I love these colorful buttery spritz cookies because they are simple, delicious, and easy to decorate. Once the batter is made, just press, sprinkle, and bake. The result? The cutest little buttery bites of joy that will totally make your day.
Classic spritz cookies are most popular around the holidays. They’re a tradition in my family for years, especially at Christmas. My aunt makes a spiced version of these every holiday season and always tops them with stunning gold sprinkles.
Fortunately for me, there are tons of holidays and each one is an excuse to these fun little cookies!
Some Fun Holiday Shapes Might Include:
- pumpkin and bat shapes for Halloween
- heart shapes for Valentine’s Day (pictured above)
- flower shapes for spring and Easter (pictured below)
- wreath or tree shapes for the holidays
These cookies don’t really spread much in the oven. They hold their shape really well and cool down to crumbly and buttery bite-sized little cookies (and yes, they are veeeeeery hard to stop eating).
You can really take these in any direction and decorate different shapes with different colors. It makes for a truly festive finish. Here I decorated Easter and spring-inspired flower shapes with blue and periwinkle sprinkles for a fun, bright pop of color.
Some other popular variations on the spritz cookie might have cocoa/chocolate, spiced, and lemon flavor.
Check out this article on more colorful and tasty spritz cookie variations for every holiday and mood…
Combine Butter + Sugar
Pre-heat your oven and combine butter and sugar with your mixer until fluffy and light in color.
Add Egg, Vanilla, and Salt
Add egg, vanilla, almond extract (if using), and salt to the butter and sugar combination. Mix until combined. I would definitely not pass on the almond extract, if available. It gives the cookies such a good taste!
Related: Easy Gingerbread Cookies
Add Flour
Add in your flour a little at a time until completely combined and mixture forms into a dough that pulls away from the side of the bowl.
Load Your Cookie Press
Load your cookie press with the cookie dough. You can spoon it in or roll it into a skinny log and slip it in. All cookie press containers are slightly different. You can always refer to your manufacturer instructions for help with this step as well.
Choose Your Spritz Cookie Design
Choose a design and attach the disk to the front tip of the loaded cookie press. Press your cookie designs onto a lined baking sheet.
Sprinkle + Bake
Press your cookie design onto the baking mat, sprinkle with colorful sprinkles or colored sanding sugar, and bake until just barely golden around the edges, about 7 to 10 minutes. I like to line my baking sheet with a baking mat. This helps to eliminate added steps of lining with aluminum foil or greasing (if needed).
These delightful little buttery cookies come out colorful and delicious every time! For a spiced variation, try adding 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp cardamom, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp clove.
Try these colorful buttery spritz cookies for any occasion and give them your own twist of color, flavor, or style! Dip them in chocolate or glaze, dye the batter with your favorite holiday color or simply sprinkle them and bake for a simple but beautiful touch!
Spritz Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 sticks Unsalted Butter
- 3/4 cup White Sugar
- 1 large Egg
- 2 1/2 tsp Vanilla
- 1 tsp Almond Extract
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl using a mixer on medium speed. Beat together until light in color and fluffy.
- Now beat in the egg, vanilla, almond extract, and salt. Now, using a spoon or spatula (or with the mixer on low speed) mix in the flour a little bit at a time until completely incorporated and combined. Dough is finished with it easily pulls away from the side of the bowl.
- Load the cookie dough into your cookie press. (I like to roll mine into a skinny log and slide it in). If needed, refer to your cookie press manual for tips on the best way to do this. Next, choose a design or disk and place on the end of your cookie press and twist on the end cap to seal. (How to do this mostly depends on what style cookie press you have. Once more, refer to manual for specific instructions.)
- On a lined baking sheet, press the dough out onto the baking sheet to begin forming your cookies. Press them out about 1 inch apart. Sprinkle them with colorful sanding sugar or sprinkles. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 7 to 10 minutes or until just lightly golden.
- Remove from the oven and gently transfer to a cooling rack.
