Butter Spritz Cookies

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You only need very simple ingredients to make these vanilla-forward and rich butter spritz cookies. With no-chilling required, detailed tips on using a cookie press without fuss, and a special tricks for extra flavorful and festive cookies, this old-fashioned cookie recipe produces a high yield, making them a favorite for Christmas cookie trays and exchanges.

An assortment of spritz cookies on a plate.

Known in my house simply as "butter cookies", butter spritz cookies have been a holiday staple for my family since before I was born. With their rich and not too sweet flavor, they certainly live up to their nickname.

Spritz cookies are made with a cookie press fitted with a variety of shaped disks to (just about) effortlessly produce the small and festive designs they're known by. You'll love spritz cookies if, like me, you get the sweats thinking about trying to decorate sugar cookies with royal icing, roll a Bûche de Noël, or make any other kind of Christmas dessert that requires artistic skill.

P.S. Another fun holiday variation are these gingerbread spritz cookies if you'd like to keep the cute-but-easy vibe going.

Why You'll Love These Cookies

No chilling - Butter spritz cookie dough is quick and easy to prepare, uses basic ingredients, and requires no chilling.
No artistic talents needed - They're a fun and fairly low-effort dessert to decorate for the holidays: see these Valentine's Day spritz cookies, Halloween spritz cookies, and of course Christmas. Shaped disks, food dye, and sprinkles work wonders if you're not artistically-inclined and provide a big payoff.
High yield recipe - One batch makes a lot of cookies quickly (around 7-8 dozen), making butter spritz cookies a great Christmas cookie exchange recipe.

Butter spritz cookies on a plate, including trees, flowers with cherries, bears, and snowflakes.

#1 Tip for the Best Spritz Cookies

Here's where this spritz cookie recipe differs from many others: let the cookies bake until the bottoms and edges brown, not just "until set". This will be just a minute or two longer.

The Maillard reaction that happens when the cookie bottoms/edges bake long enough to turn golden-brown provides a MUCH deeper flavor than that of cookies that were pulled before it takes place (which I tried once - key word "once"). I have over 30 years of experience eating these cookies and believe this with my whole heart! The richer flavor is unmatched.

Recipe Ingredients

Spritz cookie ingredients text-labeled in separate containers.

Butter: Ensure the butter is softened for optimal structure and consistency, which occurs when you can press into a stick and your finger leaves an indent with some resistance. This can take anywhere from 30-60+ minutes depending upon your kitchen temperature. Butter is too soft if your finger easily presses through the stick, or if the butter is shiny and greasy and very malleable - place it back in the fridge to firm up to the right amount.
Sugar: Two-thirds of a cup of granulated sugar ensures these old-fashioned spritz cookies aren't overly sweet.
Vanilla Extract: Two teaspoons is the right amount for the vanilla to shine through this simple, buttery cookie. You can sub in a portion of almond extract if you like.
Food Dye: Green for trees and wreaths, or red if you'd like to transform a flower shape into poinsettias. Gel food dye is recommended over liquid formulations as you'll need less of it to achieve a vibrant color. This introduces less moisture into the dough and prevents stickiness.
Sprinkles/Decorations: Lots of variations here (detailed below). Think sanding sugar, non-pareils, and festive "jimmies" blends, as well as red and green candied cherries.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Butter and sugar creamed together in a bowl.

Step 1: Cream together softened butter and sugar for several minutes until light and creamy.

The wet ingredients mixed into the butter and sugar.

Step 2: Mix in the egg and vanilla extract until well combined.

Spritz cookie dough in a glass mixing bowl.

Step 3: Blend in the flour and salt, switching from an electric mixer shortly into the process to using your hands to lightly "knead" the mixture together until smooth and soft. The dough should not be sticky.

Spritz cookie shapes pressed onto an aluminum sheet pan.

Step 4: Load the dough into your cookie press according to instructions, choose a shaped disk, and press out cookies on an ungreased aluminum baking sheet.

Spritz cookie shapes decorated with sprinkles and candied cherries.

Step 5: Decorate with sanding sugars, non-pareils, candied cherry halves, or sprinkles that will not melt and bleed when heated.

Different shapes of spritz cookies on a wire rack.

