Holiday Spritz Cookies are festive, crispy, and just plain delicious. These little butter cookies press into beautiful shapes, bake quickly, and bring that nostalgic Christmas flavor without a lot of effort. With simple ingredients and a good cookie press, you get clean, crisp designs that look great on any cookie platter.
Why Choose My Recipe
- Easy ingredients: Everything comes from basic pantry staples, which makes this a simple cookie to bake during the holiday season, especially when making Holiday Spritz Cookies.
- Beautiful shapes: A chilled baking sheet and a steady cookie press help the dough hold clean, classic holiday shapes like stars, flowers, and Christmas trees.
- Holiday flavor: The buttery base, warm vanilla extract, and touch of almond extract give you that traditional spritz cookie taste people look for every year.
These holiday cookies make a great addition to any holiday tradition. They look festive, bake fast, and taste like the best holiday cookie without any complicated steps.
They also keep well in an airtight container, which makes them perfect for gifting or adding to a cookie platter alongside your other Christmas favorites.
Ingredient Insights
- Unsalted butter at room temperature: Soft butter creams smoothly and creates the structure for holiday cookie dough.
- Granulated sugar: Adds sweetness and helps create that light, familiar spritz texture in Holiday Spritz Cookies.
- Egg yolks: Add richness and help bind the dough.
- Vanilla extract and almond extract: A small amount of almond extract gives these cookies their classic holiday flavor.
- All purpose flour: Provides the base structure and gives the dough the right consistency for pressing.
- Salt: Balances the buttery flavor and sweetness.
- Colored sugars or sprinkles: Add a festive touch and stick well to the unbaked dough.
How to Make Holiday Spritz Cookies
These cookies come together quickly, and the process flows naturally. The full recipe card is below, perfect for creating Holiday Spritz Cookies efficiently.
Step one: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Chill your cookie sheet in the refrigerator. The cold surface helps the dough grip and keeps the cookies from spreading.
Step two: In a small bowl, stir together the all purpose flour and salt, then set aside.
Step three: Cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until the mixture looks light and fluffy.
Step four: Add the egg yolks, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Mix just until combined.
Step five: Add the dry ingredients a little at a time and mix until the dough is fully combined.
Step six: Fill your cookie press with the dough, then press shapes two inches apart onto the chilled baking sheet, perfect for making Holiday Spritz variety.
Step seven: Sprinkle with colored sugar or sprinkles, then bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until the sides just begin to brown.
Step eight: Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 3 to 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool.
Substitutions and Variations
- Flavor choices: You can use only vanilla extract for a softer flavor or keep both vanilla and almond extract for traditional Holiday Spritz Cookies.
- Color options: Add a drop of green food coloring to make little Christmas trees.
- Toppings: Use Christmas sprinkles or colored sugar for a simple, festive look.
Crissy’s Holiday Spritz Cookie Tips
- Chill the baking sheet: This trick helps the dough stick and press cleanly, especially when making different shapes.
- Use room temperature butter: Soft butter creams better and gives the dough the right consistency for Spritz Cookies.
- Press quickly: A warm or greasy sheet will keep the dough from gripping, so press onto a cool surface.
- Avoid overmixing: Mix the flour on low speed to keep the dough soft and workable.
- Watch the bake time: These cookies bake fast. Pull them when the edges just start to color.
- Cool before storing: Once cooled, store them in an airtight container to keep their texture.
- Make a cookie platter: These simple cookies pair well with sugar cookies, shortbread cookies, and other cookie recipes during the holiday season.
How to Store Holiday Spritz Cookies
- Room temperature: Store in an airtight container for up to one week.
- Refrigerator: Not needed, but you can chill them in warm kitchens.
- Freezer: Freeze baked cookies if you like. Thaw at room temperature before serving.
- Make ahead: Press and bake the cookies ahead of time and store them for cookie exchanges or gift boxes with Holiday Spritz Cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some common questions with answers that will help you bake the best cookies.
A warm or greasy sheet prevents the dough from gripping. Use a chilled, ungreased cookie sheet for best results when making Holiday Spritz Cookies.
If the cookie sheet gets warm, the dough may flatten. Switch to a fresh, chilled sheet to keep the shapes clean.
Yes. Christmas sprinkles and colored sugar stick well to the unbaked dough, enhancing the look of your Holiday Spritz Cookies.
These little Christmas butter cookies are fun, festive, and honestly just so impressive! See what I did there? Haha! Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
More Easy Christmas Cookies
- Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies
- Hershey Kiss Cookies
- Snowball Christmas Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Soft Ginger Molasses Cookies
Holiday Spritz Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Colored sugars or sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Chill your cookie sheet in the refrigerator to help keep the dough from spreading.
- In a small bowl, stir together the flour and salt, then set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar until the mixture looks light and fluffy.
- Add the egg yolks, vanilla, and almond extract. Mix just until combined.
- Add the flour mixture a little at a time, mixing until the dough is fully combined.
- Fill your cookie press with the dough and press shapes onto the chilled cookie sheet, leaving about 2 inches between cookies.
- Sprinkle with colored sugar or sprinkles.
- Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the edges just begin to brown.
- Let the cookies rest on the pan for 3 to 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
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Hi Chrissy,
Thank you for this recipe. I got a cookie press and this was my first time making these with my granddaughter! I’m so glad that I tried your recipe first! They turned out so good we were jumping up and down!
My cookies turned out great! Followed exact recipe. Will use this again! Thank you!
I also like to color some of my dough red and green and then put a little of each color in the cookie press. If you put it in so the 3 colors red, green and plain are laying side by side you get some very pretty Christmas colored rainbow cookies.
I love Jesus too!!
And these cookies came out so cute and yummy 😋.I was so excited to try a new cookie recipe this year and yours will be added to my Christmas tradition year after year.
Merry Christmas 🎄
I love this cookie, but cannot get the dough to release from the cookie press.
Please tell me what I am doing wrong.