easier. But the cookies tasted delicious. It’s all I can do not to just sit with a plate of them and eat them all while I watch TV.
I made these for the first time and worked out well with no problems at all except they went to fast. Good Job.
These cookies are so good. Yep, I had problems at first with the press/dough. My mother-in-law used to make these when my husband was young and he would do the press. I had never done it so I researched a bit beforehand. I chilled the cookie sheets ahead of time because I always have trouble with warm cookie dough because I have a wood cookstove in the kitchen which makes it very hot in the kitchen. So he’s clicking 2x and still they are sticky. I put the PRESS in the fridge, then I did it on ONE click…I had no further problems. Dough cannot be too warm and chilled sheets helps the process.
I just made these today. They turned out perfect and they are absolutely delicious! When the dough started to not stick, I followed the advice of previous comments and put my cookie sheet in the refrigerator for a few minutes. After that, the press worked perfectly again. The almond flavor is perfect! Thanks for a great recipe.
I love this recipe real easy ive made it 2 times so far and never had any problems so thank you Linda
I envy everyone who had a great result with this recipe. I am making them in Norway so maybe ingredients are slightly different and I used my age old cookie press. It wouldn’t release and this recipe didn’t work out at all even trying your advice about cold cookie sheets. I ended throwing out the dough and the cookie press. Will order a new cookie press and try again next year.
I am right there with you—my cookies were an absolute fail.
I also was unable to press the cookies. I followed the recipe exactly, including spooning the flour. I ended up rolling the dough and using cookie cutters. The flavor is good. It’s just not what I was planning to bake.
Karen, pay closer attention to the flour and butter mix, if its off and on the dry side, no press will work. Good Luck.
I laughed that u threw out the cookie press and dough! I didn’t throw mine out but I have 2 cookie presses that never seem to work! I am throwing them both out! What brand did u replace the cookie press with and sis it work?
Please advise, thanks!
I haven’t tried this recipe but they are all so similar. I’ve used many cookie press. The OXO is the way to go! And start with an easy shape such as the heart. If it doesn’t look good toss is back in dough bowl and keep trying til you get the hang of it. There is a tension that you will feel in the handle that is just right.
I have an antique cookie press that you turn the dial at the top. It didn’t’t do well until I refrigerated the dough for awhile. Freezer briefly in hind sight would be faster. We opted to get a new Oxo cookie press today to give that a try! Cookies tasted great though.