20 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 8

Almond Spritz Cookie Recipe

Spritz, what a funny word. The word spritz is actually based on the German word spritzen.  In English, that means to squirt. To squirt is what we do with these almond paste spritz cookies. This recipe for Almond Spritz Cookies creates a beautifully shaped cookie using a pastry bag and a 6B decorating tip. You could also use a cookie press and press the cookies onto a cookie sheet, but since I don’t have one, and have nightmares from my childhood trying press cookies out of that contraption, I use a 16” pastry bag fitted with the 6B tip to squirt the spritz and the shell you see in this picture.

Ingredients

¼ pound almond paste broken into small pieces or grated

½ stick butter room temperature

½ cup of sugar

2 egg whites

1 ½ cup of All-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

 For the chocolate drizzle

¼ pound good quality chocolate broken into pieces

1 TBSP shortening

1 small jar of maraschino cherries for decoration

 For the white chocolate glaze

¼ pound good quality white chocolate broken into pieces

2 TBSP shortening

 Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Using a heavy-duty stand mixer, or in a large bowl to mix by hand, cream the almond paste, butter and sugar, until well blended.

3. Add the egg whites and mix well.

4. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl.

5. Add the flour mixture to the almond paste mixture and mix until thoroughly combined.

6. Squirt the cookies onto a greased, 11x17 cookie/jelly roll pan, in either the spritz or shell shape, I always do both.

7. Cut the maraschino cherries in half, and rinse over a strainer in cold water to get rid of the juice.

8. Place the halved maraschino cherry on each spritz cookie.

9. Bake for 10 minutes, or just until set and the edges are slightly brown.

10. Slightly loosen the cookie log using a small thin spatula, and let them cool completely.

11. Melt the white chocolate and shortening together in a double boiler on low heat, stirring constantly just until the chocolate is melted and smooth.

12. Melt the chocolate and shortening together in a double boiler on low heat, stirring constantly just until the chocolate is melted and smooth.

13. Using a plastic baggie, place the cooled melted chocolate into it, and snip off a small corner to drizzle the spritz cookies.

14. Dip the shell-shaped cookies in the white chocolate and let them set. You might have to dip them twice for a good cover.