Next up were spritz cookies.  Spritz are a mostly-simple-recipe shaped cookie; while they have a German name, I associate them with Scandinavians.  The dough is simple: butter (lots), sugar (not much) egg, flavor, flour (enough).  These are cookie press cookies and if the dough isn't just right, you may find yourself using liturgical language to vent your frustration with it.  The dough should be like Play-Doh.

I bought a new cookie press a couple years ago from Nordic Ware.  It works quite well once you've ascertained which end is the top and which is the bottom.  It is trickier than it sounds like it should be because, while the screw "bands" or "rings" fit on either end of the empty tube, the part with the plunger fits only one way.  I finally wrote TOP on it with a marker — at this stage in my life, I can do with as little frustration as possible. 

I started with the recipe in my 1963 edition Betty Crocker Cooky Book and changed it slightly to what follows.

1 cup soft butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks

1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon flavoring (almond or vanilla)
2 1/4 cups flour

Preheat oven to 400° F.

With an electric mixer, mix together the butter, sugar, egg yolks, salt and flavor.  Mix in the flour.

Force dough through a cookie press onto ungreased baking sheets. Decorate with colored sugar or other sprinkly stuff, if desired.

Bake until set, but not brown, at 400° for 7-10 minutes, until set but not browned.   Let cool for a couple minutes before removing from baking sheet to a wire rack to cool thoroughly.  Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Tip:  Do not press cookies onto a hot baking sheet.  Be sure the sheet is at least cool, if not cold, before using it.  I rinse mine in cold water between batches.

I use Air-Bake insulated baking sheets that I’ve had for years and years.

The pictures are of the first batch — the batch that followed the Betty Crocker recipe exactly.  The second batch was made from my adapted recipe above and it is much better in both texture and flavor.