Spritz cookies or Spritzgebäck is a type of German Christmas biscuits made with flour, sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs. These simple cookies can be flavoured with ingredients like chocolate, nuts and cocoa. When made correctly, the cookies are crisp, somewhat dry and buttery.

The Hungarian name of spritz cookies is darálós keksz (meat grinder cookies), which implies that we use a meat grinder and a special cookie shaper set instead of a cookie press to form the cookies.

The dough comes together very, very quickly and is so easy to work with. Creaming the butter and  sugar is the first step to produce light and crispy cookies. It’s important to add the eggs gradually, one at a time, and cream the mixture until egg is fully incorporated.

Creaming can be done by machine but the flour should be mixed in by hand; this method helps you avoid overdeveloping gluten and prevents the dough becoming tough and dense.

Spritz cookies are great any time of year, but they’re especially nice around the holidays because you can decorate them with melted chocolate, royal icing or colorful sugar sprinkles. They make a great gift to give friends, family and neighbors.

Ingredients:

• 700 g (~5 2/3 cups) flour
• 250 g (~1 cup + 2 tbsp) butter
• 150 g (~3/4 cup) sugar
• 50 g (~1/4 cup) vanilla sugar
• 4 eggs
• 25 g (~2 tbsp) baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 heaping tbsp cocoa powder

In a bowl combine flour, salt and baking powder.

In a seperate bowl cream butter, sugar and vanilla sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs gradually, one by one, to the butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add flour to the egg mixture, and knead into a smooth dough, then divide the dough into two parts. Knead the cocoa into one of the parts, then wrap the dough balls and chill overnight.

Next day line two baking tray with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 180°C / 356°F.

Set the meat grinder and the cookie shaper form. Take small portions from the dough and push them through the grinder. Cut 6-7 cm/ 2,5 inch cookies and place them onto the prepared baking tray. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes. Once the cookies are cool, you can store them in an airtight container.