The "Spritz" Queen

So over the holiday break - I became the new owner of a "Spritz" cookie press! Found it on clearance and scooped it up - my old one was hard to work and I had fantasies of Christmas spritz cookies beautifully decorated for the Christmas Holidays...

What are SPRITZ cookies? Some may ask... they are basically a buttery cookie dough which is squeezed out of a cookie press and baked. Spritz cookies are originally a Christmas cookie from Scandinavian countries.

My boys "love, love, love" cookies - who doesn't? The cookie press worked perfectly - cookies with just a click or two! My oldest son made the 1st batch - using the recipe on the box - bad idea - not very tasty... we added lots of glaze and still not much taste! Not good for serving at a Christmas Eve party... frowny face - but we had LOTS of sweets to serve - we just tucked the tasteless spritz cookies under the others and later threw most of them away. BOO!

I was convinced that this cool gadget was going to make wonderful cookies - it was a matter of finding the perfect dough recipe. So hence the "queen-dom" of collecting spritz cookie recipes - we've tried lots! Here are two of our favorite recipes for a "Spritz" cookies. So, for our first recipe swap of 2011 - two for the price of one post - LOL - 2 Spritz Cookie Recipes! Enjoy!

Lemon Spritz

1 cup butter , softened

1 (3 ounce) pkg cream cheese , softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon lemon extract

1 1/4 teaspoons lemon peel , grated

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and cream cheese together. Add sugar and mix well until light and fluffy.

Add egg yolk, vanilla & lemon extract and lemon peel. Mix well. Gradually add flour and salt to creamed mixture.Shape dough in small logs and place in cookie press. Press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 12-13 minutes or until lightly browned.

Jell-o Spritz

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups butter

1 (3 ounce) package fruit flavored gelatin mix

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream butter, sugar and gelatin. Add egg, lemon and vanilla extract. Beat well. Gradually add flour and baking powder. Blend until smooth.

Spoon dough into the cookie press. Press out desired shape, Using an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-13 minutes.

Have a great week! Back to the grind and back to a routine! Hug the ones you love the most! Come back often! We only have 144 more days until summer vacation! That's actually days... LOL!