One trick I have learned with my "cookie gun" and recipe is to roll the dough into long 'snake-like' pieces then filling the tube. The warmth of your hands on the dough brings some of the butter to the surface of the dough, and it slides thru the tube better. I have only one recipe that works well with that 'gun'.

I learned the hard way with spritz cookies, do not use parchment paper; do not use silpats and do not grease the cookie sheets. The dough wont stick to the surface and makes a mess. For the longest time I thought it was the cookie dough recipes I was using.

Booberry, I did use parchment paper because the recipe said to do so but that could be the problem. I'm about to check some other recipes for quantities and procedures.

Thanks to you and nanny for such quick and helpful responses!

I tend to make a gross or two of spritz every year for the holidays, for fresh eating, giving away, and mailing to friends and family. Spritz day is an all day affair for me. I use both a plastic gun style, and an aluminum twist lever style.

I use straight aluminum sheets- no pads, paper, or grease. Use regular sheets- not non-stick ones.

Always, always completely scrub clean and cool your sheets between batches- any stuff sticking will cause a problem, sheets hot from washing is a problem. Cool, clean sheets are best.

Over press your first few cookies of each packing- make sure they really are coming out right before moving on- you can do this on a side sheet or reserve them for, um "test tasting" lol. And overpress the last couple cookies- because they never seem to come out right.
Make sure you press your press evenly to the cookie sheet- even a little bit of hovering can cause problem and make your dough not press to the sheet.

I always use sour cream dough- because most other doughs I've tried haven't worked as well.

I tend to keep my dough chilled, because having it warm seems to make more of a mess. I know that goes against general advice, but I bake up many batches at a time, and I find that leaving the dough out in the hot kitchen makes the dough too warm.

Pack your press well. Think of it kind of like a pastry bag- air pockets are bad and lead to uneven pressing.

Pack those cookies onto the sheet- they should not spread much from their original form.

Be careful with sugars and sprinkles if you are using them- they can cause deformations if misused. Don't try adding them after baking.

Let the cookies cool on the sheets for a couple minutes before removing- but don't let them completely cool before removing. Peel too soon, and they break, peel too late, and they crack. Peel too too late, and they are welded to the cookie sheet.

What helps me keep the nice shape of say the Christmas tree is to lower my head down so I can see exactly how much dough is being pressed out. Too much doesn't work and too little doesn't work. Need just the right amount which I get used to how much to turn the crank by looking below. I then lift the tube straight up, quickly I think.

I use the recipe that is in the box that came with my unit when I bought it 30+ years ago!

They are my favorite Christmas cookie which I haven't had time to make yet :(

Ginny

Wish I were home right now... I have a good recipe that calls for Jello in the dough. When I get home this evening I will look it up and post it for you to take a look at.
Edie

I love spritz cookies, but haven't made any in years. I have a press that is battery operated. You still have to know when to take your finger off the button, though, so you don't have too much or too little dough. It also has a tube that I've used to fill rigatoni with a meat mixture. My mother always made rigatoni and I really like it, but it is such a pill to stuff each of those little pastas with the mixture. My gadget makes it easy. Oh, heck, now I'm in the mood for rigatoni and spritz cookies for desert!

OK, here's the promised recipe:

3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
2 boxes (4 serving size each) gelatin, any flavor
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Mix flour and baking powder. Set aside.
Cream butter. Gradually add sugar and 1 box gelatin. Beat well. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture. Mix well.
Force dough through cookie press onto cookie sheets. Sprinkle with remaining gelatin. Bake about 8 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

I cut this out of The Columbus Dispatch so long ago I don't remember the year. I've made them many times, we really like them.

Enjoy!!
Edie

I am Scandinavian, and the family Spritz cookie maker. What my mother taught me, and I have tried teaching my niece and daughter, is that what makes these different from other cookies, is that they are more sensitive to variables like temperatures and humidity. You can compensate for all these, by knowing what the dough should feel like. We made many, many, batches, and I taught them what each batch of dough felt like as the kitchen heated up. I typed up a detailed explanation to send with my niece a few years ago so she could remember. It follows. The cookies we call “sidewalks” are the flat ribbed ones.

The best press to use is the old style “Mirro” aluminum press, the large diameter one. My Mother gave me one when I married in 1981, and I literally wore it out. Now I use hers. I have tried many others, none work as well. I see these sold very cheaply at antique stores or resale shops. I buy them whenever I see one. (The link is EBay, for $ 25, but I paid $ 8 for one at an antique store this summer) That way I can pass them on to my daughter or niece when they are really ready.

+++

Spritz Cookies

1 c butter, unsalted, at room temperature (2 sticks)
5/8 c sugar, sifted
1 egg yolk (1 full egg for firmer cookies)
2 to 2 ½ cups sifted flour (more if 1 full egg)
salt, pinch
1 t almond extract

DOUBLE RECIPE (what I usually make)

2 c butter, unsalted, at room temperature (4 sticks)
1 ¼ c sugar, sifted
1 egg yolk and one whole egg
4 to 4 3/4 cups sifted flour
salt, 2 pinches
2 t almond extract

(Almond extract is very important to the finished flavor of the cookie: substituting vanilla will make a good cookie too, but the typical “Spritz” taste will not be there. )

Leave butter out to soften for at least 1 hour ahead of time, even overnight. Preheat oven to 375 F.

Cream butter until light and fluffy. Sift sugar, add to butter, and continue creaming until very well incorporated. Blend in egg. Add salt and almond extract.

Sift flour. (Measure volume AFTER sifting, not before. If spooning into cup be careful not to compact or deflate air that has been added by sifting.) Add flour gradually, ½ cup at a time, until completely incorporated. Do not dump it in all at once. Touch dough with fingertips. If it sticks to fingers, work in more flour, 2 tablespoons at a time, until it no longer sticks.

