Spritz Cookies

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:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1.5 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 + 1/8 cup sugar
• 2 1/8 cups flour
• Sprinkles, multiple colors

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• With a mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese.
• Add the vanilla and sugar and continue to cream.
• Add flour and continue mixing till fully incorporated.
• Using a cookie press and the star plate (no extruder), "squirt" the batter on to a cookie sheet into a 3 inch long strip, then cut and curl around to form a circle.
• Bake on the middle rack for 9 minutes until lightly brown on the bottom. Do not over cook.
• Remove from oven and add sprinkles right away, then move to a cooling rack.

Pictures: