Holiday Spritz Cookies

During the Christmas season there's no cookie more famous than the Spritz. 

At about 4 or 5 years old, I remember sharing the Spritz "adventure" with Grandma. She would make up a batch, grab a handful out of the mixing bowl, put it in the cookie press, and hand it to me! She even taught me how to change out the little plates so we could make all kinds of beautiful (or so I thought) holiday shapes--trees, candy canes, little flowers and snowflakes, long wavy stripe-like things, and a ton of others. I probably ate more of the dough than what I was supposed to--and Grandma knew it too--but she never said a word. This was a celebration of butter, sugar, and loving companionship!

But the fun didn't end there. After the cookies came out of the oven and were still a little warm, we would shake sprinkles over them and add on some of the little silver balls--dragées, I think they're called (never would have known that without Martha!). This was one of my most vivid Christmas memories and it wasn't limited to my preschool years. We continued making these every Christmas until I had children of my own and then we inducted them into the family "Spritz-pressing club."

Isn't is amazing that food can provide such meaningful memories? I think there's a lesson to be learned here about what's really important not only at Christmas but all year long. It's not about money or the stuff money can buy, but connecting and taking the time to just BE with one another doing something simple--no pressure and no expectations! In this case, it's just a 1/2 pound of butter, some sugar, flour, a cookie press, your loved one and your time!

Spritz Cookies

 1½ cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg (room temperature)

2 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

½ tsp almond extract

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 400F. 

Thoroughly cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk, vanilla, and almond extract; beat well.  Stir together flour and baking powder. Gradually add to cream mixture, mixing to make a smooth dough.  Do not chill. Place dough into cookie press and press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 400F 6-8 minutes. Remove cookies from sheet and cool on rack. Makes about 6 dozen.