vanilla cardamom spritz cookies

Is your holiday baking in full swing yet? Mine is. It may seem a little early to some folks, but my family long ago decided to celebrate our “family Christmas” ahead of the actual holiday. We’re a totally blended group—I have three half siblings—so celebrating a week early frees up Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for everyone to visit the other sides of their family (including in-laws since we’re all married, too). It works out quite nice. It allows Craig and I to celebrate with my family the weekend before Christmas and still head up to Canada and hang out with his family on Christmas Day (which we did for the past two years, but couldn’t quite swing this year).

But anyway, the baking has started. And a new addition to my Christmas cookie repertoire this year—Spritz cookies.

Spritz cookies are nothing new for a lot of folks— especially around the holidays—but they were never something we made in my family. So when my awesome friends at BigKitchen.com offered to hook me up with a cookie press from Kuhn Rikon, I jumped at the chance to start a new holiday baking tradition.

I’ve never used a cookie press before—and was admittedly a little intimidated—but it was insanely easy and incredibly fun. It’s like a gun…that shoots out cookies. Perfect, adorable little bite-sized cookies. I think the world be a much better place if all the guns in the world shot out tiny cookies.

The standard Spritz cookie recipe is just your basic sugary, buttery, vanilla cookie, which is deliciously simple, but can be a little lackluster—especially when it’s put up next to all the other delicious treats on the dessert table at holiday gatherings. But by adding a bit of ground cardamom, the cookies go from ho-hum to out-of-this world. The cardamom isn’t overwhelming, but gives just enough of a flavorful kick to be interesting and addictive.

Spritz cookie dough comes together super speedy with only a few ingredients, but the consistency is key. Too tough and it wont come out of the press, too runny and it’ll come out in globs. To make sure I got it just right, I followed the recipe from Kuhn Rikon to a “T” and it was spot on. Those folks know what they’re talking about! The biggest key? Egg size. Make sure you use only a large egg in this. Bigger and the dough is too soupy and smaller are it’s tough as a brick.

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Vanilla Cardamom Spritz Cookies

Yield: 4 dozen cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Spritz cookie dough comes together super speedy with only a few ingredients.

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Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
• Sprinkles and colored sugar for decorating

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Cream at medium-high speed until light colored and fluffy.
3. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in egg, vanilla, cardamom and salt. Then add flour until well-mixed.
4. Grab a handful of the dough and roll it into a thick snake shape, pack into the barrel of the cookie press and fit press with desired disk design. Press trigger until dough is packed in and no air pockets exist in barrel.
5. To make cookies, hold cookie press perpendicular to an ungreased cookie sheet with the end of the press touching the cookie sheet. Press the trigger once, remove press and repeat for each cookie—spacing them about 1" apart. Decorate with sprinkles and then bake in preheated oven for 7-10 minutes or until edges of cookies just barely begin to brown. Let cool for 1-2 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 48 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 40Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 26mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 0gSugar: 4gProtein: 1g

At Wholefully, we believe that good nutrition is about much more than just the numbers on the nutrition facts panel. Please use the above information as only a small part of what helps you decide what foods are nourishing for you.

Want to win your very own Kuhn Rikon cookie press just like the one I have? Come back tomorrow afternoon a checkout my Friday Freebie post!