Best Spritz Cookie Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Combine butter, brown sugar, white sugar, and vanilla extract in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, mixing for about 15 seconds after each yolk. Add cream cheese and mix until well combined. Mix in nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt; beat until completely mixed. Add flour and stir just until incorporated.
• Fill a cookie press with dough and press out cookies, using your favorite shape, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Sprinkle with colored sugar.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and the egg and mix to incorporate; don't worry if the mixture seems to separate.
• Sift together the flour and baking powder and add to the creamed butter. Mix until combined. Using a cookie press, press the cookies onto ungreased baking sheets. Top with sprinkles of your choice. Bake until firm but not yet browning, 6 to 8 minutes. After a few minutes, move cookies to a rack and cool.

Steps:

• HEAT oven to 400 degrees F. Combine powdered sugar and shortening in a large bowl; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, salt, water, vanilla and almond extracts. Using a spoon, stir in flour until well mixed.
• FIT cookie press with desired template. Fill cookie press; press dough onto ungreased cookie sheets. Sprinkle with colored sugar, if desired.
• BAKE 7 to 9 minutes or until set, but not brown. Cool one minute. Remove to cooling rack.

Steps:

• Adjust an oven rack to the middle position; heat the oven to 375°F In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk, cream, and vanilla with a fork until combined; set aside.
• In a standing mixer, cream the butter, sugar, and salt at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. With the mixer running at medium speed, add the yolk-cream mixture and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl. With the mixer running at low speed, gradually beat in the flour until combined. Scrape down the bowl and give a final stir with the rubber spatula to ensure that no flour pockets remain.
• If using a cookie press to form the cookies, follow the manufacturer's instructions to fill the press; if using a pastry bag (see TECHNIQUE below). Press or pipe cookies onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake, one sheet at a time, until the cookies are light golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet until just warm, 10 to 15 minutes; using a metal spatula, transfer them to a wire rack and cool to room temperature.
• FOR LEMON SPRITZ COOKIES: Follow the recipe for Spritz Cookies, adding 1 teaspoon lemon juice to the yolk-cream mixture in step 1 and adding 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest to the butter along with the sugar and salt in step 2.
• FOR ALMOND SPRITZ COOKIES: Grind ½ cup sliced almonds and 2 tablespoons of the flour called for in Spritz Cookies in a food processor until powdery and evenly fine, about 1 minute; combine the almond mixture with the remaining flour. Follow the recipe for Spritz Cookies, substituting 3/4 teaspoon almond extract for the vanilla.
• TECHNIQUE: Filling a Pastry Bag: (1) Make a C shape with one hand and hold the piping bag. Fold the bag over that hand about halfway down, insert the tip, and scrape the dough into the bag. (2) When the bag is about half full, pull up the sides, push down the dough, and twist tightly while again pushing down on the dough to squeeze out any air. (3) Grab the bag at the base of the twist. Using the other hand as a guide, hold the top at a 90-degree angle about 1/2-inch above the baking sheet and squeeze to form the shape.

Steps:

• Thirty minutes or longer before baking, set an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C.
• Spread the almonds evenly on a baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes, or until pale gold. Stir once or twice to ensure even toasting and avoid over-browning. Cool completely.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, and salt.
• Food processor method: In a food processor, process the almonds and sugar until fairly fine. Cut the butter into several pieces and add it with the motor running. Process until smooth and creamy. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract and process until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the flour mixture and pulse in just until blended. Stand Mixer Method: Use a nut grater to grate the almonds powder fine and then whisk them into the flour mixture. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, on medium speed, beat the sugar and butter until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract and beat for 30 seconds, or until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and mix until incorporated.
• Scrape the mixture onto a sheet of plastic wrap and use the outside of the plastic wrap to knead together the dough until it is completely even and soft enough to pipe smoothly.
• Scoop the dough into the pastry bag (or spoon some of the dough into the cookie press and cover the remaining dough). Pipe 7 rosettes or 14 stars about 13⁄4 inches in diameter onto the cookie sheet, no less than 1 inch apart.
• To get the best possible shape for the rosettes, use your fingers to smooth the ends of the rosettes after piping. For the stars, hold the bag in a vertical position (straight up and down) with the toothed edge of the tube just slightly above the cookie sheet. Squeeze the bag firmly without moving it until the shape is as wide as desired, just at the point when the lines in the dough are on the verge of curving. Stop squeezing the tube and push the tube down slightly. Lift the tube straight up and away. Decorate with the glacéed cherries set in the centers, and/or top with sugar sprinkles or dragées.
• Bake for 5 minutes. For even baking, rotate the cookie sheet halfway around. Continue baking for 5 to 7 minutes, or until pale gold.
• Set the cookie sheet on a wire rack and use a pancake turner to lift the cookies onto another wire rack. Cool completely.
• While each batch of cookies is baking, shape the dough for the next batch. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 month, or refrigerated or frozen for 6 months.

Steps:

• Cream butter, sugar, egg and vanilla in a large mixin g bowl until light and fluffy.
• Add mixture of flour, cocoa and salt gradually; mix well.
• Press through cookie press onto cool ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for 5 minutes or until set. Remove onto wire rack.
• Cool completely.