Hmm, not sure I have a nemesis. If I can't get predictable results from a recipe after a couple of tries, I pitch it rather than deal with further frustration.

As far as the spritz, I've had consistently great results since switching to 1/2 butter, 1/2 margarine. They form beautifully, stay that way, and taste delicious!

Chrissy

Yeah....spritz....don't make them any more...gave away my cookie shooter!

What are "spritz?"

I've used this recipe a couple of times with success. Maybe it is the gelatin in the recipe that helps them hold up?

Gelatin Spritz Cookies
Submitted by: Kathy
Rated: 4 out of 5 by 54 members Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes Ready In: 30 Minutes
Yields: 36 servings

"Spritz or drop cookies, colorful and flavorful - very easy."
INGREDIENTS:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups butter
1 (3 ounce) package fruit flavored Jell-o gelatin mix
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:
1. Cream butter, sugar and gelatin. Add egg and vanilla. Beat well. Gradually add flour and baking powder. Blend until smooth.
2. Refrigerate dough until firm. (If using a cookie press, no need to refrigerate dough before use.) Roll into balls and press with bottom of glass with sugar. (Use an ungreased cookie sheet). Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 7-10 minutes.

LOL Cathy, I feel the same way about pie crust! I have fear of anything shaped and baked. Reminds me of bad playdough experiences in my youth!
:)

These are spritz cookies

My grandmothers and my mother used to make them. I have their cookie press, but haven't made them in a while. Since the grandchildren are coming for Christmas, I may make them this year.

If there is no almond extract/flavor, they are not spritz. Vanilla is NOT used.

My family loves them, but no one but me is left who has the patience to make them. I wrote out a very careful tutorial for my niece if you want it. Assuming I can find it. I have to make at least 6 batches every Christmas as gifts for extended family. There would be a revolution if I did not make the spritz.

I donÂt bother much with decorating them. The delicate flavor is the point of spritz. The only thing I decorate is maybe a light sprinkle of green sugar on the tree shape, and slivers of candied cherries, green and red, to make "bows" (very abstract ones) on wreaths. Wreath is made with the star tip. I probably only decorate a third just to dress up the plate.

The stand-up cookies are the hardest. I have tried several new types of cookie guns, in the hopes of sparing my hands
(I have carpal tunnel) only to have to return them to the store. The best style is the old-fashioned Mirro cookie press, the wide one. I see them in antique/thrift stores for very cheap. They LAST and are worth picking up when you see one. I have my own, given as a shower gift 28 years ago, plus my MomÂs, which is 60 years old, used heavily, and still works perfectly.

If you are having no luck with the stand up shapes, try the ones where the cookie press is held at an angle and you extrude a shape then move the gun around. Like wreaths. Start extruding the dough and make a simple circle with it. Small diameter so it doesnÂt break later. Cut dough off press with knife. Go back and push end into shape after you finish a row. Shapes like this, thin and open, are very crispy and taste better than more solid shapes.

I usually add a little more flour to the dough when making stand up shapes. It helps them release.

I can't get the things to stick to the cookie sheet...or release from the shooter....and I have dried all sorts....even one with hardboiled egg yolks.
Theya re just not for me! I'll make butter cookie cutouts, but no more spritz!

Well, I'm printing out this thread and clipping it to my recipe for next year because a) I'm glad I'm not alone and b) I appreciate the alternative suggestions.

I do have say, lindac, I wondered about those cookie shooters. They look pretty intriguing, but maybe looks are deceiving. Momj47 -- You are the best grandmother:) I have an ancient SAWA 2000 (internet pic).

Linnea56 -- Hats off to you!!!! GAH -- Six batches. I make the trees with little nonpareils on them. When my daughter was little, she dropped the whole container on the floor. DO NOT SWEEP WITH BROOM.

Here's the recipe I use. Good, but in my hands, unpredictable.

Spritz

1 Cup butter
2/3 Cup sugar
3 egg yolks
3/4 tsp. almond extract
Food Coloring
2 Cups Flour
(I add a tiny pinch of salt when using unsalted butter)

Cream butter, sugar. Stir in egg yolks, extract, food coloring if using. Add/Stir in flour. Use in cookie press. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes.

