Recipe For Spritz Cookies
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If you’re looking for the perfect cookie to bake these holidays, you need this recipe for spritz cookies. Not too sweet and perfectly buttery, spritz cookies are fun to make and delicious to eat.
If you have never made this classic recipe for spritz cookies before, you may not realize…
- These gorgeous and fun little cookies, with all of their different shapes and colors, are some of the quickest and easiest cookies you can make.
- They take half the time of cut-out cookies and only use ingredients you probably have on hand already.
- Changing the shape of the cookies is as simple as unscrewing a ring and putting a new stencil on in a matter of a few seconds.
The end result is a clean-tasting, soft and buttery sugar cookie that will melt in your mouth. They will bring oohs and ahhs from other folks who may not realize that it is even possible to make holiday cookies like this at home because they’re so used to only seeing them in grocery stores. They will then realize what a whiz you are in the kitchen!
If you’re in a baking mood, you also need to check out my post featuring 14 amazing Christmas cookie recipes. Happy baking!
Recipe Ingredients
- Baking powder
- Milk
- Egg (at room temperature)
- Vanilla extract
- Butter flavoring (or almond extract)
- All-purpose flour
- Softened unsalted butter
- Sugar
- Cookie press, colorful sprinkles, and a funnel if you want to do a cute little technique I’m going to show you later (Funnel is optional, cute sprinkles are a must).
A Handy Cookie Press Tip
There isn’t any way around this if you want to make this recipe for spritz cookies but I can tell you how to get one pretty cheap. There are all types available in all price ranges. Personally, I would stay away from anything plastic. This one has plastic parts but the majority of it, the parts that take the pressure, are stainless and that makes it work really well. This one retails for about $25 but if you get it at Michael’s Arts and Crafts or Hobby Lobby, you can use a coupon for 40-50% off. Michael’s has their coupon available online to print or you can get it on their phone app. Hobby Lobby also has theirs available online and if you’re in the store and want to use it you can just pull up their webpage and show the cashier the coupon. I got this one at Hobby Lobby. So I used a coupon and paid a little over $12 for a new one.
Place softened butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.
Beat the mess out of it using an electric or until it’s well blended and fluffy.
Add in egg, milk, , and the other flavoring of your choice and beat again until well mixed.
Then add in flour and baking powder.
I sometimes add 1/4 teaspoon salt here as well. The original recipes don’t call for it but I find that a little bit helps. It’s up to you. I add it when I think about it and don’t when I forget.
Mix that up really well and you have your cookie dough!
Fill your spritz cookie press (it will come with instructions to show you how) and fit it with your first shape stencil.
Press dough out until your cookie sheet is filled.
This one just has a trigger grip. I squeeze and one cookie comes out. Move it to another spot, squeeze, move it to another spot, squeeze…
It’s a pretty fast process to make a batch of the most you’ve ever seen.
How to Decorate Different Spritz Cookies
Decorate cookies with colorful sprinkles before baking.
Oh and here is what I used that funnel for.
I made these little flowers and sprinkled them with yellow sugars first. Then…
I gently placed a funnel on top of the centers and poured in red sprinkles.
When you lift up the funnel it looks like this. It is a cute touch but only took a second or two for each one.
Low maintenance but beautiful cookies!
Because not once have I ever looked at a recipe and said “Ya know, it looks good and all that, but I just wish it were more complicated!”
Bake your cookies at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes or until just lightly browned around the edges. Repeat until all dough is used. Remove from the and cool on a .
Enjoy your beautiful cookies!
Storage
- Store your spritz cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
- Spritz cookies also freeze really well. Store them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months and then thaw at room temperature before enjoying.
Recipe Notes
- A lot of classic spritz cookie recipes call for almond extract so if you like almond extract you should definitely add it. If you are like me and really and truly dislike almond-flavored things, you should skip it and add butter flavoring or another that you like in its place. Big fan of almonds, but not a cheerleader for the flavoring.
- Other flavoring options include peppermint extract or lemon extract.
- Most recipes for spritz cookies require the dough to be refrigerated to firm up before use but this one doesn’t.
- Instead of colored sprinkles, you could use gel food coloring, sparkling colored sugar, chopped nuts (definitely recommend almonds if using almond extract), candied fruit, or crushed candy pieces for this .
- You can also dip half the cookie into some melted chocolate chips and then add sprinkles or simply drizzle with melted chocolate.
- It’s helpful to use a cold cookie sheet, so pop it in the fridge while you make your cookie dough so it doesn’t stick to the sheet.
- If you don’t have a cookie press, another option is to pipe the cookie dough into shapes using a piping bag fitted with a star tip.
Recipe FAQs
Why are they called spritz cookies?
The name spritz actually comes from the German word, spritzen, which means “to squirt.” You could say the dough is “squirted” through the cookie press onto the baking sheet. While they may have a German origin, they’re also known as Swedish or Norwegian cookies.
What is the difference between spritz and butter cookies?
The main difference between these two types of cookies is one ingredient: an egg. The addition of the egg in the spritz cookie dough makes the dough softer and easier to shape into designs using the cookie press. Because butter cookies are similar to shortbread, the dough also needs to be refrigerated before baking, but that isn’t the case with this I told you they’re quick and easy to make!
Can I make this recipe for spritz cookies ahead of time?
Absolutely! Place the cookie dough in the fridge for up to 4 days, before bringing it to room temperature and shaping using the cookie press. Another option is to freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before bringing to room temperature and shaping the dough using the cookie press.
Here are more Christmas treats to bake these holidays:
Southern Plate’s Must-Make Christmas Cookies
Christmas Candies On A Budget & In A Hurry!
