Christmas Cookie Round-Up 2009 - Part 3: Spritz Sugar Cookies

Are we all sugared out yet? I'm pretty much at the point myself, but I could not share this recipe for you. The sugar cookie has always been a perennial favourite of mine ever since I could remember. It was one of the first cookies I ever made with my mom, and we made it every Christmas with a variety of adorable cookie cutters.





Last year I changed up our annual sugar cookies by using plain cookie cutters (rather than our embossed ones) and decorated them with royal icing. It was a fun exercise and allowed me to stretch my creativity, but it was also very time consuming and the clean-up was less than desirable.



Yet I still wanted to add the sugar cookie to my Christmas cookie platter this year. I decided to adapt my recipe so that I could use it in my cookie press. It's faster, it's less messy, and I still get the satisfaction of eating sugar cookies at the end of the day!



Spritz Sugar Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
Assorted sprinkles and nonpareils, for decorating

Preheat oven to 350°F. Fit cookie press with star disk (or whatever disk of your choice) and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla extract and beat well to combine. With the mixer on low speed, add flour and salt and mix just until incorporated (do not overmix).

Fill cookie press with dough. Press out shapes onto unlined baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Decorate with sprinkles and nonpareils of your choice.

Bake cookies until barely golden around the edges, about 10 to 14 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer sheets to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies can be stored for up to 1 week at room temperature in airtight containers.