A perfect spritz cookie recipe (with lemon and almond variations) from the folks at Cook’s Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen. This recipe includes detailed instructions for piping which you can ignore if you’re experienced.
If using a pastry bag, use a star tip to create the various shapes. For stars, a 1/2- to 5⁄8-inch tip works best, but for rosettes and S shapes, use a 3/8-inch tip (measure the diameter of the tip at the smallest point). To create stars, hold the bag at a 90-degree angle to the baking sheet and pipe the dough straight down; stars should be about 1 inch in diameter. To create rosettes, pipe the dough while moving the bag in a circular motion, ending at the center of the rosette; rosettes should be about 1 1/4 inches in diameter. To create S shapes, pipe the dough into compact S’s; they should be about 2 inches long and 1 inch wide. If you make an error while piping, the dough can be scraped off the baking sheet and repiped.
We had the best results baking these cookies one sheet at a time. When reusing a baking sheet, make sure that it has completely cooled before
forming more cookies on it. Unbaked dough can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days; to use, let it stand at room temperature until softened, about 45 minutes. Baked cookies will keep for more than a week if stored in an airtight container or zipper-lock bag. Recipe makes 6 dozen 1 1/2-inch cookies.
Total time: 1 hours
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Yield: 72 1 1/2-inch cookies
Ingredients:
| 1 large egg yolk |
| 1 tablespoon heavy cream |
| 1 teaspoon vanilla extract |
| 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool (2 sticks) |
| 2/3 cup sugar (about 4 3/4 ounces) |
| 1/4 teaspoon salt |
| 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces) |
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.
Nutrition Facts:
Calories 44.1, Fat 2.7, Saturated Fat 1.7, Cholesterol 10, Sodium 8.7, Carbohydrate 4.5, Fiber 0.1, Sugar 1.9, Protein 0.4
This almond spritz cookies recipe can be left plain or decorated with colored sugar and frosting. In our house, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without some cookie press recipes.—Tanya Hart, Muncie, Indiana
Provided by: SmallRecipe.com
Categories: Desserts
Total time: 25 minutes
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Yield: about 7 dozen.
Ingredients:
| 1 cup butter, softened |
| 1/2 cup sugar |
| 1/2 cup packed brown sugar |
| 1 large egg, room temperature |
| 1/2 teaspoon almond extract |
| 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract |
| 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour |
| 1/4 teaspoon baking soda |
| 1/4 teaspoon salt |
| Pink and red colored sugar, optional |
Steps:
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in egg and extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. , Using a cookie press fitted with the disk of your choice, press dough 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. If desired, sprinkle with colored sugar. , Bake at 375° until edges just begin to brown, 7-9 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
Nutrition Facts:
Calories 44 calories, Fat 2g fat (1g saturated fat), Cholesterol 8mg cholesterol, Sodium 29mg sodium, Carbohydrate 5g carbohydrate (2g sugars, Fiber 0 fiber), Protein 0 protein.
Rich, buttery, and made with lots of vanilla, these cookies are simple to make. Use a cookie press—a hollow tube fitted with a decorative nozzle at one end and a plunger at the other—to press the cookies directly onto the baking sheet.
Provided by: SmallRecipe.com
Categories: Cookie Recipes
Yield: Makes 2 to 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
| 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter |
| 1 cup sugar |
| 2 large egg yolks |
| 3 3/4 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour |
| 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt |
| 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract |
| Colored sanding sugars |
Steps:
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until l
ight and fluffy. Add egg yolks, flour, salt, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. - Fill a cookie press with the dough, and turn out cookies 1 to 2 inches apart onto an unbuttered baking sheet. Sprinkle cookies with colored sanding sugars.
- Bake until the cookies are lightly browned, 7 to 10 minutes. To ensure even baking, rotate sheet halfway through the baking process. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool.