The Ultimate Spritz
2013-11-26 20:54:44
Ingredients
- 1
- cup butter, softened
- 1/2
- cup sugar
- 2 1/4
- cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
- 1/4
- teaspoon salt
- 1
- egg
- 1/4
- teaspoon almond extract or vanilla
- Food color, if desired
- Currants, raisins, candies, colored sugar, finely chopped nuts, candied fruit or fruit peel, if desired
Instructions
- 1 Heat oven to 400ºF. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in flour, salt, egg, almond extract and a few drops of food color.
- 2 Place dough in cookie press. Form desired shapes on ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate with currants.
- 3 Bake 5 to 8 minutes or until set but not brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. To decorate cookies after baking, use a drop of corn syrup to attach decorations to cookies.
Notes
- The name spritz comes from the German word spritzen, meaning "to squirt" because the soft dough is squirted or pushed through a cookie press to make fancy designs.
- Butter is responsible for the tender, rich texture and flavor of these incredible cookies. Margarine would not work nearly as well. For these cookies, stick with butter!
- Chocolate Spritz: Stir 2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled, into the butter-sugar mixture.
- Holiday Spritz: Substitute rum extract for the almond extract or vanilla; tint dough with appropriate food colors. After baking, glaze cooled cookies with Butter-Rum Glaze: Melt 1/4 cup butter or margaine over low heat; remove from heat. Stir in 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon rum extract. Stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons hot water until glaze is spreadable. Tint glaze with food color to match cookies if desired.
- Spice Spritz: Stir in 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice with the flour.
- To ensure recipe success, do not use self-rising flour in this recipe.
Holiday Cottage http://www.holidaycottagepage.com/