Thanks again for the suggestions and the laughs. Really!

Cathy in SWPA

Divinity! My DGM made the best and I've yet to have it come out good. I think it's the humidity down here that causes my failure. DGM lived in NESD and I'm guessing the dry cold winters made hers a success. I finally gave up years ago.

David

Peanut Brittle...used to make it when first married. Not any more, its a sticky mess.

Have had a few problems with Spritz cookies. This year I had thought about getting a new press, but after doing a search and checking the reviews on the newer models...I am going back to my old one that Bruce's mom used for many many years. Just found it tonight while digging for CHRISTmas decorations for the tree.
Now to find my recipe...that is a whole nother story!

I'm not trying to be a smarta$$ but I never thought of Spritz cookies as being difficult. I've made them for at least 50 years. I started with a hand pump type of press and then got a Cookie Shooter about 30 yrs ago. It still works!!!! Gotta have the Spritz or the cookie platter just doesn't look right.

Nancy

Trudy, I've been making this microwave recipe from Marilyn, a former memeber, for years now. It always turns out great. You just have to know your MW and watch it the last minute or so.

Peanut Brittle

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light Karo syrup
pinch of salt
1 cup raw, shelled peanuts
1 tablespoon real butter
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

Heavily spray cookie sheet with Pam. Combine sugar, Karo and salt in a 3-quart casserole (also sprayed with Pam). Stir in peanuts. Microwave at high until brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir once or twice during cooking time. Remove from microwave and stir in remaining ingredients until light and foamy. Quickly spread onto greased baking sheet. Spread as thin as possible

for brittle candy. Cool; break into pieces. *If desired, dip in melted chocolate!

David

Nancy what recipe do you use for your Spritz cookies? Could you share that with us?
Maybe your recipe is the key to yours not being difficult.

lakeguy that's what I came here to write. Divinity needs really dry temps and I live in a very humid area. I love it though, sigh.

I use the recipe from my old Farm Journal Cookbook, I'm glad to share.

Spritz

1 C butter
2/3 C confectioners sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp almond or vanilla (I like 1/2 and 1/2)
2 1/2 C sifted flour (I whisk my flour before measuring)

Combine butter, conf sugar, egg, egg yolk and extract.
Work in flour.

Using about 1/4 of the dough at a time, force thru cookie press about 1" apart onto ungreased cookie sheets (cold sheets) in desired shapes.

Bake in hot (400) 7 to 10 minutes, or until set but not browned. Remove cookies and cool on racks. Makes 4 to 6 dozen depending on size.

Hints:If dough is very warm, chill it briefly, but if too cold it crumbles. If too soft, work in 1-2 Tbsp of flour, if too stiff add another egg yolk. Be sure to use cold cookie sheets. Sheets that are warm from baking something else will cause the dough to melt around the edges and look unattractive.
I decorate the cookies before baking with different colors of sugar and sprinkles.

Nancy

Thanks David for PB recipe. Sounds much like the one I used to make, only I cooked on stove and used candy therm.

May give Marilyn's recipe a try. Isn't cold dry weather recommended for PB also?

We are predicted to get up to 12 inches of snow this week.
Maybe it will be dry snow :)

Thanks Nancy for posting your recipe. The hints are good.

I have one using powdered sugar and one using cream cheese.
Going to be a toss up on which one to us.

Cold cookie sheets, now that makes since!

Cut out cookies. I make them well, but I detest making them. Dread it. Hate it. Takes me all weekend to make them and then decorate them (although this past weekend I did not even get them frosted and decorated). I only do it because everybody loves my cutouts (VERY rich and buttery) so much. Including me.
The recipe is so buttery that it is hard to roll and cutout without sticking. If I add more flour, they are not as tender. Refrigerating helps some, but invariably I get involved with something else, they get too cold and hard, and I end up having to leave them out until they soften up and then fight rolling them out.
I know more flour would help. But I have been making them for 25 years or more, and the best ones do not have more flour in them.
So, the one treat I look the most forward to eating every year, I dread making every year.

