When I was still living at home with my parents, I convinced my mom to buy a cookie press. We really had no idea what we were doing with it or how many cookies it would produce, but it was experimenting and making a complete mess of the kitchen. Today, that cookie press has gone to cookie press heaven. The last batch of spritz cookies that I was pressing out, was just too much pressure on it and the top part snapped. I guess I’ll have to buy a new one for next Christmas.
Ingredients
recipe from Cook’s Illustrated
makes about 6 dozen
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Directions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375F.
- Whisk egg yolk, cream and vanilla together in a small bowl. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter, sugar and salt on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-6 minutes. Beat in yolk mixture until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low and slowly mix in flour until combined, about another 30 seconds.
- If using cookie press, follow manufacturer’s instructions to fill press. If using pastry bag, fit with 1/2 inch star tip and fill bag with half of the dough. Pipe cookies onto baking sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart and refilling cookie press or pastry bag as needed. (Piped cookies should measure about 1 inch in diameter)
- Bake cookies until light golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheet for about 10 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.