Spritz Cookies

Spritz cookies are traditional Christmas cookies that I enjoy year-round, so when my delightful friend and fellow cookbook writer Sally Longo suggested replacing some of the flour with cornstarch, I was eager to try it. The result: a more delicate spritz cookie that is also easier to pipe or push through a cookie press. 

Editor’s note: Buttery spritz cookies have allegedly been around since at least the 16th century, when food historians believe the first cookie press was invented. Spritz comes from the German word spritzen, meaning “to squirt”—and as such, spritz cookies are always extruded, though you can use a pastry bag to pipe wreaths if you don’t have a cookie press that makes it easy to shape these cookies into festive trees, snowflakes, and stars. While adding the cornstarch helps tenderize tough gluten, which gives you a finer crumb after the cookies are baked, you’ll still need to be careful to avoid overmixing, whether you’re using a stand mixer or food processor for this recipe. Be sure to add the flour at the very end, and mix until it is just barely incorporated. Levy Beranbaum suggests then dumping the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and using the edges of the plastic to very gently knead the dough until it’s homogenous and soft enough to work with.