Christmas Cookie of the Week: Spritz

I cheated this week. I made a recipe that I’ve made before. Once. A long time ago. But nothing says Christmas like Spritz, so I got out the cookie press that has been gathering dust in the back of the cupboard and my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook and baked a batch of Spritz.

I chose the Betty Crocker recipe because I know that it works. I tried another Spritz recipe a few years ago that was a disaster. The problem was that it was too stiff. Comparing the two recipes, it was easy to see why. Betty uses significantly less flour and sugar. Fewer dry ingredients equals a wetter dough which is easier to push through the cookie press.

I was surprised at the saltiness of Betty’s dough. The salty taste is less noticeable after baking but still definitely there. I liked the taste of the other recipe better. Again, looking at both recipes, the reason was clear. Betty uses ½ teaspoon salt and salted butter. The other recipe uses unsalted butter and only a dash of salt. Hmmm . . . I see the beginnings of an OldRoses recipe, don’t you? A little experimentation with ingredients and I can probably come up with the perfect OldRoses’ Spritz recipe.

Using only ¼ of the dough at a time in the cookie press makes it easy to switch shapes. I made trees, wreaths, poinsettias and ornaments and decorated them with red and green sugars.

Verdict: Needs work


Spritz(source: Betty Crocker) 

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
½ cup sugar
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract or vanilla

Heat oven to 400°F. Cream butter and sugar. Blend in remaining ingredients. Fill cookie press with ¼ dough at a time; from desired shapes on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 6 to 9 minutes until set but not brown.

About 5 dozen cookies

Recycle: almond extract or vanilla bottle

Compost: eggshells