Spritz Cookies are a Holiday Favorite

If there is one cookie that comes to mind during the holidays, it is a Spritz cookie. These good-tasting butter cookies appear in nearly every holiday cookie exchange and recipe collection. They are easy to make.

Children love to help by decorating the cookies before they go into the oven. Older kids love to use the cookie press to form holiday trees, wreaths, hearts, camels and other shapes that come with the cookie press. You can find the cookie press at nearly any store that carries baking supplies. Check the Dollar stores, too.

If you do not have a cookie press, the dough is easy to shape into simple forms. Try them this holiday season.

A Simple Spritz Cookie Recipe

1 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 tsp. almond or vanilla extract
Do not use self-rising flour in this recipe.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter and sugar. Mix in remaining ingredients. Place dough in the cookie press. Form desired shapes on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until set but not brown, 6 to 9 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Decorated Spritz Cookies:
Before baking, top cookies with currants, raisins, candies, nuts, or slices of candied fruit. Or after baking, decorate with colored sugars, red cinnamon candies, and finely chopped nuts. Use a drop of corn syrup to hold decorations on baked cookies.