Holiday Spritz Cookies
There is nothing like a classic Christmas Cookie. Spritz Cookies are one of the first recipes that come to mind for the best cookies to have around the Holiday season. These cookies are so tender, buttery, sweet, and just melt in your mouth.
You can get creative with the extract and replace the vanilla for almond, peppermint, or whatever flavor you want for your cookies. I personally love the buttery tender texture paired with the vanilla extract but as always you do you :)
How To Pipe Holiday Spritz Cookies
Piping the cookie dough can be tough, it is thick and can cause a few hand cramps. Luckily I have a few tips to help make this process as easy as possible. Use a reusable piping bag if you can. These piping bags are thicker and are less likely to burst from pressure. If you don’t have reuseable piping bags you can aloso double bag your plastic piping bags to help you.
I also suggest not filling your piping bags to the top, you can always add more when needed. Not filling your bag to the brim allows you to have more control over a smaller amount of dough at a time. This also helps your hand not to cramp up. If you squeeze your piping bag from the top with a bag filled with dough, you increase the risk of the bag popping as well as increase the amount of pressure needed to squeeze the dough out.
What Brand Of Food Dye I Use
I will recommend Americolor Food Gel day in and day out. Their gel food dye yields such vivid and saturated colors without needing to use a lot of dye. This way the dyes do not effect the flavor of your cookies. A little goes a long way, here is the link to these dyes on Amazon. Click here.
How Else Can I Decorate These Holiday Spritz Cookies
Before the cookies bake, you can add some festive mini sprinkles. These sprinkles will bake into the cookies perfectly for some added texture and decoration. Another option is to utilize the melted chocolate more than just on the bears faces. You can add drizzles of chocolate, half dip some of the cookies in chocolate, ad sprinkles to the melted chocolate, use colorful royal icing, etc. These cookies are so delicious and fun and make for the perfect dessert this Holiday season.
Can I Use a Cookie Press?
You can absolutely use a cookie press with this recipe. I love piping spritz cookies for a more customizable design but this recipe works perfectly with a cookie press. If you are using a cookie press, the process is exactly the same when preparing the dough, the only difference is that your dough will not be placed into piping bags and piped individually.
Holiday Spritz Cookies
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12-15
servings10
minutesKeep the screen of your device on.
Ingredients
2 cups + 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cups granulated sugar
3 tsp. vanilla extract
2 egg yolks, room temperature
Food dye
3 Tbsp. semi-sweet chocolate (for decorating)
Directions
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and the sugar just until light and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as you mix.
- Add in the egg yolks and vanilla to the butter mixture.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that everything is being combined evenly. One at a time, place a few scoops of dough in separate smaller bowls to dye different colors for our designs. I made two shades of green, one for trees and one for wreaths. I also made red and light brown for the teddy bears. You can make whichever designs you want.
- Place your colored dough into piping bags fit with large and small star tips.
- To keep my designs a consistent size, I traced a small circle onto my cookie sheet to shape my wreaths and make my bears perfectly circular. The cookies should be piped onto a cookie sheet fit with parchment paper.
- Use the video and pictures above to help guide you while decorating. The dough is very thick and will be a bit tough to pipe, take your time and pipe slowly to keep your hand from cramping. Use thick piping bags or double bag your piping bags to keep them from bursting from the pressure of piping.
- Once your cookies are all piped, place the tray in the fridge to chill while we preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes after baking then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- To make the snout and eyes on the bears, microwave the chocolate in 30 second intervals mixing between each time then place the melted chocolate in a piping bag.
- Pipe the melted chocolate onto the bears faces.
- Enjoy!
- Storing Holiday Spritz Cookies
- These cookies can sit out at room temperature for a day then can be stored sealed in the fridge for up to 10 days. They can also be stored sealed in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Did you make this recipe?
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Would love to be able to try this recipe please
So I did my first batch and they turned out almost as good as yours ;)… one question … my dough was a little stiff do you add milk or what can I add to loosen up the dough a little bit???
Hi!! Im so glad yours came out great!!! You can absolutely add a teaspoon of milk one at a time to loosen up the batter a bit to make it easier to pipe! I’d suggest starting with one teaspoon then if needed add one more. You don’t want to go overboard or else you risk the cookies spreading too much in the oven or the dough becoming too thin. I hope this helps – thanks!! :)
I made but it came out too thick no matter how I squeezed it was breaking off 🆘
Hi there – I am so sorry to hear this. There’s a possibility that maybe your butter was too cold and that is made it harder for the dough to combine together nicely to be more pliable and easier to pipe. You can add a teaspoon of milk one at a time to help loosen the dough a bit if needed. I’d suggest starting with one teaspoon then if needed add one more. You don’t want to go overboard or else you risk the cookies spreading too much in the oven or the dough becoming too thin. I hope this helps – thanks!! 🙂
how long is their shelf life? can it be stored at room temperature?
Hi there! :) These cookies can sit out at room temperature for a few days sealed then can be stored sealed in the fridge for up to 10 days. They can also be stored sealed in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Hi! May I know what piping tips you used for each design? They look AWESOME!
Hi there – thank you so much!! I used a variety of piping tips that I’ve collected over the years so I don’t always know the exact brand associated with the tip #. However, I did find this set of tips off of amazon that will give you the closest accuracy to the ones I used. I used a variety of star tips for these cookies :) I hope this helps!!
They look so pretty!
I don’t use dyes in food for mi kids, can I add color with cocoa, I know that will change the recipe, Do you have any suggestions, do you think it will work?
Thank you very much
Hi there, I have not tested this recipe with cocoa powder but it would definitely alter the texture and may effect the ability to pipe/ the end result. You can always keep the batter uncolored and then add details with melted chocolate or icing after they’ve baked :) I hope this helps!!!
Could they be baked at all? Just for 5 to 7 minutes??? Or will they lose their shape? I just get worried about the egg in it.
Hi there, these cookies should be baked for 10-12 minutes!
What red dye do you use?
Hello! My name is David and I work with Harris Teeter’s customer relations department. Our customers love your videos but are also requesting written recipes to accompany them. Our social media page has numerous request for the “Reindeer Chow” recipe. Would it be possible to begin sharing the written recipes along with your videos?
This look wonderful! I would love to make these now and freeze for later. Are these cookies that you would suggest to freeze?
Hi there, you can freeze these cookies for up to a month if sealed in a ziplock bag or airtight container. I recommend stacking them with parchment between each layer to prevent the colored dough from bleeding into one another or from the cookies sticking :)
Great technique!!!!
Thank you!! 😊