Step 6: Bake at 400°F for 7-10 minutes, or until golden to golden-brown around the edges and on the bottoms. Start checking them at the earlier end of that range to ensure they don't burn as all ovens operate a little differently. Let cookies cool on the pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Trees and Wreaths: Classic spritz cookies for Christmas. Dye the dough green, press corresponding shapes, and sprinkle white sparkling or green sanding sugar over top before baking.
Flowers: Choose one of the flower shapes provided with your cookie press and nestle half of a red or green candied cherry in the center before baking. You can usually find these cherries in stores starting in early/mid-November. Any extras? Make Christmas rice krispie treats or chop to use in fruitcake cookies.
Sanding Sugar/Non-Pareils: Various sanding/sparkling/shimmer sugars in red, green, and white, as well as holiday color non-pareils are easy ways to make these Christmas spritz cookies festive. They can be sprinkled on the cookies before baking.
Shaped Sprinkles/"Jimmies": Festive sprinkle blends that include pieces shaped like mini Christmas trees, snowflakes, red holly berries/round baubles/stars (so cute on green trees!), etc. These will likely melt and bleed in the oven, so decorate the spritz cookies with these only after they're baked and cooled. They can be attached with glaze or a small dab of cookie icing.

Recipe Tips and Tricks

All cookie presses have their quirks: Sometimes the process can just be finicky. Two or three cookies in a row don't come out well, but then the next one will release perfectly. Take advantage and keep the streak going - crank them out when the conditions are right.
Cram 'em in: Spritz cookies barely spread, so you can place them as close together as your cookie press will allow on the baking sheets.
Know your sprinkles: Some can be applied to the cookies before baking (sanding sugar, non-pareils) while others will melt/color bleed if heated (decorative "jimmies") so are best reserved for decorating once the cookies have cooled. If in doubt, do a test cookie to see how they fare in the oven.
Gel food dye is recommended: You'll need less gel food dye than liquid food coloring to achieve a similarly pigmented result, which introduces less moisture into the dough. That's a good thing, as more moisture = stickiness. If all you have is liquid and this happens to you, work in an extra sprinkle of flour or consider a brief chill in the refrigerator until the stickiness reduces.

A few butter spritz cookies on a wire rack, two being more toasted than the others.

The dough is sticky, not just soft: Too much liquid may have been added to the dough (for instance, if using liquid food dye and not gel) or under-measuring flour. Gently work in extra flour a little bit at a time until the stickiness lessens.
The dough is crumbly and won't come together: Use your hands to lightly knead the dough to make it come together more efficiently. Measure the flour correctly (by weighing or using the spoon-and-level method) so too much doesn't accidentally get added.
The dough won't stick to the sheet pans: - Make sure the dough is not too cold. If you prepared the spritz cookie dough in advance and refrigerated it, let it sit at room temperature until the chill wears off before pressing. Try using aluminum baking sheets and not ones with a non-stick coating.
The shape didn't come out well: Scrape misshapen cookie dough off of the pan and add it back to the bowl to try again. Even with a great dough, I strongly believe that sometimes there's no rhyme or reason as for why certain shapes aren't working on a particular day.
The cookies spread too much: Use fresh pans (cold and not warm/reused ones) that are totally ungreased - no parchment paper, silicone baking mat, etc.
The bottoms browned too quickly: I recommend using a light metal pan for this spritz cookie recipe as dark metal pans absorb heat more efficiently, leading to much faster browning. You can see this in action via the above photo. The two toasty trees on the left were baked at the same temperature, on the same spot of the same oven rack, on a fresh (cold) pan, with the same dough for one minute less than the other cookies. The difference? I used a dark metal pan and not a light one.

A cookie tray of various spritz cookie shapes decorated for Christmas.

Recipe FAQs

Are spritz cookies good for mailing around the holidays?

Yes. Spritz cookies aren't especially delicate and don't become stale quickly so they're good Christmas cookies to mail. I have experience both sending and receiving spritz cookies via U.S. mail and while maybe one or two of the bottom ones will have a broken corner, as long as they're not left to rattle around a half-empty container or shifting around a box without padding, they'll be fine.

Can you freeze spritz cookies?

Yes, they freeze really well! Wait until they've cooled and store in an air-tight container or freezer bag with all excess air pressed out. They'll stay for months, but over time, like all baked goods, may begin to take on tinge of slightly staler, freezer burnt flavor. If making spritz cookies ahead of time for Christmas, I recommend freezing them for no longer than a month before serving for the best flavor.

Can you make spritz cookies without a press?

Technically, yes. I've done this with the last little blob of dough when I didn't feel like reloading the press. Roll a small gumball-sized ball and press it on the pan with your hands into an even, thin layer. I don't recommend doing this method for the whole batch as it would take quite awhile and you wouldn't get the advantage of all of the cute shapes.

What type of cookie press works best?

Ooh do I love a metal cookie press. I grew up making spritz cookies on my mom's Marcato press that handled like a dream for decades until the mechanisms gave out. However metal presses are harder to find and more expensive, so I make and test all of my blog spritz cookie recipes with the more common, plastic-tubed oxo cookie press. While it's not perfect (my standards here are very high!), it certainly works well. I have no experience with an electric cookie press.

My preference for disks is thin metal for their reliable precision, but I've used third-party holiday sets that are super-thick hard plastic with pretty good results, too.

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