Spritzgeback

Spritzgeback (German spritz cookies) are all about the butter. A full cup of it, creamed with powdered sugar until light, then enriched with a whole egg plus an extra yolk for richness. Almond extract gives them that distinctive, slightly sweet perfume that sets them apart from plain butter cookies.

The cookie press is essential here. This dough is too stiff to pipe from a pastry bag but too soft to roll and cut. A press gives you those classic ridged shapes: wreaths, stars, trees, or simple rosettes. Keep the dough chilled and work with a quarter of the batch at a time. Warm dough won’t hold its shape coming out of the press.

These bake fast at high heat. Watch them closely because the line between done and overdone is thin. You want barely golden edges with a pale, sandy center.

Pro Tips

• Cream the butter and powdered sugar until genuinely fluffy, not just combined. This step traps air and creates the light, crumbly texture spritz cookies are known for.
• Keep unused dough in the refrigerator while you press and bake each batch. Room-temperature dough gets sticky and won’t release cleanly from the press.
• Don’t grease the baking sheet too heavily. A light coating is enough. Too much grease and the cookies slide and lose their pressed shapes.
• Store in airtight tins, not bags or plastic containers. Tin keeps them crisp; plastic makes them soft.

Variations

• Dip the cooled cookies halfway in melted dark chocolate for a classic European finish.
• Replace almond extract with vanilla or lemon extract for a milder, more versatile cookie.
• Tint the dough with food coloring for holiday cookie platters, pressing different colors into different shapes.