Favorite Holiday Spritz Cookies

By mitzzy

These are tender and easy to, the consummate holiday cookie. They’re fine plain or iced, or you can consider these addition such as candied fruit, currants, dried cranberries, minced dried cherries (all fruit minced very fine), miniature chocolate or butterscotch chips, oatmeal, other flavor extracts and colorings, all brown sugar. Use all butter for the purists, but the tiny bit of shortening makes for a crisper cookie. I suggest you spritz a cookie and bake that one cookie to see if it spreads. If it does, spritz the rest of the cookies on a large baking sheet and then chill them 1 hour before baking. Spritz cookies take a bit of practise - not use in spritzing them but in finding a cookie dough that is the perfect balance of rich buttery taste, pipes easily, but also holds it shape during and after baking. Too soft a dough can take a bit more flour; too stiff a dough can use a touch more cream or make sure it is the right temperature to pipe out (a chilled dough will not work).

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons golden brown sugar, firmly packed
• 3/4 cup and 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening, or unsalted butter
• 2 yolks
• 3 tablespoons half-and-half
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 F. Double up 2 baking sheets and line the top one with parchment paper. Cream the sugar with the butter and shortening until the mixture is light and pasty. In a measuring cup, stir together the egg yolks, vanilla and cream. Add to creamed butter mixture. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, salt, cornstarch and baking powder. Stir dry ingredients gently. If using electric mixer use slowest speed and watch that mixture doesn't billow. Mix for 18 to 20 seconds until the mixture begins to clump together. Turn batter out onto a lightly floured board and let stand 10 minutes. Then spoon into a patsry bag fitted with a large star tip or into a spritz cookie tool. Pipe onto the baking sheet. Bake until done, 12 to 16 minutes. Makes 3-4 dozen