When I was growing up, there would often be round blue tins of “Danish butter cookies” in the house (like these ones by Royal Dansk). They were filled with an assortment of small, crumbly shortbreads, stacked in paper liners, and my sister and I adored them.
These Spritz Cookies are very reminiscent of those (minus the sugary topping). A couple of years ago, I picked up a cookie press on sale…
It’s taken me a while to get around to using it, but when I came across this simple recipe from Nick Malgieri’s Cookies Unlimited cookbook, I thought it was worth having a go. They didn’t all come out perfectly formed, but for a first attempt, I was really pleased with them. The dough made 108 cookies!
- 250g (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 165g (¾ cup) sugar
- pinch of fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used homemade)
- 3 large (59g) free range egg yolks
- 375g (2½ cups) plain (AP) flour
Note: the original recipe specifies lining baking trays with either parchment or foil. We tried both, and found the foil lined tray far easier to use – the cookie dough needs to grip the tray in order to form properly, and the parchment paper was too non-stick.
1. Preheat oven to 175C (350F) or 160C (320F) with fan. Malgieri’s original recipe bakes at 375F, but I think my cookies were smaller than his. Mine were done in the recommended time on the lower heat. Line two large trays with foil.
2. In the large bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla until very light and fluffy. This will take several minutes – keep going until the colour lightens. Scrape down the side of the bowl as needed. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Add the flour and mix very gently until just combined. The mix will be soft, be careful not to overwork it at this stage. Stir in any last bits of flour by hand.
4. Divide the dough into quarters and roll a portion into a log shape, then insert it into the cookie press barrel. Press out shapes onto the lined trays (you’ll need to experiment a little first – just recycle any failed ones back into the dough bowl).
5. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes, until lightly golden. Rotate the trays once during the baking time. Slide the foil liner off the tray onto the bench to cool. The cookies might stick a little, but should come loose once they’ve cooled slightly.
We made butterflies, clouds and flowers…
The cookies are quite fragile, so stack them carefully in muffin liners in an airtight container. They seem to improve with a day’s rest…
These were short, crumbly and a little too easy to eat. They’ll definitely be on this year’s Christmas baking list!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I know what I’m buying with the next Amazon gift voucher that comes my way: a cookie press! This looks like so much fun, thanks for sharing Celia! X
Danielle, it really was heaps of fun! There were so many cookies, I wanted to freeze some of them, and Pete said, “don’t bother babe, they’ll get eaten like chips”… ;-)
Wow Celia. That brings back memories. We would only get those tins around Christmas time. I had quite forgotten them. I love my cookie press. There is a fancy shortbread recipe in the CWA cookbook that also works quite well in them.
Tania, it was such a taste memory the first time I tried them! I said to Pete, “remember those cookies we used to get in the tins?” and he replied, “I have no idea what you’re talking about..” And then he tasted one and said, “Oh THOSE cookies!”.. :)
They look wonderful Celia and I love your cookie press too!
Caroline, thank you! So nice to hear from you, thanks for the email too! xx
I’ll admit that one of the only things I brought with me from the states (nearly 20 years ago) was my electric cookie shooter. I love these cookies. :)
Maureen, an electric one! Now that sounds seriously flash! :)
This is so beautiful so beautiful dear Celia, Thank you, love, nia
Nia, thank you! They were fun to make!
Hi Celia, I have a very similar press. I have only used it once and found some of the pattern didn’t come out of the press. Thanks for the idea of using foil. I will try that next time.
I will make these as soon as we have finished eating all those Barazek we made last August. We are still making our way through them.
Glenda, it took a little bit of experimenting – only certain designs worked on the parchment, but the foil was much better! xx
Did you try a silicon mat? I thought that might work.
Don’t think it will work – needs to be a non-nonstick surface. :)
ok
Like Tania, I remember these as much-loved Christmas cookies. I still love shortbreads of any sort, and now I guess you’ve moved me to think I’m long overdue to make some again! I can almost smell your Spritz baking!!
Thanks Kathryn, hope you enjoy them! My youngest son in particular adores shortbread, so we’re always making it. I recently posted a recipe for a food processor version that was very easy (not sure they’d work in the press though!)…
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2013/10/13/slice-and-bake-cookies/
I too have a press but cannot find any suitable baking trays. But, foil! Why didn’t I think of that? I found the bottom of my old cake baking tins worked well but they were all so small or awkward shapes. All my baking trays are non stick and that’s all that seems to be available these days.
Thanks for that tip. I shall be baking a batch up tomorrow morning. And eating them from about half an hour later I expect.
Val, hope it works well for you! The instructions that came with the press actually say “don’t use non-stick”, but all my non-stick pans are old and not really suitable for baking on without lining!
This biscuit recipe is similar to the Snap Biscuits I make for the G:O. to which I add a little ginger powder, but yields a lot less biccies – 108 is a lot for even him to eat, his workmates would be pleased though.
I remember the tins of Danish shortbread, they were the Good Biscuits and also handy for emergency gift giving.
