Spritz cookies, or Spritzgebäck, is a type of German Christmas cookie that my Italian grandmother has always made for us. When made correctly, the cookies are crisp, fragile, somewhat dry, and buttery. The German verb spritzen means to squirt in English. As the name implies, these cookies are made by extruding, or "squirting" the dough with a press fitted with patterned holes or with a cake decorator to which a variety of nozzles may be fitted.
Spritzgebäck is a common pastry in Germany and served often during the Christmas season, when parents commonly spend afternoons baking with their children during their Christmas break. Traditionally, parents bake Spritzgebäck using their own special recipes, which they pass down to their children.
This is a modified version that my grandmother passed on to me.
Ingredients:
Directions:
Pictures:
Extruder plate
Cookies before baking
Pressing the cookies
Cookies after baking and sprinkles