It's been years since I made Spritz Cookies, but after watching a Wilton Method®: Christmas Spritz Cookie video on CreativeBug.com, I was inspired to give them another try and spent an afternoon baking a big batch then found some creative ways to decorate spritz Christmas cookies
for our Christmas Eve party.
This post is sponsored by Wilton.
I don't have great memories of making spritz cookies. The one and only time I had tried to make them I used an old fashioned cookie press and spent more time fighting with the tool than making cookies.
I was so annoyed that it took me almost 40 years to try them again.
I might never have made them a second time if Wilton hadn't sent me one of their Cookie Pro Ultra II cookie presses to try. I have to say, I was totally impressed.
Cookie presses have come a long way since I was young. You make the dough, fill the cookie press, and add the decorative plate depending on which cookie shape you want to make.
In concept, it's the same as the press I used years ago, but in practice, it's completely different and extraordinarily better in my opinion.
You simply set the press, plate side down, on an aluminum baking sheet, press the lever once, lift up, and you have pretty little cookies ready to pop in the oven. There's no guessing how long to press, there's no scraping the dough off the bottom of the press, and there are no hand cramps after making a tray of cookies. I was totally impressed.
Wilton's video tutorial is really helpful for anyone who's not made spritz cookies before. Emily Tatak does a great job showing every detail of the process. I have to admit that for someone with a lot of baking experience, the beginning of the video where she talks about ingredients and how to make the cookie dough was a little slow, but for a beginner, it's jam-packed full of good information.
Once Emily got to show us how to use the cookie press, I started to really pay attention. I learned the importance of using an aluminum pan, not a non-stick pan, and how to use the cookie press properly.
Once I mastered the technique of using the press, which took me mere minutes, I baked about 8 dozen cookies, and then had fun decorating them.
I started with the basic techniques shown in the video. Emily shows how to color the basic dough and how to decorate the cookies using Candy Melts and sprinkles.
I chose to keep my cookies the natural color and used colored Candy Melts and sprinkles to decorate some Spritz Christmas Trees.
It's a simple technique, yet it does make the cookie look quite nice.
I also looked around the Wilton website and found a technique for making spritz sandwich cookies which are sprayed with Silver and Gold Color Mist.
I thought they were so pretty and had to try this technique too.
I set my cookies on some parchment paper in a cardboard box, then sprayed them with the color mist.
This kept the spray from going all over my kitchen counter. I highly recommend this trick.
I filled my cookies with Biscoff Speculoos Spread. It was so hard for me not to eat all of these cookies.
It is now my favorite way to eat Biscoff spread.
To make my silver and gold spritz cookie stars look even more sparkly, I piped a dab of Biscoff spread in the center of each cookie and sprinkled on some shimmering decorating sugar.
After I decorated my pretty metallic sandwich cookies, I thought I'd have some fun and make some whimsical Christmas trees.
I had a Wilton Gingerbread Decorating Kit on hand which had candy eyes, mustaches, and hearts so I used them to make some silly Spritz Cookie Christmas Tree Pops.
I dipped lollipop sticks in Green Candy Melts, attached them to the back of each of my Christmas tree cookies, then let that harden, then dipped them in the Green Candy Melts, added two candy eyes, either a mustache or heart-shaped lips, and a star on top, then sprinkled on colored nonpareils or some shimmering decorating sugar.
I found the Gingerbread Decorating Kit at Walmart this holiday season. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the kits online. Sorry about that. I thought they'd be easy to find and didn't check before I made these pops.
If you can't find the kits, you could always make little mustaches using chocolate and any heart-shaped sprinkles.
They truly are the silliest things I've made this Christmas.
Recipe
See my Christmas Spritz Cookie Recipe post for a recipe to make spritz cookies. I decorated these cookies using candy melts, sprinkles, and colored sugar.
As part of Wilton's Sweet Treat Brand Ambassador Team, I was given free merchandise in order to create these cookies for this post. I am excited about making spritz cookies again, now that I've successfully made these for Christmas.
Items used to make these decorated spritz cookies are available on Amazon.com.
(commission earned for sales)
WILTON INDUSTRIES FBA_2104-...Shop on Amazon
Wilton Dark Green Candy Mel...Shop on Amazon
Wilton Color Mist, Shimmeri...Shop on Amazon
Wilton Metallic, 1.5 oz, Si...Shop on Amazon
Wilton Animals and Stars 6 ...Shop on Amazon
Wilton Rainbow Nonpareils F...Shop on Amazon
Wilton Candy Melts Melting ...Shop on Amazon
Wilton 4-Inch White Lollipo...Shop on Amazon
Lotus Biscoff Cookie Spread...Shop on Amazon
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Tavette Tavetta says
Oh yes - the famous old fashioned cookie press. Being Swedish my mom made delicious Sprizt cookies every year. She'd make them In the shape of little wreaths (using a disk) and then cut tiny pieces of candied cherries for the holly with a tiny cherry bow at the top. When I tried the cookie press my wreaths looked like lines vs the intricate looking leaves she was able to do. I got fired (ha) for not cutting the cherry "holly" small enough. So - the cookie press and those oh-so-pretty wreaths were left in her capable hands.
The new cookie press you sent photos of looks SO much easier. We always used aluminum pans but I'm now curious to know WHY they're better than non stick so will try and watch the video. The new cookie press would make each cookie exactly the same thickness and you say - no sticking to the disk. Whoa...... Wilton, obviously, heard all the groans from all of us who never mastered the old fashioned presses.
Tavette - S. Fla.
beth says
The old cookie press I used was a huge pain. I used it once and was so infuriated that I never tried it again. I was apparently so annoyed that it took forever to even try it again. Had Wilton not sent me the press, I may never have tried spritz cookies again. I'm glad I did. It was actually a really fun afternoon of baking and decorating.
You were probably lucky to get fired from making them back then. I'm sure if you tried the newer cookie presses you'd find them easy to use and fun again!