Spritz Cookies Recipe Variations – Simple and Delicious

You can make (at least) three spritz cookie variations using this recipe: vanilla cookies flavoured with lemon zest, chocolate cookies containing cocoa powder, and walnut cookies. These spritz cookies are eggless, and you can also make them with dairy-free butter substitutes.

These spritz cookies are simple but delicious, not only for Christmas but all year round, for all occasions. You can serve them as party food or enjoy them with a cup of tea or coffee. Spritz cookies are really easy to make and fun to decorate.

Use your imagination to make unique shapes and decorations. You can make them in advance and keep them in a cookie jar or airtight container for up to three weeks. They are also great as a gift in a decorative box.

If you are looking for some more eggless recipes, I recommend my chocolate yoghurt cake recipe.

My tips for making spritz cookies

• For best results, use ingredients at room temperature, as the butter needs to be soft.
• Boiled, mashed potato is used for this recipe. Potato may be a surprising ingredient for a cookie, but in this case, it is used instead of eggs and doesn’t affect the flavour negatively. It also retains moisture and helps to keep the cookies fresh.
• Instead of sugar, you can also use xylitol to make spritz cookies healthier.
• You can put food colouring into the cookie dough. I recommend using gel food colouring, drop by drop until the dough reaches the desired colour.
• You can make the dough in a stand mixer quickly and easily, but this is optional.
• Work with dough at room temperature, if it`s too cold, the dough will be too tough for squeezing.
• I don’t recommend using baking paper or greasing the baking tin when working with a cookie press, because the dough will not stick. Use baking tins cooled down in the refrigerator or freezer.
• If you`re not satisfied with the shapes you managed to make, just scrape the dough off the tray and put it back into the cookie press. Make similar-sized cookies for best baking results, as smaller ones will brown more quickly.
• You can make the dough in advance and keep it in the refrigerator for 2 days, just leave it at room temperature to soften before use.
• You can also freeze cookie dough instead of refrigerating it, and keep it in the freezer for up to 3 months.

You may be interested to find out if you can replace butter with margarine.

How can you shape the cookies?

1. Extrude with a cookie press

You can extrude the dough with a cookie press equipped with one of the various decorative plates it comes with.

2. Shape with a cookie cutter

If you don’t have a cookie press, you can roll out this spritz cookie dough. Put it into the refrigerator for 10 minutes if it is too soft, then roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface 5mm / 0.2 inch thick, and cut the cookies with a cookie cutter.

3. Extrude with a meat grinder cookie attachment

My mother-in-law used to make these cookies with an old manual meat grinder equipped with a cookie attachment. These cookie attachments are still produced and are compatible with electric meat grinders and stand mixers. If you own one of these, you can use it for shaping cookies.

How can you decorate cookies?

Before baking, you can decorate the cookies with candied fruit, walnuts or almonds.

After baking, when the cookies are cooled completely, drizzle them with melted chocolate, dip them into chocolate, and sprinkle them with powdered sugar. You can also make sandwich cookies by combining two with apricot jam. My favourite tool for chocolate drizzling is a spoon because this way I don`t need a piping bag.

Instructions for making spritz cookies

1. Prepare the potato first. Wash it thoroughly, and cook it with the skin on. Peel the potato and mash with a fork or a potato masher while still hot, then let it cool completely.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F).
3. Measure the ingredients: the mashed potato, soft butter or margarine, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, plain flour, baking powder, lemon zest and a pinch of salt.
4. Put the butter or margarine, the potato, vanilla extract, lemon zest and sugar into a mixing bowl. Mix with an electric mixer until fluffy.
5. Add the sifted and combined dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt.
6. Work the dough by hand just until combined.
7. Put the dough into the cookie press.
8. Press out the cookies onto the prepared, pre-cooled baking tins.
9. Now you can decorate the cookies with candied fruit, almonds or walnuts.
10. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 8 minutes. Don`t let them brown, as they can dry out quickly.
11. After you take out the cookies from the oven, lift them off with a spatula.
12. Decorate the cookies with melted chocolate or powdered sugar.

How to make chocolate and walnut cookie variations?

• For chocolate spritz cookies substitute about 10% of the plain flour with the same amount of cocoa powder.
• For walnut cookies substitute up to 50% of the plain flour with the same amount of ground walnuts.

A brief history of the cookies

The beginning of historical development of baking dates back to ancient history. At first, people consumed cereal grains raw, then toasted. The invention of grinding was the next stage in the development of baking. With the addition of water, milk, or fat the first dough consisted of ground cereals. Initially, it was baked on stones heated in a fire. This kind of flatbread was known to Bronz Age hunters and Vikings. Biscuits (panis bicoctus – twice-baked bread) were an important source of food for Roman sailors.

Baked products were initially sweetened with honey and cane sugar. In the Middle Ages, cookies became widely available in European society. Dutch immigrants introduced cookies to America in the 17th century.

Bite-sized sweet treats are popular in various countries: pasticceria mignon in Italy, Petits gâteaux in France, and cookies in the USA.

In Germany, they make a kind of piped little Christmas cookie called Spritzgebäck, and that`s where the spritz cookie name comes from (source: Wikipedia ).

Final thoughts

I hope you`ll like these spritz cookie variations. If you have any questions related to my recipes, please leave them in the comments below. If you found this post useful, please feel free to share it on Social Media.

Looking for more cookie recipes? Check out my gingerbread recipe made with honey.