Spritz Cookies

Bakes 7 dozen spritz cookies.

Ingredients

1 cup Fine Sugar

1/2 cup Butter, room temperatuure

1/2 cup Shortening, room temperature

1 Egg

2 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour

2 tbsp Vanilla Essence

A cookie press or piping bag, ungreased cookie sheet, decorations as desired (chocolate chips, jam, white sugar, sprinkles)

Steps

1. Mix the sugar, butter, and shortening until the sugar is completely dissolved/absorbed into the butter and shortening.

2. Crack and add the egg along with the vanilla essence. Mix well until the yellow of the yolk and the red-brown of the vanilla essence are no longer visible in the wet mixture.

3. Sift the flour. Slowly add it to the wet mixture in batches, making sure to mix the flour fully into the butter-sugar mix before adding more.

4. Form a soft dough. It should easily smooth into a ball if you roll it between your palms and should not stick to you. It will leave a sticky-butter residue behind. If it’s sticking to you, you have not added enough butter/shortening. If it’s too dry, add a little more butter. If it’s too wet, add a little more flour.

5. Fill the cookie press or piping bag with a fist-sized cylindrical amount of dough. Firmly pipe a closed circle or press/spritz a shape onto an un-greased baking sheet about 1 inch apart from one another. You can wipe the cookie sheet with a greased paper towel if you are worried about the cookies burning, but do not greased too much otherwise the cookies won’t stay in place.

6. To decorate with chocolate chips, jam, or sprinkles, add them to the unbaked cookies. Ensure that the jam is sitting onto the cookie and not touching the pan.

7. Bake at 350° Celsius for about 5-7 minutes. Keep a watchful eye and take out the sheet carefully and immediately when the corners begin to turn a light brown.

8. Lightly dust with fine sugar while they are still warm, or leave them as it is.