There’s nothing that screams “Christmas!” to me more than spritz cookies.  As a child, these were the only Christmas cookies we ever made in my family.  And I didn’t mind a bit- because not only are they so light and buttery, they’re also so much fun to make. To make spritz, you will first need a cookie press.  This is how you get those iconic shapes.  They’re easy to find online or in stores at this time of year.  And they’re really easy to use too.  Just fill the tube with cookie dough and pull the trigger to form a cookie.

The dough itself is as simple as can be.  It’s made from all the basics you probably already have in your cupboard: butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder, and a few extracts just to boost the flavor.  Sometimes simple is best! You can decorate these cookies in all sorts of ways: by tinting the dough, by sprinkling with colored sugar, or by adding accents like sugar pearls.  But for this post, I’ve chosen to keep things simple with just a pinch of white sparkling sugar and a few white nonpareils.

Here are a few tips that will make your spritz cookies the best they can be:

Cream the butter and sugar together until very pale and fluffy.  This takes about 5 minutes with an electric mixer, and it will help your cookies to be so light and tender! Don’t overwork the dough once the flour has been added.  Just mix until the flour is incorporated and then stop.  Otherwise, your cookies could come out tough. Don’t grease your baking sheets or line them with parchment paper.  Usually, I’m a parchment paper girl, but in this case it will cause the dough to adhere more to your cookie press than to your baking sheet. You might need to click the cookie press more than once to get the dough to release. Bake just until beginning to turn golden around the edges. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks at room temperature.

Make these cookies a holiday tradition in your family too!

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