spritz/ cookie press recipes
A cookie press was passed down to me and I realized that I don't really have a good spritz cookie recipe. Most of the standard recipes seem way too sweet.
Have any chowhounds worked within the cookie press medium? I'd love to do something creative with this thing before it ends up in the back of my cabinet, never to be seen again...
lala
Dec 20, 2003 10:22PM
I have made this every year since they appeared in the December 1975 Gourmet. They are time consuming to make but they keep well and are delicious.
Champagnebrød (Jam filled Stripes)
70 cookies
½ cup apricot preserves
1 Tablespoon apricot brandy
1 ¾ stick butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
Grated rind of 1 lemon
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
1. Melt the apricot preserves in a small saucepan. Strain into a small bowl and add the apricot brandy.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter with the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.
4. Add the egg, lemon rind and salt.
5. Mix in the flour ¼ cup at a time. Mix until it forms a dough. Let it rest, covered in a cool place for ten minutes. Do not chill the dough.
6. Fit a cookie press with the disk with a 1 3/8 inch wide opening that is ½ flat on one side and notched on the other. Fill the press with dough, reserving the other dough covered.
7. Press six 11½-inch strips crosswise and equidistant apart onto a large parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are just golden.
8. With a long flexible metal spatula (a frosting spatula is ideal) invert every other strip. Brush jam along each inverted strip and spread it evenly to the edges.
9. Carefully top the jam covered strips with the remaining strips. Smooth the sides down and let the strips soften in the oven for 2-3 minutes.
10. Immediately after removing from the oven cut the strips into 1½-inch lengths. Transfer to a rack and let cool.
11. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
12. Store in an airtight container.
13. Serve with white wine or Champagne. 70 cookies
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I used the recipe from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book this year and it made into a pretty good cookie, not too sweet and easy to handle in the cookie press. Before discovering that recipe, I tried one from the California Culinary Academy book on cookies, which while having a very nice taste, was too wet and soft to easily push through the press.
The Betty Crocker Recipe, roughly paraphrased, is as follows:
1 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
Heat oven to 400. Mix butter, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla. Add flour. Separate dough into manageable chunks and push through cookie press into desired shapes. Bake 8 to 10 minutes until set but not brown. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.
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