Cookie Press Buttery Almond Spitz Cookies (Gluten-Free Option)
Classic spritz cookies with almond and butter, made with a cookie press for speed, or rolled and cut for shapes. Simple with sugar sprinkles, or half-dipped in chocolate and walnuts. Works gluten-free too.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened (not melted), no substitutes
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract or a second teaspoon of vanilla, or lemon extract
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour OR gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour
- Toppings: red and green sugar or semi-sweet chocolate and crushed walnuts for dipping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and egg until smooth and fluffy.
- Add the extracts and mix well.
- Blend in the flour. The dough may get stiff toward the end — a little hand-kneading is normal to work in the last of it.
- If rolling and cutting shapes: chill the dough for about 1 hour before rolling. If using a cookie press: skip the chill and go straight to baking.
- For the classic finish, sprinkle shaped dough in red and green sugar before baking. Or use plain raw sugar.
- Bake 8 minutes, until the edges are just lightly browning and the cookies feel firm. Don't let them brown all over, or they'll overbake, turning hard and dry.
- Remove from the baking sheet to a wire rack and cool completely before serving or further decorating.
- Optional: for a dressed-up version, half-dip cooled cookies in melted semi-sweet chocolate, then roll the dipped half in crushed walnuts. Let set before storing.
Notes
NUTRITION (PER COOKIE, APPROXIMATE, BASED ON 60, UNDECORATED)
Calories ~55 | Protein ~0.6g | Total Fat ~3.2g | Saturated Fat ~2.0g | Carbohydrates ~5.9g | Fiber ~0.1g | Sugar ~2.5g | Sodium ~18mg (calculated with salted butter) Makes about 5 dozen small cookies. Nutrition is for the undecorated cookie only and will run higher once dipped or rolled in toppings. Calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Caveats:- This is the plain cookie, sugar-sprinkle finish only. Dipping in chocolate and rolling in walnuts adds calories, fat, and sugar that vary by how heavily you decorate — treat the chocolate-dipped version as noticeably higher, especially in sugar and fat.
- Sodium is calculated using salted butter, which is what this recipe actually uses.
- Gluten-free 1-to-1 flour blends run close to all-purpose nutritionally, so this estimate holds reasonably well for both versions.
