Christmas Eve Edition of Vintage Thingies Thursday: Spritz Cookies

For this special Christmas Eve edition of Vintage Thingies Thursday, I bring you this fabulous 1950s era Mirro Cooky and Pastry Press.  This set belongs to a friend, and she brought it to my house Sunday evening so I could help her do some massive Spritz cookie baking to give as gifts for her coworkers.  The forming disks are so cute.  Among the fifteen disks, my three favorites are the Christmas tree, the dog, and the camel.

I wish I had some actual cookie shots of my own for you, but unfortunately, we *ahem* overcooked the original batch and had to start all over.  By the time we were all done it was two in the morning, and I just wasn't coherent enough to take pictures at that time.

One of my Christmas Eve traditions is to make cookies (for Santa of course!).  I am a big, big fan of butter cookies, so most of my Christmas baking centers around one or two of the myriad variations of butter cookie recipes in the world.   If you have (or can borrow) a cookie press, here is a vintage recipe for Spritz cookies that you may enjoy.  The most important ingredient in a butter cookie is the butter! Make sure you like the taste of the butter that you use before you use it for baking, as taste varies considerably from brand to brand. So as always, use a high quality and preferably organic butter for the best results.  It never hurts to use organic eggs, sugar, and flour too. 

Basic Spritz Cookies

1 cup unsalted organic butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

multicolored sprinkles or colored sugar, for decorating

Cream butter, gradually add sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy.  Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Add egg yolk, vanilla, and dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix to a smooth dough. If the dough seems too sticky to use in the cookie press chill it first. Force through the cookie press onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  A cold cookie sheet will help keep the cookie on the sheet  when you lift the press.  Sprinkle with colored sugar, taking care not to get the sugar on the pan as it will burn (or use parchment to cover the cookie sheet). Bake at 400 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes until firm, but not browned on top.   This recipe makes about four dozen cookies.

I like this version because they are not overly sweet, and are good with tea or coffee.  If you'd like a sweeter cookie you should be able to to increase the sugar to 2/3 cup without a problem.  These cookies are darling with multicolored sprinkles or colored sugar, and if you use the disk in the very last picture above, you can set a tasty Hershey's kiss in the middle.  The cookies pictured above are from the Forever Swedish website, as Spritsar are a traditional Swedish Christmas cookie.  You may want to try the recipe on that website, as it is sure to be authentic.  I'm sure that Santa will like them!

Second Mirro box image courtesy of Poetic Home.