Vanilla Spritz Cookies

Who doesn't love spritz? What a basic and delicious cookie. Just the right size to pop into your mouth. Sometimes I change the flavor and make them lemon or almond. Sometimes I leave off the colored sugar and drizzle melted chocolate on top instead. Sometimes I take 2 baked spritz and sandwich them with a filling, such as buttercream or chocolate ganache. These are a great cookie to pack into a nice holiday tin and give as a gift. They travel well, they stay crispy and they are just plain wonderful. My boys (ages 9, 5 & 4) insisted on helping me make these cookies. Well, for those of you who have young ones around the house, I'm sure you know that their "helping" is not really helping, ya know? Everything takes about 10 times as long when they are involved but I do try and be patient and realize that they are learning and having fun. One of their favorite tasks is sprinkling the red & green sanding sugar on the cookies. According to them, MORE sugar is the way to go. I swear to god that some of the cookies had like 1/4 cup sugar covering them! You could barely see the cookie dough underneath the mound of sugar! They thought those were the prettiest. Isn't it fun?!!

I realize there are many many different spritz recipes out there but this is my favorite. Give it a try!








Vanilla Spritz

2 cups unsalted butter, room temp.
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
5 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups flour

Combine butter & sugars and mix until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla and salt. Gradually add the flour.

Pack dough into cookie press and press onto ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired. Bake until edges are brown - about 10 minutes.