Spritz Cookies

Pritzgebäck is a type of German Christmas biscuit. The German verb spritzen means to squirt in English. As the name implies, these cookies are made by "squirting" the dough with a cookie press or a pastry bag. In the United States, the name is often shortened to spritz.

Ingredients

1pound 5 ounces (595gr) Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature.

10 ounces (285gr) Granulated Sugar

3  Egg Yolks

1  Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 pound 11 ounces (765gr) Bread Flour

Raspberry Jam (optional)

Dark Cocoa Melting Wafers (optional)

Directions

-Preheat oven to 375°F.

- Mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy with the paddle at medium speed.

- Add the egg yolks and vanilla extract and mix to incorporate.

-Gradually blend in the flour. 

-Pipe out about 2 inch rosettes or 2 1/2 inch S shapes on a parchment covered baking sheet with a pastry bag and a No4 open star tip. If you make the S shapes, the ends should curl in and close.

*Do not to put too much dough in the bag at one time or it will be very difficult to pipe it out.

-Spritz with Raspberry jam. Make an indentation in each curled part of the S  and in the middle of the rosettes. With a pastry bag place a small amount of raspberry jam in the indentations.  

*No indentations needed for the chocolate covered spritz.

- Bake cookies for about 15 minutes.

-Remove from oven and transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

 

-Chocolate Covered Spritz. Melt dark cocoa wafers and dip half of each cookie into the chocolate. Shake off excess chocolate and place on waxed paper.