These are my favorite spritz cookies! Using a cookie press, shape this easy buttery cookie dough into intricate shapes and have fun decorating with sprinkles, chocolate, and chocolate chips. No cookie dough chilling required and the cookies freeze and ship wonderfully.
I originally published this recipe in 2018 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and additional success tips.
What Are Spritz Cookies?
The base dough is very similar to my sugar cookies, butter cookies, and pinwheel cookies. Each are shaped a different way, and spritz cookies are shaped with a cookie press. They’re buttery and sweet and, with the right recipe, hold their intricate shape when baked. Spritz cookies are also similar to shortbread cookies, but spritz cookies usually contain an egg. Eggs help the spritz cookies hold their shape when baked, so they don’t crumble like shortbread cookies do.
The word “spritz” actually comes from the German word spritzen which means “to squirt.” This refers to squirting or pushing the cookie dough through a cookie press. I don’t know why, but I always associate the word spritz with “spritely” because spritz cookies remind me of something little spritely fairies would eat!
One reader, Julie, commented: “The cookies came out great, and tasted delicious! I’m very new to baking, so I ordered the OXO cookie press, read all of your tips, and was thrilled with the results. If I could make these, anyone can! I can’t wait to make these again! ★★★★★”
Another reader, Patti, commented: “I have been making spritz cookies forever. I saw that you were using the same cookie press that I have so I decided to try your recipe. This is the nicest my cookies have ever looked since I started baking them. ★★★★★”
What Is a Cookie Press?
I added a cookie press to my baking tools collection a few years ago. Inside this baking tool is a metal plate with a stenciled shape. A cookie press presses your cookie dough through the metal plate to create beautifully shaped cookies. It’s actually a lot easier than a rolling pin and cookie cutters!
- I recommend this OXO cookie press. This is not a sponsored post; I genuinely love this cookie press. It’s the easiest to use and comes with 12 different shapes you can swap out. Just read the hundreds of positive reviews. It also makes a wonderful holiday gift! I always include it in my annual guide full of Holiday Gifts for Bakers.
How to Make Spritz Cookies
This is my favorite recipe for spritz cookies. I love it so much that I published it in my cookbook Sally’s Cookie Addiction. Here’s why this is my favorite:
- Uses very basic ingredients
- 1-bowl recipe: Like snowball cookies, another easy and classic Christmas cookie!
- No dough-chilling required
- Fun to decorate, with no separate icing recipe required: Use sprinkles, chocolate chips, melted chocolate; and try tinting some of the dough a color.
- Freezer-friendly: After thawing, they still taste fresh!
- Ship wonderfully: These cookies hold their shape during the journey! Learn more about how to ship cookies.
The dough comes together in 1 bowl, using a mixer. There is no baking powder or baking soda needed; these buttery spritz cookies are dense, not airy. They hardly spread, so you can fit a bunch onto your baking sheets. Since the cookies are small, you can use 1 batch of dough to make a variety of shapes with your cookie press. You can even tint some of the cookie dough red or green like you see in my pictures!
How Do I Use a Cookie Press?
Each press comes with a set of instructions and the OXO cookie press I recommend is super user-friendly. Select a plate, such as the snowflake shape, and place it in the bottom compartment. After your cookie dough is prepared, spoon it inside the tube. Attach the top of the cookie press to the tube. Hold the cookie press upright, with the bottom pressed against your baking sheet. Press the lever until it clicks and lift up the cookie press. The shaped cookie will be on your baking sheet! *If the cookie dough sticks to the cookie press, use your fingers or a knife to release it and place onto the cookie sheet.
- No Cookie Press? Instead, use a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch (13 mm) open star tip and use my butter cookies or chocolate butter cookies recipe, which is this cookie dough with a little milk to help make it pipe-able. 🙂
Can I admit I prefer making these over decorating sugar cookies with royal icing? Spritz cookies are much neater and faster to make, and are festive right out of the oven!
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page.
