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Spritz Cookies
[Photograph: Lauren Weisenthal]
Spritz cookies are crisp and buttery; they're the perfect example of how a cookie of few ingredients can be one of the best you've ever tasted. I love using the seeds from a real vanilla bean in my spritz dough along with a tiny hint of cardamom to heighten the toffee notes.
Note: We strongly recommend using a scale for all pastry projects. Serious Eats' recommended kitchen scale is the Oxo Good Grips Scale with Pull Out Display.
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About This Recipe
| Yield: | makes about 40 small cookies |
| Active time: | 45 minutes |
| Total time: | 3 hours |
| Special equipment: | stand mixer, dough press |
| This recipe appears in: | Sweet Techniques: How to Make Spritz Cookies |
Ingredients
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
- 7.1 ounces granulated sugar
- Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
- 11.5 ounces all purpose flour, sifted
- optional: sanding sugar, sugar decorations, candied fruits
Procedures
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1
Preheat the oven to 375°F. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar, vanilla bean seeds, salt, and cardamom on high speed for 7 minutes, stopping often to scrape down the sides, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat for an additional 5-7 minutes on high, stopping often to scrape down the sides and beater, until light and fluffy.
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2
Stop the mixer and add the sifted flour all at once. Mix on the lowest speed for only 15-30 seconds, just until the flour starts to incorporate with the butter mixture. Stop the mixer and finish the job by hand using a large rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Take care to only mix until the dough is homogeneous.
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3
Press the dough into the tube of the dough press, turning the tube as you go for even distribution of dough. Screw in the desired pattern and pipe quickly onto the surface of cool, clean metal sheet trays (do not use nonstick trays, silpats, or parchment paper). Work quickly and rhythmically; try not to stop as you pipe out the cookies. if you are not satisfied with the shape, scrape them off the pan with an offset spatula and reload the dough. Sprinkle with decor if desired and bake for 5-7 minutes for small cookies, 7-9 minutes for larger ones, turning halfway through. Spritz is traditionally on the lighter side, but baking a bit darker yields a crispy cookie with toffee notes. Watch the cookies carefully for browning at the edges if you are aiming to make a lighter cookie. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool on the sheet tray for 5 minutes before loosening with an offset spatula and transferring to a cooling rack. Cool completely before serving. These will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
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