I’m going next to the POK site to look for a cookie press as we have a Christmas theme bakeoff coming up at work, and these cookies would be perfect :)
PS. I got a Save With Jamie’s cookbook for $24 at K-Mart.
ED, hope you like that Jamie book as much as we do! And yes, the Danish cookies were an obligatory hostess gift when we were growing up, and the tins were pretty useful once the cookies had been eaten as well!
Many thanks Celia.. Think I’ll try a batch with spices added like your Dutch spice cookies Bye, A.
Most welcome – that’s a great suggestion, thank you! I’d like to try the speculaas recipe in the press as well – might leave out the almonds though.. ;-)
Thank you Celia for another lovely recipe. Sarah
Thanks Sarah – hope you enjoy them, Sarah! :)
love your biscuits celia..they look so pretty in the paper cases..x
Jane, thank you! I understand now why they use the paper cases – the cookies are quite fragile and this was the only way to keep them from crumbling!
Thanks for this one Celia it sparked childhood memories as my Mum had one of those presses and baked biscuits every Saturday. We DIY all we can but buy biscuits ….. not anymore. I bought a cookie cutter on eBay this morning and adding biscuits to our DIY regime …. and storing them in our precious blue round tins. Must have a biscuit with a cup of tea eh! hmmm in the absence of the little paper cases suggest substituting with paper patty pan cases.
Sandy, they didn’t fit in the patty pan cases, I tried! :) Hope you have fun baking cookies – we can’t go back to bought ones anymore! :)
I love those Danish cookies, how fabulous to have a recipe for them. GG
GG, thank you! Hope you enjoy them! They seem to keep well for quite a few days!
I have a cookie press that I haven’t used for about 10 Christmases.. I’m definitely going to take it out of retirement. Of course, I had never thought to make cookies that weren’t Christmas trees, lol. I remember those biscuit tins, I’m certain I’ve eaten my fair share of them over the years! I love how you stacked them in muffin liners.. a really pretty presentation! xx
Oooh praise from the presentation queen, thanks Barb! I saw the Christmas tree die in the set – will have to give them a go next! :)
Celia, don’t they look lovely!……..I used my press ages ago and was disappointed so many of the shapes baked to an unrecognisable blob…….. thank you I’ll try again with the foil lined tray.
You really are on a baking mission aren’t you……..I’m concentrating on cleaning up the gardening……….shouldn’t be any leaf litter left when I’m finished.
Elaine, hope all is ok with you at the moment, do stay safe! And yes, I’m recipe testing for Christmas, so there’s lots of cookies in the neighbourhood at the moment!
Hello Celia. Love your biscuits. They looks so tasty and professional. As children I remember we were often given Royal Dansk biscuits at Christmas time. We loved them for the novelty factor I think!
Jane, they were fun to make, thanks for saying they look professional, but they’re a little bit wonky. Not that that matters.. ;-) It’s interesting how many people remember the Royal Dansk cookies from Christmas – we had them all the time from memory – my mum loved them!
Mum adores those little biscuits by Royal Dansk, this recipe is going on my to-do list. Thanks once again Celia.
I had no idea there was such a thing as a cookie press..hmmmmmm. :)
Rose, I bought mine from Everten Online, but I think Peters has a few on offer as well. Get Tony to help hold down the foil while you pop them out! :)
Celia you reminded me that I have my grandma’s vintage cookie press in the cupboard somewhere! I used it one or twice but never found a recipe that pressed through it well enough. Will definitely give these a go. Yours look lovely!
Claire, the secret (I think) is to really beat the butter well for this recipe. It really gives it a very crumbly texture when it’s baked!
I loved those cookies! We were never given biscuits except as treats so it was always wonderful to get what seemed like an unlimited sized tin of biscuits!
Lorraine, they seemed to last forever in the tin – I never figured out why they didn’t go stale more quickly! (And now I don’t think I want to know) :)
A cookie press! Now that’s something else I don’t have. These look very good and I bet you just can’t stop at one. I can imagine my hand continually reaching into the cookie jar. Thank goodness that press can punch out quite a few! xx
108 Charlie! That was enough to slow down even Small Man! :)
Now that brings back some memories of dipping into the Christmas biscuit tin and trying to take them all in one layer so Mum wouldn’t notice they were disappearing. And to think we actually thought we were smart….great recipe as always x
Nancy, you made me laugh out loud then, that’s what we used to do as well! My sister and I got a little OCD about it in the end… :)
Oh Celia, these cookies are just gorgeous…. I used to sell those cookie presses! Love it!
Lizzy, thank you, there are some nice presses on the market, but I’m particularly impressed with the quality of this Kuhn Rikon one. Then again, I’m impressed with almost everything they make! :)
Thanks for the memories! We often made spritz cookies as kids and the homemade are so much nicer than the Danish tinned ones. Tempted to get out the cookie press because the oven is on but it’s too hot here.