My Favorite Spritz Cookies
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 84 bite-size cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These are my favorite spritz cookies! Using a cookie press, shape this easy cookie dough into intricate shapes and have fun decorating with sprinkles, chocolate, and chocolate chips. No cookie dough chilling required and they freeze and ship wonderfully.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 and 1/3 cups (291g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- optional: gel food coloring, sprinkles, chocolate chips, and melted chocolate for decorating
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Line 2 or 3 large baking sheets with silicone baking mats, or use nonstick baking sheets with no liner. (Do not use parchment paper because the cookie dough, when pressed out of the cookie press, will not adhere to it.) While the oven is preheating, and if your refrigerator or freezer has room, it’s helpful to chill your lined baking sheets. It sounds odd, but dough coming out of the cookie press adheres much better to a cold surface.
- Make the dough: In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract, and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- On low speed, beat in the flour and salt. Turn up to high speed and beat until completely combined.
- Press the dough: Follow cookie press manufacturer’s directions to fit your cookie press with a decorative plate. Scrape some of the dough into your cookie press. Hold the cookie press perpendicular to the cold lined baking sheet and press out the cookies 2 inches (5 cm) apart. If desired, decorate the shaped cookie dough with sprinkles or press a chocolate chip into the center. Note: It’s helpful to lightly brush the shaped cookie dough with water before adding sprinkles—this helps them stick.
- If the cookie dough becomes too soft as you work, chill the shaped cookie dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes before baking.
- Bake until very lightly browned on the edges, 7–9 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. If desired, drizzle with melted chocolate.
- Cookies stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for up to 4 days before pressing the dough through the cookie press. You can also freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months; allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before continuing with step 5. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months; thaw before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | OXO Cookie Press | Cooling Rack | Gel Food Coloring (if desired for tinting the cookie dough) | Sprinkles (such as Red Sanding Sugar, Green Sanding Sugar, Sapphire Sanding Sugar, or Christmas Nonpareils)
- Almond Extract: Almond extract adds such a wonderful flavor and I don’t recommend skipping it. If desired, you can leave it out completely or add another 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract in its place. You can also substitute with 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract, lemon extract, or another flavor extract you enjoy. Adding 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon is delicious too!
- Food Coloring: I tinted 1/4 of the cookie dough green with 1 very tiny drop of green food coloring. I recommend gel food coloring. Use sparingly; 2 drops is plenty for the entire batch.
- No Cookie Press? No problem! Instead, use a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch (13 mm) open star tip and use my butter cookies recipe, which is this cookie dough with a little milk to help make it pipe-able.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Made these with my grandson. Easy to mix and worked great with my manual cookie press.
This is my new favorite recipe. Delicious flavors.
This recipe is exactly like my mom’s, with one exception. Her recipe has 1/2 tsp of baking powder. Yours doesn’t. Can you explain why you’ve taken it out?
Hi Tina, we found these to be the perfect ratio of ingredients in our recipe testing!
Made this recipe twice. First time I couldn’t get it through the cookie press. Tried all the tips but that was a bust. Tossed them and tried again today. They went through the press and I was so excited to have my kids try them out but they didn’t like them. The peanut gallery said it needed more almond extract and something else it was just too plain. Thank you for the recipe though.
The first time I made these, they came out absolutely perfect. The second time, total disaster. The cookies spread into razor-thin discs of nothingness. Tasty, but not cute. The difference was, I actually screwed up the first time. I think I used 1 or 1 1/2 sticks butter and that’s why they turned out so well. Upon realizing my mistake I tried 1) chilling the dough and then 2) adding more flour. The chilled dough still resulted in ugly discs. The dough with more flour had something resembling a shape. Bottom line: use less butter.
Will be looking for a different recipe. Followed directions…except chilled cookie sheets before pressing cookies. No parchement paper…wouldn’t grab the dough. Could tell what it was after pressing and as they went in oven but out of the oven just a blob! Even add more flour on last batch…same results…blobs
I’ve made spritz before with other recipes but decided to try this one based on success of other recipes. However my dough did not stick to the baking sheets and they puffed up/spread which made them lose definition. I was caution with my butter and dough temperatures too!