Sherry,
DH's family uses a very old family recipe for cut out cookies. It is good, but not sweet or rich. Would you share your rich, buttery recipe, please? Sounds wonderful!

Judy

Sherry, I've been making my cream cheese and butter cutouts for umpteen years but my tastes are changing! Please post your recipe, I'd love to try it this year.

There's been years when I never did get cutouts frosted but they disappeared anyway...

Nancy

David, I scorched the microwave peanut brittle. TWICE. Sigh.

I don't have problems with divinity, although I live in Michigan where humidity can get higher than the temperature. Right now it's 32F and 80% humidity. I freely admit that I make divinity ONCE A YEAR, at Christmas. I don't have problems with spritz either. Like Linnea, I have Grandma's old Mirro Press, with the copper colored ends.

The thing I always have problems with is English Toffee. Amanda loves the stuff and I've tried every recipe anyone has ever posted and haven't gotten it right. Lars' recipe was delicious, but wasn't crunchy and brittle, it was chewy. Others are teeth breakingly hard. I even bought a candy thermometer to make the blasted stuff. Nope, doesn't matter.....

Actually, I tend to have problems with cooked candies, except fudge and that divinity.

Now watch, I'll make Mother her yearly batch of divinity and it'll flop, just because I said that!

Annie

I too have the English Toffee dilemma. It turns out about 50% of the time.
I learned a great tip for roll out cookies a couple of years ago that has made making them so much easier. I make dozens and dozens every year and my girls invite friends over for a day of decorating. The tip is that when you've mixed up your dough and it is still soft, before you refrigerate, roll it out between two sheets of parchment, then put it in the fridge to chill. It roll so easily when it's soft and then just take one chilled sheet out at a time and cut away! I also had my husband cut me two lengths of wood that are 1/4" thick. I tape these to the counter with masking tape and use them as a guide for my rolling pin, so all cookies are exactly the same thickness.
Jane

tobyt, that is a brilliant idea! The rolling out on parchment is ingenious, and I also have trouble with consistent thickness, so the 1/4" boards is a great idea too!
Darn. I want to try it out and I already cut them all out. It will have to wait for next year. I will write these hints on the recipe so I don't forget next year!

Jane, that IS a good idea, and layers of dough could easily be stored in the freezer on a baking sheet too, I'll bet.

Sherry, there's still Valentine's Day. St. Patrick's? Easter, 4th of July, LOL.

Annie

Seriously, all of you candymakers deserve gold stars in my book.

Nancy, I don't think you're a smartie ... I just want you to come over and make some with me:) I have one more batch of cookies to go, and I'm seriously looking at your recipe. I need a couple of days to recover this last debacle.

Sherry, you've taken the words out of my mouth. I made snickerdoodle pinwheels yesterday. Went to roll them up, and the dough started to break. I have few that look like pinwheels, and a lot that look like kaleidoscopes.

Jane, Jane, Jane!!!!! That's truly an outstanding idea. I wonder if you could use freezer paper? Isn't your husband nice, too?

Cathy in SWPA

Cathy,
I was looking at that snickerdoodle pinwheel recipe. Do they taste as good as snickerdoodles?
Sherry

Oh, spritz are my favorite! I love that it takes only minutes to shoot out several dozen cookies. DS's favorite holiday cookie is a lebkuchen spice spritz, dizzled with rum icing.

Last year I mixed crushed candy cane pieces into a standard butter spritz recipe, and they were a real hit!

I dread any cookie that requires cookie cutters. I never seem to be able to roll them to a consistent width. And they just seem so time-consuming.

I have the same cookie shooter that Cathy posted. It works just fine. Sometimes the first few don't turn out, but once I get a rhythm going, I can fill a few sheets very quickly.

