Tender, sweet, and so fun to make, these Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies are a favorite holiday and special event cookie!

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Article Summary:

In this blog post we will be making cream cheese spritz cookies. These press cookies are fun to make, tasty, and have a delightful snap. Read on to learn how to make this recipe, read recipe FAQs, and more.

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Nothing says a festive occasion like these easy spritz cookies!

Dress these bad boys up with a little food coloring, sprinkles, or even a chocolate glaze or drizzle and we're really talking a good time!

Originally I learned how to make these buttery and tender cookies with my Aunt Lisa -- baking Christmas cookies was one of my favorite holiday activities to do with her! But since then, I've had fun playing with dough color and sprinkles combinations to fit any occasion.

You could, for example, tint the dough to the wedding colors if serving these cookies for a wedding cookie table. They also would be so fun to tint orange and black (and use Halloween cookie press discs) for a Halloween party.

And, of course these cookies are perfect for any birthday party. Use all the vibrant sprinkles and tint the dough to the birthday person's favorite color.

Either way, these cookies always add to the celebration. They certainly taste like a celebration, too! With a sweet short crust and light tangy notes of cream cheese, your guests will find it's hard to eat just one of these lightly crunchy cookies.

These press cookies are...

• Sweet
• Buttery
• Tender
• Crisp

Whether you make these cookies for weekend baking therapy, a birthday party, Easter, or Christmas, these cookies will be a hit!

Ingredients:

• Unsalted butter
• Cream cheese - full fat cream cheese is best
• Powdered Sugar
• Egg yolks - from two large separated eggs
• Pure vanilla extract
• All-purpose flour
• Salt
• Baking soda

Substitutions:

• Butter - salted butter can work in place of the unsalted. Just decrease the rest of the salt in the recipe to ¼ teaspoon.
• Flour - a 1:1 mixture of all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour can substitute for the all-purpose flour, though the cookies will be nuttier and slightly more dense

How to make these spritz cookies:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer or in a the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle mixing attachment, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar until light and creamy.
3. Add the egg yolks and vanilla extract to the creamed sugar. Mix in until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until the mixture is whipped and light.
4. In a medium-size mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking soda until combined.
5. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and slowly mix in until the dough forms, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed.
6. Mix the food coloring in to the dough, if using, and load the cookie press with the dough.
7. Press the cookies out onto a bare cookie sheet (no grease, parchment paper, or silicone baking mats), 1 ½-2 inches apart.
8. Dust the cookies with sprinkles, if using.
9. Bake the cookies until cooked through and just golden on the bottom.
10. Cool on wire cooling racks and enjoy!

Recipe pro-tips:

• Do not prepare the pan - you do not need to prepare the pan with cooking spray, grease/butter, or parchment paper or silicone baking mats for this recipe. Just press the cookies directly onto the sheet. For the best baking, use high quality baking sheets (not an affiliate link) -- they are worth their weight in gold and will last you for years.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl when mixing the dough. The different components of the dough might not mix together well at first, but will incorporate better when you scrape down the sides of the bowl between mixing intervals. Also, this dough is somewhat sticky, so scraping down the bowl will help to extract it from the mixing bowl.
• Softened butter and cream cheese are essential to this recipe. I recommend leaving them out at room temperature at least 1-2 hours before starting on the recipe. You'll know the butter is softened when you can gently, yet firmly press your finger into the butter and an indentation remains.
• Weigh the flour to measure it. Weighing is the most accurate way to measure the flour. Food scales run only about $10 on Amazon and make the world of the difference in the end result of baking recipes. If you can't get a food scale in time for this recipe, I recommend scooping and leveling the flour in the measuring cups.
• Use gel food coloring (not liquid). Gel food coloring is more concentrated so you don't need to use as much of it to get concentrated color in the cookies. Also, using too much liquid food coloring can make the cookie dough too sticky to work well in the cookie press.

Recipe FAQs:

How to use the cookie press:

Here are the simple steps to use a cookie press:

1. Pull the cookie press base all the way to the bottom of the tube.
2. Using a knife or a small spatula, load the press with the spritz cookie dough.
3. Place the cookie press disc on the end of the cookie tube. Screw in the cap that holds the disc in place.
4. Press or click the cookie press until the dough starts to evenly come through the disc.
5. Place the press with the disc end down on the unlined cookie sheet. Click or press the cookie press once.
6. Hold the press in place for 5-10 seconds and then lift.
7. If the cookie press shape isn't complete, that's fine. It's just your "tester" as all the dough gets settled in the tube. Just scrape the tester off the pan and add it back to the bowl with the remaining dough. Repeat steps 5 & 6 with the cookie press until the press shapes are adequately full and consistent.
8. Continue with pressing cookies as the recipe directs.

How to decorate spritz cookies:

There are so many fun ways to decorate spritz cookies. Here are some of my top recommendations:

• Gel food coloring - a few drops mixed in with the batter before baking
• Sprinkles - jimmies, sanding sugar, ball sprinkles, and more all work great. Sprinkle them on the cookies just before baking.
• Chocolate chips - or peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, or white chocolate chips. Place them on the cookies as you would sprinkles just before baking.
• Chocolate glaze -- melt ½ cup chocolate chips with 1 ½ teaspoons canola oil at low heat in the microwave at 30 second intervals until smooth. Dip the cookies in the glaze or drizzle the chocolate on the cookies, let dry on a wire cooling rack, and enjoy! For extra pizazz, sprinkle jimmies, sanding sugar, or other sprinkles on top of the chocolate before it dries.

Storage directions:

Tools needed to make this recipe:

• Mixing bowls
• Hand mixer or stand mixer
• Measuring cups & spoons
• Food scale
• Silicone spatula
• Baking sheets
• Cookie press
• Optional: gel food coloring

Other cookie and dessert recipes:

• Funfetti Cake Mix Cookies
• Strawberry Shortbread Cookies
• Brown Butter White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
• Lemon Sugar Cookies
• Chocolate Coconut Cookies
• Peanut Butter Bon Bons
• High Altitude Sugar Cookies
• Peanut Butter M&M Cookies
• Double Chocolate Andes Mint Cookies
• Chocolate Coconut Bars
• Chewy Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

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