My mother’s been on my mind a lot this week, with Mother’s Day just ahead. Some of my earliest and fondest memories are of making cookies with her, especially when she’d dig out the cookie press to make these spritz cookies. Like millions of American families, we always had spritz cookies at Christmas, but my family had them many times during the year. When a small, buttery cookie that’s not loaded with sugar is all I need, these fill the bill.
While these can be piped from a pastry bag, my mother had a Mirro cookie press, an aluminum cylinder from the Fifties and Sixties with a handle on the side to make holding it easier when twisting the knob to extrude a cookie. At Christmas she would tint the dough green, sometimes swirled, then make fat little trees and decorate them with sprinkles or colored sugar. The rest of the year we had other shapes plain.
I don’t have the press any longer — I have a modern ratchet-style made of heavy-duty plastic but not made in the US as Mirros were – but I do have her recipe, which I suspect came with the press. I’m sharing it almost as she wrote it for me one Christmas; I’ve just expanded her abbreviated directions and added metrics.
Once you get the hang of your cookie press, these are fast to make and keep well in an airtight container. I plan to save mine and have some Sunday in her honor.
Ella’s Mom’s Spritz Cookies
1 cup/226g unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup/150g sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 1/4 cups/280g all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon almond extract
food coloring (optional)
Preheat oven to 375F/ 190C/ Gas 5.
Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
Cream butter, adding sugar gradually.
Add unbeaten egg, the dry ingredients, extract and a few drops of food coloring, if using. Mix well.
Fill cookie press. Form cookies on ungreased cookie sheets. Decorate with sprinkles or colored sugars.
Bake 7 – 10 minutes, until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool.
Makes 5 – 6 dozen.
Ella’s tips: It’s important to use ungreased baking sheets or the cookies won’t stay put when you press them out. This is one time I don’t even consider parchment paper.
Like most cookie doughs, this freezes very well. I form it into “logs” the right size for my press before freezing so I can pull out one at a time for a quick dozen or so. I also form just-made dough into logs; it’s much easier to fill the press that way.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks like another winning recipe. I just may try it this weekend if I can find my cookie press (what a great little device). I think of this kind of cookie for Christmas but it should be made throughout the year.
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I hope you find it! These really are good when you want just a little something.
I’ve tried a few other spritz doughs but they’re either so buttery I press out blobs or they need to be chilled and I get pellets. I always ended up back with this recipe and don’t even try others anymore. Sometimes Mom did know best.
Good to see you!
I was on the hunt for a sugar cookie recipe when I bumped into these – and the helpful hint not to use that parchment paper I got intrigued by in your current entry.
I make my grandmother’s Sprits every year. Interesting to compare her recipe to yours:
1 # buttter
2 c.sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
4-1/2 c flour
1 tsp vanilla
It’s about a perfect double of yours, though with only that lone egg. We used to make FOUR of these batches each Christmas and keep them in tins in the back entry – in Iowa, our “extra fridge” for the winter.
I still have the two Mirro presses we used back then – although I’ve cut back to one batch and one press! And I often wash my baking sheets during the process, to help the cookies stick.
Oh – and the shapes never vary: trees, wreaths, piped “s” and “o” (traditional Swedish shapes), stars and camels for the boys.
Did I ever mention – grandma’s name was Ella!
Linda
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I’ve been in recipe sleuth mode today so that’s especially interesting. Given our common denominator of a Mirro press and the similarities of the recipes, I’m willing to bet it is indeed the recipe that came with it. It’s a wonderful recipe, isn’t it? I’ve tried many other spritzes but always come back to this.
I’ve made Swedish S cookies, but with a pastry bag. There’s a similar Swiss cookie in a W.
I never wash the sheets in between — I’m way too allergic to extra steps for that — but I do sometimes spray cold water on the backs to cool them down enough to re-use them quickly.
Your Grandma had a good name.
My Spritz recipe that came with the many Mirro presses I have owned uses 1 cup shortening (I use Crisco) instead of the butter; they are wonderful! I prefer plain Crisco and vanilla instead of almond; my husband prefers butter-flavored Crisco and almond.
Hi, Melanie. Yes, Crisco does make for a good cookie. I have a peanut butter chocolate chip recipe coming up later this week with it. For spritz cookies I love the taste and texture only butter brings. But then I’ve never tried them with Crisco and will do so one of these days.
Thanks for the input and tips and I hope to see you again!