Yes, since learning the rolling trick I find sugar cookies a lot more fun. I'm sure freezer paper would work or wax paper. The nice thing is that you don't need any extra flour so the cookies stay tender. And, as Annie pointed out, I have also frozen the sheets of dough stacked on a cookie sheet.
Now - how did I miss the snickerdoodle pinwheel recipe? I am still trying pinwheel cookies to find the ultimate one. I love how they look. Can someone please point me in the direction of the recipe?
Jane

Jane,
Cathy in pa mentioned that she had trouble with snickerdoodle pinwheels, and I was just looking at a recipe for those over the weekend. I will post mine when I get home (They are not T&T: I have never made them)

Sherry, I think that they're pretty darn close to snickerdoodles. Pretty darn good with a cup of coffee. Here's what they're supposed to look like (internet pic)

I'll post the recipe in a bit.

Thanks for the clarification, Jane. I'm wondering if you could use your trick with this recipe.

Cathy in SWPA

I copied this from a website, but it's the recipe I use. The one I have was copied from a library book a long time ago. Don't know the name, but it's on page 98.

Snickerdoodle Pinwheels

Ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar
1 T. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 pkg. cream cheese, softened, 3 oz
1 cup sugar
1/2 t. baking powder
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
2 2/3 cups flour
1 T. butter, melted

Directions:
For cinnamon sugar mixture, in small bowl, mix the 1/3 cup sugar and the cinnamon; set aside. In large mixing bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter and the cream cheese with mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the 1 cup sugar and baking powder. Beat until mixed, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until mixed. Using mixer, beat in as much of the flour as you can. Using a wooden spoon, stir in remaining flour. Divide dough in half. Roll half of dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper into a 12 x 8 inch rectangle. Remove top sheet of waxed paper. Brush dough with half of the melted butter. Sprinkle with 2 T. of cinnamon sugar. Starting from one of the short sides, roll up jelly roll style, removing waxed paper as you roll. Seal edges. Repeat process with remaining dough, butter, and 2 T. of cinnamon sugar mixture. Roll each log in remaining cinnamon sugar mixture. Wrap each log in plastic wrap or waxed paper. Chill about 4 hours or until firm. Using a sharp knife, cut logs into 1/4 inch slices. Place slices 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 375 oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Makes 60 cookies.

Notes:
I use more butter,cinnamon and sugar. Probably one variable in that rolling problem. But it tastes good.

Good luck. Sherry, I'd be interested in reading your recipe too. Interestingly, I found a lot of variation on the internet when I was searching for this one.

Take care -- Cathy in SWPA

Cathy, since my recipe is not tried and true,I am not gonna post it here. If you have one you like, well, that is good enough for me! I will try it Thursday night.

Nancy and cotehele, here is my cutout cookie recipe.

Full Recipe (makes a huge amount)
4 cups butter
2 cups sugar
Cream above
Beat in three eggs
Stir in 2 tsp soda dissolved in 2 T hot water
add in 1 Tbs salt and 2 Tb lemon extract
5-1/2-6 cups flour, stir in. Chill, roll, bake 350 8 minutes

"I had a "little" trouble with that initial "roll" on some of them, particularly the darned ends. That said, some of mine look like the picture. Yep, I ate the ones that didn't:)"

Cathy, I think that's the perfect solution to imperfect cookies. Just eat 'em! I'm stealing that tip, LOL.

Annie

I only make spritz once every few years, but bought the Pampered Chef cookie gun a couple of years ago. Mom has one of the copper colored cookie presses, but my hands won't tolerate it. The PC gun was so simple to use, and I din't have any problems getting the cookies to come out right.

The cookies I have so much trouble with is my Grandmother's candy cane cookies. They are so fragile, and I can never get the two colors twisted together. But I LOVE THEM! I haven't made them in years. I tried just mixng the dough and making slices out of it, but they just didn't taste the same.

Tami

Sherry, thank you. Your recipe sounds wonderful. I'm off work the next couple of days and a snow storm is coming. I think I'll put on some grease spotted sweats and have some fun in the kitchen.

