CREAM CHEESE SPRITZ COOKIES

Yields about 100 cookies, depending on size and style.

The original recipe for this sweet and slightly tangy cookie dates back to the 1960s.  Luckily, today’s cookie presses are much easier to use than the old hand-crank variety, so baking dozens of pretty little cookies is a snap.

2 sticks of butter, softened at room temperature

3 oz. cream cheese (preferably Philadelphia brand), softened at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg yolk

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 ½ cups all purpose flour, sifted

1 egg white, lightly beaten

Colored sugars or other decorations for sprinkling (optional)

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 375˚ F.  

Beat the butter, cream cheese, and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.  Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat again until blended.  Add the flour and mix on low speed until blended.

Fit a cookie press with a die plate.  Scoop up about a quarter of the dough and, using a small amount of flour if needed, shape the dough into a log just narrower than the barrel of the cookie press.  Slide the log into the cookie press and spritz the cookies directly onto ungreased baking sheet about 1 inch apart.

ooooops, how did that pic get in there?!! ;)

Brush the tops with the beaten egg white and sprinkle with colored sugar, or other decorations, if using.  Repeat with the remaining dough.

Bake until the cookies are just golden around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet on a rack for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.  Be sure the baking sheet is cool before spritzing more cookies.

Store at room temperature or freeze in an airtight container, separating the cookie layers with waxed paper.

Well, this would be the last time I would do any baking, the last time I would bake Christmas cookies in this oven.  We are boxing and packing up the house because we’re moving.  If you had told me two months ago that we’d be packing up and moving, especially during Christmas time, I would of told you, {{{YOU ARE CRAZY!!!}}}  Who in their right mind would move, during Christmas, of all times?!!!!  Well we are, it’s a long but lovely story, a proof of how our God provides and grants you your hearts desire, another story for another time.

So, Elise bought a new Spritz cookie press and couldn’t wait to start using it.  I found this recipe once again in this Fine Cooking magazine where I’ve pulled the previous cookie recipes from too.  Once I figured out how to use the cookie press, it was a breeze from there.  I don’t know if I made 100 cookies but it must have been pretty close, there were quite a few.  My whole family LOVED them and I can’t wait to bake some more, in my new kitchen and new stove J  ~isavortheweekend