Spritz Cookies

Although Spritz cookies can be made anytime of the year by adjusting the shape used, Mom always made Spritz cookies for Christmas. The standard Spritz cookie is really just a butter cookie. What makes the Spritz so special is the use of a cookie press. You can see my cookie press in the photo. For this batch, I added food coloring to the dough and used the Christmas tree shape. The cookies could be decorated more, but with such nice shapes as a result of the cookie press, not much more is needed. Nevertheless, in the recipe below, I have included Mom's decoration notes from the recipe.

The use of the cookie press may require some finesse. If the dough is too soft or too stiff, it will be difficult to work with. Also, I have found that my cookie press sometimes requires a bit of an extra squeeze to get the cookie just right. But the work is worth it to get these lovely little cookies.

Spritz

• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 1/4 powdered sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 tsp. extract (vanilla, almond, etc.)

Preheat oven to 375. Mix flour and salt and set aside. Put butter in a large mixing bowl with sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, extract and food coloring (if desired). Add flour mixture and beat until just blended. Fill the cookie press with the dough and press onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Enjoy!

Decoration Options
1. Add 10-15 drops food coloring with mixing the dough.
2. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with colored sugar.
3. Ornamental frosting: Using an electric mixer, beat 1 egg white, 1 cup powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar until very thick, but still able to flow easily through a pastry tube. Add more sugar is needed. Use food coloring to tint. Use a pastry tube to decorate cookies.