Liz, that’s probably wise, it’s been scorching hot down here as well! Hope all is well in your part of the state! :)
Delicious indeed Celia! I used to make about 500 of these little suckers each week for a cafe that put one with each chill of coffee sold. I haven’t made them for home for ages though, so thanks for reminding me xox
Becca, were THESE the ones? I remember you telling me you had to bake heaps of them every week. They’re fiddly, but worth the effort, the boys have loved them! :)
Beautifully done Celia. Reminds me that I haven’t used my cookie press for the longest while and with Christmas approaching at a rapid rate, reckon I should get cracking.
:-) Mandy xo
Mandy, I’m testing recipes at the moment, it’s been fun to play with new techniques!
One of my favorite cookies!
I think they’ll end up as one of ours too! :)
They look absolutely amazing, Celia! Loved the way you nicely packed them in those liners, worthy of a professional patissier!
you never cease to amaze me!
Sally, you’re always so nice, thank you! I always think about you running up a mountain as I’m lying on the floor trying to hold my yoga plank pose for 30 seconds. You never cease to amaze me either! :)
I know I have one of those cookie press in the house somewhere, now where? Need to go find it so I can make your cookies.
Norma, I hope you like them! They’re fun to make, and I keep telling myself that they produce such a large quantity that surely each individual one couldn’t be that bad for us.. ;-)
Love them, I was a big fan of those Danish biscuits (and the biscuit tins!) too, it would be a great idea to have home made ones for Christmas.
Saucy, we grew up with the blue tins, but when my sons were little, we also managed to buy these in Thomas the Tank Engine tins. I think we’ve still got them in the pantry somewhere! :)
I wanted the novelty tins too! :-)
You never cease to amaze, Celia. These cookies are fantastic and shortbreads are a favorite. A tin of these would make a great Christmas gift — well if I were to give them as gifts. I’m sure that if your were to give them away, you’d include chocolates, probably a loaf for bread or two — and a tromboncino, for good measure. :)
John, we’re struggling to get any of our tromboncino seed to come up! Fingers crossed on that one! And yes, you know us too well, we will have to make chocolate for Christmas as well, or people would complain! :)
My mom has an ancient metal cookie press from the fifties. She made “sand dabs” A few years ago I bought a cookie press but it was hard to refill, the buttery dough made it almost impossible to unscrew, so I gave it away. Your cookies look delish. Hugs, Maz.
Maz, this new press we have works really well – all the bits come apart for washing. But good for you, if something’s a pain to use, I’m all for getting it out of the house! :)
I haven’t used my cookie press in ages but I will try again and use foil :)
Tandy, an extra set of hands to help you hold the foil down will help as well! x
Hi Celia, thanks for the blast from the past. The blue round tins were a much anticipated part of Christmas holidays. We use to fight over our favourite shapes. My first choices were always the star tip piped circles and the sugar crust pretzels style ones. Your ones are just gorgeous. Especially in the muffin liners. Thanks for the tips. I must look for my never even unwrapped cookie press and give these a whirl.
Staci, I toyed with the idea of sprinkling demerara sugar over the top, but decided against it. Everyone here seems to prefer them just that little bit less sweet! It was such a blast from the past to taste these – it’s funny how strong our taste memories are, isn’t it? :)
We had those tins of biscuits at Christmas time too! I’ve never found the need for a cookie press – well, I didn’t even know they existed – but am beginning to wonder if it would be fun. Or would it just sit unused in the cupboard? They do sound good …
Anne, for what it’s worth, I bought one because I thought it would be fun. Then I didn’t use it for two years. Now I’m going to make more of these for Christmas, so that makes it two uses at least this year. I’m not sure how that stacks up in value terms! :)
So pretty. Really glad to read your previous comment Celia – I was starting to feel very inadequate!!
Sally, I think I’m going to get a few more uses out of the press this year – my mother got a batch last weekend, and adores them. So we might end up making more for the Christmas dinner party as well! :)
Goodness it’s great to finally get a minute to catch up on my favorite blogs. To say that last week was a little ‘hectic’ here is an understatement & I need to get working on my kitchen update post but today it’s time to sit & catch up on my reading.
We LOVE spritz cookies here at our house – matter of fact, many years ago my daughter ran away from home over them…
http://dianeskitchentable.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/what-to-pack-when-you-run-away-from-home/
Oh I laughed, Di! :) Great story! x
So… we dug out our equivalent of the biscuit press and made your dough, which was incidentally PERFECT for the job and we squeezed out the cookies on to the foil sheet, for which tip we are very grateful and then on the last wodge of dough, the biscuit press broke, it has a bit where it is glued, and that was the end of that, unless Mr DIY can fix it. The dough is a very good one as it holds its sharp edges even if you use a cookie cutter on it. So we were definitely happy and now I have far too many small cookies sitting around but there are worse things in life than too many cookies, much love Jo
Oh, I’m SO happy to hear that! Thank you for trying the recipe, there is something quite glorious about having more biscuits than you can count (even though we did and got over 100 from the one batch of dough). And a little bikkie next to a cup of tea is just the most perfect thing. I’m sorry I haven’t replied to your email, it’s been a crazy few days, but lots of love to both of you! xxx