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Desserts

Spritz Cookies

Spritz cookies are crisp, buttery almond-scented cookies piped through a cookie press into little trees, wreaths and stars for Christmas.
Recipe Spritz Cookies
  • Difficulty Medium
  • Preparation 30 minutes
  • Cooking 10 minutes
  • Servings for about 80 cookies

Spritz cookies are small, crisp butter cookies shaped with a cookie press: the soft dough of butter, sugar, egg and flour, scented with vanilla and almond, is pushed through a patterned disk straight onto the baking sheet, turning out trees, wreaths, stars and flowers in seconds.

The name comes from the German verb spritzen, to squirt. The cookies came to the United States with German and Scandinavian immigrants, who know them as Spritzgebäck and spritsar, and they became a fixture of American Christmas baking, above all in families of German and Scandinavian descent.

They are often tinted green or red and finished with colored sugar or sprinkles, and one batch fills several cookie tins.

Ingredients for about 80 cookies

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Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 175 °C (350 °F) with two racks in the upper and lower thirds. Have two or three baking sheets ready at room temperature, ungreased and unlined.
  2. In a large bowl, beat the butter, the sugar and the salt with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until pale and fluffy. Add the egg, the vanilla extract and the almond extract and beat for 30 seconds more.
  3. Add the flour and mix on low speed just until combined: at first it seems dry and crumbly, but keep mixing and it turns into a soft, smooth dough. To tint it, mix in a few drops of food coloring at this point; divide the dough first if you want more than one color.
  4. Fit the cookie press with the disk you like and fill the tube with dough, pressing it down to remove air pockets. Hold the press upright with its tip resting on the sheet, squeeze once and lift it away. Space the cookies about 4 cm (1 1/2 inches) apart, and put any misshapen ones back into the press. Scatter sprinkles or colored sugar over the cookies.
  5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, swapping the sheets halfway through, until the edges just begin to turn golden. Leave the cookies on the sheets for a few minutes, then move them to a wire rack to cool. Let the sheets cool completely before pressing the next batch. Finally, remember to download our App with exclusive content and fewer ads!

Variations and Alternatives

Without a press, pipe the dough through a large star tip into rosettes, or roll it into small balls and flatten them with a fork. For chocolate spritz, replace 30 g of the flour with unsweetened cocoa powder. Instead of sprinkling them before baking, you can dip the cooled cookies in a thin glaze of powdered sugar and water or in melted chocolate.

Tips

You need a cookie press (spritz press) for the classic shapes. Press the cookies onto cool, ungreased and unlined baking sheets: the dough must stick to the metal to release from the press, so it will not work on parchment, silicone mats or a warm sheet; let the sheets cool between batches. If the dough is too soft to hold its shape, chill it for 15 to 20 minutes; if it is cold and cracks in the press, let it warm up a little. Bake only until the edges barely turn golden, so the cookies stay pale and tender.

Storage

Spritz cookies keep in an airtight tin at room temperature for up to 2 weeks, and in the freezer for up to 3 months. The dough can be wrapped and refrigerated for up to 3 days; let it come back to room temperature before pressing.

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