Making these buttery German Spritz Cookies (called Spritzgebäck in German) brings up the most warming memories of spending time in my Oma Sieghilde's small kitchen table and making them with her. Also check out my Top 5 German Christmas Cookies while you're here!
Spritz cookie press
We're starting off our annual Christmas cookie baking with this German classic: Spritzgebäck. Baking Weihnachtsplätzchen (German Christmas Cookies) has always been something we would do at our Oma Sieghilde's house.
The memories! Sitting at the table in her tight, little wood-wrapped kitchen, handing her some of the ingredients out of the cabinets and carrying up more (like eggs) from her Keller (a German basement room often used as a pantry).
Making Spritzgebäck was always rather frustrating. The dough was often so hard, it was too hard to press through the Spritz press. One year she finally bought a cookie press like the one I used for my cookies, with different plates to switch out for different shaped cookies, and that made life a lot easier.
How to make them
The dough is simple to put together and after chilling in the fridge for an hour (or longer if you need to), goes through this Spritz cookie press without much trouble! It's so fun to make all the different shapes with kids, too!
The even funner part: dipping the cookies in melted chocolate after the cooling and sprinkling on nuts! You can let your imagination run free here (think milk chocolate or even white chocolate and any kinds of nuts or even sprinkles for the topping), but the most classic choice is probably semi-sweet chocolate to dip the cookies and crushed almond slices or chopped hazelnuts for the toppings.
More German cookies
Check out my blog post featuring my 5 favorite German Christmas cookie recipes.
German Spritz Cookies (Spritzgebäck)
Equipment
- 1 Cookie press This is so needed when making spritz cookies!
Ingredients
Spritzgebäck Dough
- 500 g all-purpose flour
- 250 g sugar
- 250 g butter unsalted sweet cream butter
- 8 g baking powder
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 egg large size
- 1 egg yolk large size
- 1 teaspoon sea salt omit if using salted butter
Chocolate Glaze
- 200 g semi-sweet chocolate chips can also use milk chocolate or even white chocolate for a different twist!
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil any neutral tasting oil is great here
Toppings
- 50 g sliced almonds dry roasted in a skillet, then crushed
Instructions
- Prepare the dough by adding together all ingredients (best if they're all at room temperature), and then kneading until you achieve a smooth, firm dough. Cover airtight and allow to rest at room temperature for one hour. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 355° Fahrenheit (180° Celsius)500 g all-purpose flour, 250 g sugar, 250 g butter, 8 g baking powder, 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Gradually press cookie shapes of your choice through a spritz cookie press onto a cookie baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
- Bake in your hot oven on the second rack from bottom for 10 to 15 minutes, or until just starting to turn golden. Carefully transfer to a cooling rack after baking.
- Once cool, melt together the chocolate and oil in a double boiler. I use a stainless steel bowl sitting in a pot filled with some water.200 g semi-sweet chocolate chips, 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- Dip the cookies and transfer back to the baking sheet. Feel free to sprinkle with some dry-roasted, crushed almond slices, or chopped hazelnuts or other nuts.50 g sliced almonds
- Once dry, store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks (if they last you that long!).
Elodie
I love making these for my German class! My classmates all love them too. This is the first ever German dish I attempted making (I made them for Christmas) and it is also my favorite! Sehr lecker!
dirndlkitchen
Hi Elodie! I am so glad my German Spritz cookies were such a big hit with your German class! I hope you'll try more German recipes soon (and maybe even bring them to class too ;-). Sophie