Description
Delightful and buttery cream cheese spritz cookies, perfect for holidays and special occasions. These tender cookies are flavored with orange zest and vanilla, decorated with colorful sugars or sprinkles, and made easy with a cookie press or pastry bag.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 8 ounces unsalted butter softened
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
Decorations
- Colored sugars
- Sprinkles
- Gel food coloring (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure it's ready for baking the cookies at the right temperature.
- Cream Butter, Cream Cheese, and Sugar: In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the softened butter, cream cheese, and granulated sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again to ensure an even blend.
- Add Egg Yolk and Flavorings: Add the egg yolk, orange zest, vanilla extract, and kosher salt to the bowl. Mix again for about one minute until well combined. Scrape the bowl sides once more to incorporate all ingredients.
- Incorporate Flour: Add half of the all-purpose flour to the mixture and blend at a slow speed to prevent flour from flying out. Then add the remaining flour and mix just until incorporated. If desired, divide dough and add gel food coloring to create colored dough.
- Shape Cookies: Using a cookie press with your chosen design, pipe the dough onto sheet pans leaving at least an inch between cookies to allow for spreading. Alternatively, use a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip to pipe dough shapes. Decorate with colored sugars or sprinkles as desired.
- Bake: Bake cookies in the preheated oven for 12 minutes, or until the cookies are set and edges are firm but not browned. If baking multiple batches, let sheet pans cool completely before piping the next batch to prevent spreading.
- Cool: Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 2 minutes after baking, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely before serving or storing.
Notes
- For softer cookies, do not overbake; remove as soon as they are set and not browned.
- If you don’t have a cookie press, a pastry bag with a star tip works well for piping shapes.
- Gel food coloring can be added to the dough for festive multi-colored cookies.
- Letting the cookie sheets cool between batches helps maintain cookie shape and prevents excessive spreading.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week for best freshness.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 90 kcal
- Sugar: 4 g
- Sodium: 70 mg
- Fat: 6 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 9 g
- Fiber: 0.2 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 20 mg
