A Little Spritz Please

Only 8 more days until Christmas! Can you believe it? The Thanksgiving leftovers are barely gone. Now it's crunch time. Last minute gift purchases and, my favorite, baking time. Spritz is one of my favorite cookie recipes. Light, buttery cookies that are formed with a cookie press. And easy to make.

 

To make these babies, you're going to need:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. almond or vanilla extract (I prefer to make these with the almond extract, however I have a son-in-law who is allergic to almonds, so for him I use the vanilla)

 

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

 

Cream butter and sugar. Yeah, like that. Just beat the living daylights out of it.



 

Beat in egg and extract until combined, then add remaining ingredients and mix well.

 



Place dough into a cookie press.

As you can see, it's very easy to shape.



 

"Press" you cookies onto a baking sheet, using whatever shape you like.

I like to add sprinkles before baking.



Bake until set, but not brown, approximately 6-8 minutes.

Remove from cookie sheet immediately.

See, they look almost the same as they did when they went into the oven, just a little fluffier. Well, except those few on the left. They did get a little over done.

 

We hosted a Christmas party Saturday night and I was doing a three-tiered stand with peanut butter balls and peanut clusters, so I wanted something to break up all that chocolate. And these look so festive on the plate.

 

From start to finish, these cookies didn't take more than thirty minutes. Perfect when you need something quick.

 

After the multiple parties, concerts, and other events of last week, we get to slow down for a few days. That is, until round one of Christmas arrives on Saturday. I can hardly wait.

 

What's on your holiday checklist this week?