Great recipe! I found it was easier to get the cookies on the tray if it was a little bit warmer than room temperature. I chilled the whole tray right before baking and they didn’t spread.
Once again, Sally has come through with another perfect recipe! I have put this recipe in with my “super shooter” box so my kids can enjoy this recipe for years to come! I found that if the dough doesn’t want to press out, I just put the tube in the fridge for 10-15 minutes and the cookies are perfect. I bake for 10 minutes and let them cool and the flavor is fantastic! Even better on day two! If I don’t double the batch, these seem to make two tubes full of dough, or about 72 (6 doz) cookies. I also follow the recipe exactly as Sally recommends. I feel this makes all the difference in the cookie.
Can these be iced and if so what is the best method?
Thanks
Hi Kathryn, we would recommend using a drizzle of Easy Icing. They would be difficult to decorate as you would cut out cookies, but a simply glaze (or even flavored with extract) would be delicious. Let us know if you give it a try!
I found this to be an average cookie recipe. The flavor was average. I like more almond flavor, so maybe that was the problem.
Love these! My cookie press didn’t stick at all on an ungreased cookie sheet. I put the cookie sheet with pressed cookies on it in the fridge for a few minutes before baking and they kept shape well. Decorated some before baking, left some plain and glazed some. Delicious and so cute.
The taste was fantastic and didn’t have any trouble with spreading! I had a bit of trouble getting the cookies off the press and on the parchment. May try again with slightly more flour and chilling dough a bit before inserting in press. Great recipe!
I just made these tonight and that are sooooo good! Thanks for the tip about lightly brushing cookies with water so the sprinkles adhere. Worked so well! I’ve been baking for over 40 years and I learned something new! You have fantastic recipes❣️
Spritz Cookies are my very favorite Christmas cookie to make and eat, I have been making them since I was a child using my great aunt Helen’s recipe. I was intrigued by this recipe because of the no chilling claim and the addition of almond extract. I compared this recipe with my family recipe side by side this season and they are almost identical, but here is what I found:
1. This dough is too sticky to hold a good shape coming out of the press. Only the most basic shapes worked, the more intricate ones were indistinguishable. I have never had that problem before and I think the culprit was two fold. First, my family recipe has 1/4 cup more flour in it which seems to give it a bit more structure. Second, I have always chilled the dough for 15 – 30 minutes before pressing and I think that also helps a lot.
2. These cookies spread in the oven more than I have experienced with my recipe. I am thinking perhaps this is also because of two reasons. First, my recipe calls for 1/2 t Baking Powder. This gives the cookies a little more lift, and a touch more softness after baked. Second, this recipe bakes at 350 and mine at 375 and I think the lower temp caused additional spread.
Final result … this recipe produced a denser, cookie with crispier edges, but still that fabulous spritz flavor that I love. I think the sturdier structure would make them even more resilient for shipping. I don’t do much shipping, however, so I will be sticking with my tried and true as my family (not knowing there were two different recipes used) preferred those. If you are struggling with any of the issues I did, hope my feedback helps!
Any chance of getting your family recipe Jeralyn? You could email me directly if you’d like. Tia. ♡
Hi Sally! I have tried several of your recipes and they are always great! For this recipe, I’d like to know what you might recommend in place of the butter in the case of a dairy allergy. Would shortening or Smart Balance spread work? Thanks in advance!
Hi Patti, shortening could work but you may want to use butter flavored shortening. I do not recommend smart balance spread or margarine. Some readers have made cookies with Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks, though I’m unsure about that swap in this particular recipe. Let me know if you try it.
Hi Sally, Made these cookies last year and again this year.. As with all your recipes, I love them. Quick question: Sorry if this is in the information you provided and I may have missed it. I want to dip some of these in chocolate. Can I still freeze the cookies dipped in chocolate? I went on line to find an answer and saw mixed information. Some said you can, while others said not to. So I decided to come to you because I know you would not steer me wrong. Thanks.
Hi Bernice, you can freeze cookies dipped in chocolate after the chocolate completely sets. I do it all the time. Thaw at room temperature.