Nancy

Sherry, Rich and buttery for sure! Can't wait to try them. Thanks for the recipe.
Judy

I've had great success with this recipe for Spritz:

CHOCOLATE CINNAMON SPRITZ COOKIES

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 egg
2 Tblsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 squares (2 oz.) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
toppings to decorate

Sift flour with salt; set aside. In mixing bowl cream butter; gradually add sugar, then cinnamon, creaming until light. Add egg, milk, vanilla, and beat well. Blend in chocolate; add dry ingredients and mix well. Press a small amount of dough at a time through cookie press onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 to 9 minutes. Cool and decorate.

**Notes: I decorated mine with melted almond bark (both white & chocolate). Some I sprinkled with finely chopped nuts. They were great and looked really pretty on my cookie trays for the holidays.

Nancy and cotelehe, those cutouts served cold from the freezer with homemade lemon flavored icing are to die for.

As I just posted on another thread, mine is Springerle. I've used a few different recipes which all taste great, but the dough is so stiff that I have problems getting the designs on the mold to "take" and end up sometimes using a small hammer I have to try to make the impression. I use a six-cookie flat wooden mold.

Since all the recipes I've used are basically the same and, as I mentioned, quite good in taste, I wonder if the dough is supposed to be that stiff. . . or am I just getting old and losing my muscles. :)

To me, there's nothing better (except the smell of a fresh Christmas tree) on a cold morning, than the smell of the anise cookie dough resting overnight on the dining room table.

Here is my family's tradtional spritz recipe, with my notes about technique:

Spritz Cookies

5/8c sugar, sifted
1 c butter, unsalted. Leave out at room temperature for 1 hour before starting, to soften.
1 egg yolk (1 full egg for firmer cookies)
2 c sifted flour (add more if you use 1 full egg)
salt, pinch
1 t almond extract

Cream butter until smooth and light-colored. Adding one item at a time, in order, beating thoroughly after each addition; blend in sifted sugar, egg, flour, salt, almond extract.

Use cookie press. For upright-press cookies, such as trees, dough must be stiff enough not to stick to fingers. Test before filling cookie press. Touch the dough. If it sticks to fingers, either make sidewalks, wreaths with the star plate, or work in more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it does not stick.

Bake at 375F until set or edges are barely golden.

Tips:

Softer dough is good for sidewalks (plate with a long skinny sawtoothed rectangle) and wreaths (star plate).

If you are making a lot, make 1 batch softer for the extruded shapes, and 1 batch firmer for the standup shapes. Standup shapes are the hardest, so if those just wonÂt work for you, make ones that are made with the press held at an angle to the cookie sheet.

If you want to decorate, do it with colored sugar, sprinkles, etc., before baking.

They are easy to break if they cool too much while removing them from the cookie sheets. To help with this, take cookies off from the outside edge first. It can help to have the cookie sheet on the warm stove while removing.

I use the insulated cookie sheets, but not dark colored ones. They burn more easily on the dark sheets.

I would like both the English toffee recipe (the crisp, snapping kind) and the cream cheese cut out recipe. My daughter loves cut outs and I have so many pretty cutters, some 50 years old. Those are good tips for rolling I have used waxed paper but parchment makes much more sense.

I think I have tried a new recipe for cut outs every year for the last 10 and the ones I have tried look great but have no flavor. The taste has to stand on itÂs own because itÂs unlikely I will decorate more than a few: I donÂt have the patience. Plus many family members avoid the decorated ones as being too sweet.

My aunts used to make pepparkakor (swedish spice cookies) with their cutters but I donÂt have their recipe and the ones IÂve tried are not quite "right".

IÂm going to try the snickerdoodle pinwheels. Those look great. I think I can get volunteers for the imperfect ones. I wonder, if you tossed some red decorating sugar in with the cinnamon, to make them look Christmassy, would they still turn out? Or would red + brown equalÂdirt?

Hi Everyone,

I saw a mention of lemon flavored homemade icing above. Does anyone have a recipe for it? Sounds great. Thanks!

I don't really use a recipe. I just use a stick of butter, and 3-4 cups powdered sugar, and just enough milk to make it frostingish without being too runny (more firm than soft) and I use not only 1 Tablespoon of lemon extract, but also about 1/4 tsp lemon oil, which gives it a really superb lemony bite.
Yummy