Cookie Extravaganza: Spritz
Photo: Madison Leiren
Buttery, melt-in-your-mouth spritz cookies are easy to freeze and easy to please.
JULIE PHEASANT-ALBRIGHT
One of my earliest memories is of my godmother, Dode Bjork, making spritz. She didn’t make them just for Christmas; she made them all year round.
Her recipe came from an exceptional Norwegian baker named Sigrid Lunde. My copy of the recipe is stained with butter and in her handwriting, written for me in the 1960s. I have my mother’s 1950s copper-toned spritz press. I’ve tried fancy electric ones, but nothing beats Mom’s Nordic Ware “Deluxe Cookie King Crank Type Cookie Press Spritz Gun.” I still have the original box. It’s slightly wonky, but the hand-cranked action makes the perfect spritz cookie.
This is my go-to cookie for all occasions, from weddings to funerals, from Christmas to Easter. Buttery, melt-in-your-mouth texture, easy to freeze and easy to make, nothing says “holidays” better than spritz!
Spritz
Ingredients:
2 cups (4 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 cups flour
Special equipment:
Cookie press (available at Scandinavian stores or specialty kitchen stores)
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk and vanilla, and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Add the flour and mix until no streaks remain.
- Chill for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.
- Press through spritz-maker cookie press.
- Bake at 325°F until very lightly browned.
But you mustn’t stop with just one kind of Christmas cookie! Browse our recipes to fill your holiday table with at least syv slags!
< Previous recipe: Spiced slice-and-bake cookies
The Great Norwegian Christmas Cookie Extravaganza
This article originally appeared in the Nov. 27, 2020, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.
