Description
These Spritz Butter Christmas Cookies are a festive and delicious holiday treat featuring buttery, tender cookie dough pressed into charming holiday shapes. Flavored with vanilla and a touch of green food coloring for a cheerful look, they’re perfect for decorating with sprinkles or colored sugar. Crisp at the edges and soft in the center, these classic cookies are easy to make and sure to delight family and friends during the holiday season.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Green food coloring (liquid or gel), about 4 drops gel for pale green color
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Decorations
- Sprinkles or colored sugar, for decorating
Instructions
- Preheat Oven: Heat your oven to 375°F (190°C) to prepare it for baking the cookies.
- Mix Butter and Sugar: Using an electric mixer on medium speed in a large bowl, beat the room temperature butter and granulated sugar together until the mixture is fluffy and light in color.
- Add Egg and Vanilla: Incorporate the egg and vanilla extract into the butter-sugar mixture, continuing to beat until everything is well combined into a smooth batter.
- Add Food Coloring: Introduce green food coloring drop by drop, mixing with the electric mixer until you reach the desired pale green hue. Gel food coloring is preferred and usually requires about 4 drops for the perfect color without becoming too dark.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: Add the all-purpose flour and kosher salt to the wet ingredients and stir gently with a wooden spoon until just combined into a smooth cookie dough.
- Form Shapes: Pack the dough into a cookie press fitted with a holiday-themed disk (such as wreath or tree shapes). Press the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. The stickiness helps shapes release cleanly, so do not grease or line the sheet. Decorate each cookie with sprinkles or colored sugar as desired.
- Bake Cookies: Bake the shaped cookies in the preheated oven for 7 to 9 minutes, until the bottom edges just begin to turn slightly golden, indicating doneness.
- Cool and Store: Transfer the baked cookies to a wire rack and let them cool completely. Once cooled, store them in an airtight container at room temperature to maintain freshness.
Notes
- Use gel food coloring to achieve a vibrant green without adding too much liquid to the dough.
- Don’t grease or line the cookie sheet, as the dough needs to stick slightly to release clean shapes from the cookie press.
- For best texture, ensure butter is softened but not melted before mixing.
- Cookies are best stored in an airtight container at room temperature and consumed within one week for optimal freshness.
- You can customize shapes by changing cookie press disks to fit your holiday theme.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie (~15g)
- Calories: 80
- Sugar: 5g
- Sodium: 50mg
- Fat: 5g
- Saturated Fat: 3g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 9g
- Fiber: 0.2g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 15mg
