COOKIES/BARS: Christmas Tree Spritz Cookies
Submitted by beachdee on April 24, 2004 at 9:22 pm
Mom always made a batch of these the same day she made the Snow Flake Spritz Cookies. I could never figure out which was my favorite! (also, Spritz cookies freeze well and are small enough that they pack well for sending to loved ones--except for the wreath shaped ones described below).
Yield: 6 dozen
Source: Mirro Cookie Press People (long, long ago!)
• 1 cup shortening (mom used half butter and half Crisco)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 1/4 cups flour, sifted
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp almond extract
• green food coloring
Cream shortening, then gradually add sugar, creaming until fluffy. Add egg, dry ingredients, almond extract, and coloring. Mix well. Use cookie press (spritzer) to put on ungreased cookie sheet (see suggestions below for shaping).
Decorate as desired, then bake at 375F for 10-12 minutes.
Our cookie press had a fir-tree shape. We usually used the little colored ball sprinkles (nonpareils?--you can tell I'm not a fully-literate cook) on these, to look like little ornaments. Of course there are many options to go from there, limited only by the small size of the cookies. The other shape we did with these were "wreaths" using the star-hole pattern. Just move the press around in a circle and where the ends cross, press gently with a finger to make the "bow". I'd put sparkly red sugar crystal sprinkles sparsely on the wreath part to represent holly berries, and lots of them where the "bow" was.