Merry Spritz Cookies

Spritz cookies are the cookie-press classic, and this version folds melted vanilla baking bar straight into the dough, so each shape bakes up extra tender with a soft white-chocolate richness.

You cream the butter and sugar, blend in the egg, vanilla, and melted bar, then work in the flour to a smooth, pipeable dough. Load it into a cookie press, fit your favorite plate, and press the shapes onto ungreased sheets. That bare sheet matters: the dough needs to grip cool metal to release cleanly from the press and hold its ridges.

Stud each cookie with mint-chocolate morsels before they go in, then bake just until set. They should stay pale, never browned, which keeps that buttery snap intact.

Kitchen Tips

• Keep the dough at room temperature. Too cold and it crumbles in the press; too warm and it won’t hold its shape.
• Press onto completely cool, ungreased sheets so the dough sticks and pulls free of the press.
• Pull them at 7 to 9 minutes while still pale. Browned spritz cookies turn dry and lose their delicate texture.
• Add the morsels before baking so they set into the surface as the cookie bakes.

Variations

• Swap the mint-chocolate morsels for plain semisweet chocolate chips, sprinkles, or a dusting of colored sugar.
• Tint the dough with a drop of gel food coloring for festive reds and greens.
• Add a quarter teaspoon of almond or peppermint extract alongside the vanilla.