Christmas Tie-Dyed Cheesecake Brownies
Sugared Cranberries (3 Ingredients Only)
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups butter softened at room temp
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon butter flavoring or another flavoring of your choice. Almond or lemon would be nice.
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, place the butter and sugar and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk, and flavorings next and beat again until well combined. Add in flour and baking powder and beat once more until a good dough is formed (will only take a minute or so), scraping down sides as needed.3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 cups butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons whole milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon butter flavoring, 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Place dough in a cookie press and add a stencil to the bottom according to cookie press directions. Pipe out onto an ungreased cookie sheet and sprinkle with colored sugars. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes or until just lightly browned around the edges. Repeat until all dough is used.
Haven’t broken out my cookie press in years but after seeing/reading your post, it is time!! And I really need a Pig Spatula for my BBQ restaurant. ~nodding~
Was especially touched by “Don’t forget the apples.” My husband and son are preparing to leave for Guatemala for a mission trip next week. This will be my husband’s second trip and it changed him. So happy they are able to do this together. My turn is spring break! 🙂
Just an FYI. ..we have Michaels , jo Ann’s and Hobby Lobby in our area (middle TN) and I know that here each one honors the others coupons. If you go to one and they don’t have what your looking for you can go to the other and still get a good deal.
I’m not allowed to say the words “spritz cookies” in my house… my husband is a graphic designer for a t-shirt shop and a lady came in recently wanting a t-shirt with spritz cookies on it… and let’s just say, we don’t talk about spritz cookies in the Coers house right now. LOL But I really want to make some! 😀 I love spritz cookies.
Our recipe is very similar except we use pure almond extract instead of the butter flavoring. We like to bake the cookies for the shorter side of 9 minutes to ensure softness. Christy, was this a family recipe or one you found/created?
Thank you so much for this recipe. Found this recipe in a magazine over 40 years ago. I think it was Lady’s Home Journal. Well I lost it. Knew it had 2 tablespoons of milk but I forgot about the baking powder. I can’t wait to make these cookies next Christmas. Thank you again.
I hope you enjoy Jane!!!
I am SO glad I read this! I was in need ot a good cookie press after my Swedish cookie press bit the dust! Just starting to make my Spritz cookies now!!!
(Hmmm.. I wonder if I have fun sprinkles for mine…?) 🙂
I hope you enjoy the recipe Catherine and the cookie press!!
I tried to make these the other night. I halved the recipe and had trouble with it. At first the dough seemed a bit sticky but we tried it in the press anyway. They didn’t look pretty on top, they “pulled” when detaching from the press and had peaks on top. So i added more flour to my remaining dough, and that dough wouldn’t stick to the pan or detach from the press. So it all went in the trash. I guess I’ll make the whole recipe next time.
Just tried making them again. The first round worked but when I got those out of the oven and tried pressing more, they wouldn’t stick to the pan. Even tried a new pan and putting the dough in the fridge for 5 mins. Neither worked, so I ended up rolling balls and flattening them. Any ideas why I can’t get this to work??
Usually when I can’t get them to stick I just need to click my cookie press one extra time and it works. It may be a cookie press issue so try to press as if you’re pressing two cookies for one then release completely before lifting your press from the pan.
I love spritz cookies. Easy to make and bake. Even better to give away. I live on Social Security and Disability. Its troublesome to have enough between that check and my EBT for myself and my family. A roommate makes fresh chicken liver and sweet potato cookies for my dog Deidre and I trade her some of what I bake at the holidays.
We may end up with snow for the first time this season, I miss living in warmer climates. Not just because my health seemed less troublesome. Anyway, I seemed to have gone off an a silly tangent, my apologies. My friends and family know that when they receive a Xmas. And Yule to
in from me that something great will be inside. I’m thinking of trying your recipe for these tasty cookies. My mom had always used haved maraschino cherries were you used red sanding sugar in the middle of the flowers. May have to try your suggestions. I made 6 loves of pumpkin bread today to be shelved to our dining room (coldest place in our apartment next to the bathroom.) the Rollo pretzel turtles will be made last and in between will be chewy macaroons (the coconut kind) and drizzled with dark chocolate. Then thumbprint cookies with dulce de leche in the center instead of jam. Those cookies will be made easier because of betty Crocker sugar cookie packs. Something I had never done before but your recipes and Ree Drummond’s just made it seem possible.
Thank you Christy. Your blogging and recipes makes the pain of missing my mother seem better, not quite so painful. She taught me to cook herself. While my father remarried and she has welcomed me hugely so, still we think about those who have passed before, especially at the holidays. My current family has been understanding, it still hurts.
the only cookie that takes the most work in both prep and mixing but scooping and baking is easier. I make toll house chunk cookies, following my mom’s recipe, but at the holiday I add mini m&m’s in red or green, sometimes adding pumpkin seeds instead of nuts and most recently due to the Pioneer Womans suggested, we have added flax seeds. She adds it as well as other types of seeds or healthy additions and her kids never noticed. My family just loved them more as those who received tins of them, our family doctor, my favorite pharmacist, family, friends both her in NJ and those who live in other places. Luckily I never indulge myself or I would weigh a ton,
You might try chilling the cookie sheets. I find when I make spritz cookies, since the dough is so buttery, I try not to handle it too much. But chilling the sheets in the freezer seemed to help with getting the cookies to stick to the sheet.
Danielle,
I have found that if you wash the cookie pan in between batches it works better. I think the sprinkles and decorations left from the previous batch keep them from sticking. Also, I found that keeping the dough at room temperature works best. I just leave the bowl and the cookie press out on the counter while the cookies are baking. My daughter and I have made 3 batches for friends, co-workers and family. Hope this helps…