Vanilla Spritz Cookies

In preparation for a potluck at our office, I decided to make these spritz cookies, from a recipe that came with the Kuhn Rikon cookie press. I have as of yet not mastered the art of the cookie press, while the final cookie looks pretty good, I removed those that did not work properly, putting the dough back into the remaining dough. It takes a little doing to get the rhythm going, by the end I was doing pretty good. They turned out pretty good, and tasty, too.

Vanilla Spritz Cookies
adapted from a recipe from Kuhn Rikon
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp salt
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 375F.

Combine the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat until light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, cardamom and salt. Using a spoon, stir on the flour in two batches until well mixed.

Pack the dough in the cookie press. Fit with the desired disk design. Press the dough out onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing the cookies 1 inch apart.

Bake until lightly golden, about 10-12 minutes. Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Makes about 4-8 dozen cookies, depending on size.

Espresso Spritz Cookies

These were called Mocha Spritz when I found the recipe, but in the light of the excellent espresso powder that I obtained, that filled my place with the wonderful aroma of espresso as I added the water to the powder, then again, even stronger, when I was baking these, I decided to rename them Espresso Spritz. They taste even better than they smelled, chocolatey and coffee too, two thirds of the Holy Triad that I've read about, the third part being hazelnuts. The dough in this batch did not turn out as well as my first batch of spritz cookies, they did not form into the shapes as well, creating some misshapen pieces. Perhaps, too, it was my lack of experience using the cookie press, they did start looking better by the end.

Espresso Spritz Cookies
adapted from a recipe found in Family Circle "Christmas Cookies & Crafts," December 2002
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon water
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180C/350F.

In a small bowl, stir together the espresso powder in the water to dissolve the espresso powder.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, nutmeg and salt until well blended.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the dissolved espresso. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until well blended.

Spoon the dough into a cookie press. Press the dough out onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing the cookies about 1 inch apart.

Bake the cookies for 12 minutes or until they are dry. With a metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 108 cookies.

Chocolate Spritz Cookies

A couple of ladies at work both made the comment that these cookies taste like Christmas. They taste very good, I'm not quite sure what Christmas tastes like, rather I think they invoke a memory of eating cookies at Christmas. I can't guarantee that you'll get the same reaction, but they will like them. This recipe came with the Kuhn Rikon cookie press I wrote about earlier. The recipe must be followed quite closely, in order to make the dough pliable enough to be able to easily load into the tube, stiff enough to be able to be extruded and hold the shape of the cookie, and sticky enough to stick to the baking sheet. The baking sheet too must be clean, cold and not non-stick coated. Fortunately, I have these professional steel baking sheets that work quite well.

Chocolate Spritz Cookies
adapted from a recipe by Kuhn Rikon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 Tbsp of milk (or water)
2-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 375F.

Whisk together the flour and sifted cocoa.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, on medium speed on mixer.

Beat in the egg, milk, vanilla extract and salt until combined. Stir in cocoa flour mixture by hand or using low speed on mixer, until well combined.

Pack the dough into cookie press. Fit with the desired disk design. Press the dough out onto ungreased baking sheets spacing the cookies 1 inch apart.

Bake until lightly golden, about 10-12 minutes. Leave on baking sheet to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Store in airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Makes about 8 dozen cookies, depending on size.