This recipe is much better than the standard sprtiz I tried before. I used different flavored extracts (strawberry & ube) in place of the vanilla & almond to experiment with the special flavored emulsions I bought for macarons & they came out well! Although I think I’ll include the vanilla extract next time as I love that flavor.
Hi Sally-
Another cookie question for you. 🙂 I make your spritz recipe every year, and I use the same discs for holiday cookies. This might be a dumb question, but here goes….I was thinking of making spritz “shortbread” cookies this year and dipping 1/2 way in chocolate. Using my disk for the cookie I want to make, can I use your same recipe? I am sure that I can use your recipe for every disc in my Pampered Chef Cookie Press box, but just “making sure”. 🙂 Thank you. (It’ll be the disk that is like a short think line, but ridged), if that makes sense.
Hi Paula, I wonder if you are referring to making cookies like these Butter Cookies? That is essentially this spritz recipe with a little milk added to make it thin enough to flow through the ridged piping tip.
The cookies were so good!! I didn’t change anything in the recipe and the cookies turned out perfectly. I had a hard time getting it to stick to the parchment paper, so I just pressed them directly on the cookie sheet and they turned out great. Excited to pass them out to neighbors. Thank you!
How many calories per cookie?
Recipe is great but the recommendation of the OXO Cookie Press is wonderful The third press I have tried in the last 25 years but without a doubt the best. Will recommend both recipe and press to every baker I know.
What’s your trick to getting the sugar sprinkles to stick? Mine always fall off. Thanks!
Hi Jenna, try lightly pressing the sprinkles down onto the dough after you sprinkle them on top. You could also lightly brush the shaped cookie dough with water, then sprinkle the sprinkles on top.
I followed recipe and chilled the dough. The cookies tasted really good but spread too much and did not keep shape.
Just made these tonight! They have fantastic flavour and texture (I used a homemade bourbon vanilla that I’ve been steeping since last Christmas). I followed the recipe exactly using the given weights. I agree with others about them spreading; I tried to chill but it didn’t help much. Next time I’ll try adding a little more flour so they hold their shape. This is the most success I’ve had with my press, all other doughs were too tough to press.
Greetings from Pittsburgh PA. I just finished making these cookies and they are fantastic. After reading the other comments, here are some tips that I did.
1. I have the OXO Cookie Press and it worked like a dream.
2. I added just a little more flour to my batter. Maybe 1/4 – if that.
3. The almond flavoring is a must!
4. I used really good butter.
5. Before I placed the cookies, I put the cookie trays in the freezer. No parchment or mat was used. Cookies didn’t spread at all.
6. Between trays, I would keep the press in the fridge and I would wipe down each tray after the batch was removed. Once the tray was wiped down, I put back in the freezer.
These are adorable! I love the recipe and I will be making these again. BTW – my 19 year son told me they are incredible. That’s always a good sign!
Followed recipe exactly and the cookies turned out perfectly!! Thank you! My daughter and I had so much fun making them
Tried the cookie press last year for the first time and the recipe gave us dry cookies (but cute). Loving the flavor of your recipe. Thanks!
I made these last night, I did add 1/4 more cup of flour to the recipe as the dough seemed a little wet still. But they turned out great. I will for sure use this recipe again and again. Thank you for posting it.
This is going to be my go to recipe for spritz cookies. I made pumpkins for halloween using my cookie press and this recipe was fantastic. Not too sweet, buttery, delicious and SO easy. So excited for holiday baking in a few months 🙂
My first time to try this–I just got an OXO press. I want to make some of the cookies chocolate — how much cocoa powder do I add to the batter, and would Dutch-processed cocoa work? Thank you–I love your website!
Hi Regee, while I haven’t tried this yet, you can try using my chocolate sugar cookies dough. I recommend chilling the shaped cookies (before baking) for at least 30 minutes so they hold they’re shape in the oven.
I baked this today and the cookie dough was too soft. I measured everything in grams (sugar, flour and butter) but it was way too soft..like whipped buttercream frosting. I added about 50 gms more flour and then pressed it through my OXO gg press. Maybe this needs 300 gms flour. Turned out tasty nevertheless in the end.