For upright-press cookies, such as trees, dough must be stiff enough not to stick to fingers. Softer dough with less flour is good for sidewalks or wreathes, using the star disc. If it sticks to your fingers slightly, it is good for sidewalks.

If the kitchen is hot, the butter will be softer, and it will take more flour to make it less sticky. If the kitchen is really hot, and you will have to add much more flour, and the cookies will not be tender, but hard. Therefore, it is better to start with upright press cookies, then move to sidewalks when the kitchen is hot from the oven running.

Fill cookie press. For upright press cookies: rest on 3 lugs projecting from disc holder head. Turn handle til cookie is the size you like, then backturn (retract) a bit to release dough. Tilt press backward on 2 lugs to break contact with dough still in the press and cookie. Afterwards, decorate with colored sugar, sprinkles, etc., before baking.

For sidewalks or wreaths, press is held at ~ a 45 degree angle to the sheet. It’s useful to align the sidewalk plate in the disc holder so you can rest the press on 2 lugs. You extrude, backturn, then cut off with a knife.

Bake at 375F until edges are light brown (usually 7-8 minutes, but watch carefully, thinner cookies like sidewalks take less time). Best to use cookie sheets that are light colored and air-cushioned. Dark sheets, like Teflon, make bottoms brown faster, which is not as good.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mirro

Wow, linnea56, thanks for the thorough explanation. I've been making Spritz since I was a small child (also Scandinavian descent) and sometimes my cookies turn out great, and sometimes I battle with the dough. Now I know why and what to look for. I've never bothered to analyze the situation. You're a kitchen scientist!

Ditto! It never occurred to me to back turn. No wonder my cookies are not quite as tidy as my Norwegian grandmother's!

The old Mirro press in your link is the one I use; came down from my Mother who had it ever since I can remember. I also have a real vintage handle crank press from my Grandmother. I have never used a "cookie gun" figuring the originals just couldn't be improved on. I'm a real Luddite when it comes to some things.

linnea56, I have my mom's vintage 50s Mirro cookie press that I use each year, and have relatively good luck with Spritz. A bad year for me this year & didn't make cookies, but will follow your advice for improved baking next year! BeesNeeds, your advice was also good to know, I have used SC in my spritz & like it. I love hearing other baker's tips; thank you & happy new year!

Other things I thought of later:

If looking for a vintage “Mirro” aluminum press, don’t get one of those “dial a cookie” ones, where you rotate the disc to select one of 3 or so shapes. More force to push dough out of a smaller hole is never a good idea. Get the kind where each disc has only a single cookie shape.

We usually do full trays of each shape, so they all bake at the same rate. Thicker shapes obviously brown differently than thinner ones. I will often take the outer cookies off when done and return the trays to the oven. We use light colored pans, not dark. When all the light are busy, and I have to go to dark, I really see a difference in browning. I like the insulated pans.

When removing the baked cookies: they are very brittle. Remove holding the spatula as close to parallel to the cookie sheet surface as possible. When they stop sliding off easily, STOP removing them. Either pop the cookie sheet back in the oven for minute, or put them on top of the stove to warm up again before continuing.

Again because of the brittleness, I don’t cool them either on a rack or on a plate. Instead, I put them on metal jelly roll pans, which have the advantages of being metal and perfectly flat, and easy to move out of the baking area. I can then fill my decorative plates and tins straight from the jelly roll pans, rather than having to move cookies off of a rack to make room for the next hot baking sheet.

Gosh, Linnea....Thanks so much! I didn't make them this year, but I really appreciate Linnea's detailed directions. I must be like her grandmother (I'm 80) and her directions are pretty much "just like my way", but I could never analyze just "how" as she has. Thank you so much. I will keep those posts to tuck away with the multitude of "presses and guns" I have collected over the years. Not surprisingly... your press is the only one I don't have, so will be looking for one (along with the rest of you). I know my recipe is different, so that will also have to find its' way into the recipe file to pass along. We call my cookies "Butter Cookies" and they are THE favorite of this family. I just may have to try baking them 'one more time' in the New Year.

Many Thanks, Nanny

BTW...Here is my simple recipe. I have used butter often, vegan butter as well.... less sugar (not quite the same, but it does work). I have used unbleached flour, not the greatest but ok for a healthier cookie. Haven't tried gluten flours yet, but if I were baking now days with the "gluten-free" family, I would try it. This recipe just seems 'forgiving'.

Cream together......1 1/2 cup butter or shortening
and .....................1 1/2 Cup Sugar

Add.....................1 Well Beaten egg, beat until fluffy

Sift together .........3 up to 4 Cups flour
and....................1 tea Baking powder

Mix together to form a soft smooth dough. You may not need all of that last cup of flour, you want a soft pliable dough not dry or flaky. Kneed in coloring if desired. Handling does not harm it. Make snake-like forms to push into tube, press out cookies. Bake 400 deg. Edges should be lightly browned

I have a Mirro hand turned cookie press too. I must have bought it in the 1960s. I bake them often since they are my younger son's favorite cookie. I use the wreath design and stick half a candied cherry in the center before baking. I bought him a gun type cookie press last Christmas, and it arrived broken. Guess I have the best kind, so I will take the suggestions here to find him an antique one.

I have used the Spritz Cookie Press recipe from my old Joy of Cooking for years, but I also like to add about 1/8 teaspoon of almond extract to give them a richer flavor. I don't have any problem with making the cookies, but you do have to be careful when you load the barrel to be sure it is evenly filled with no air gaps. Sometimes the first cookie you press is misshapen, but the others come out fine.

I know this is too late, but I bought a KitchenAid cookie press last month and used a recipe from Taste of Home -- I was having a terrible time until I ditched the parchment paper -- then they came out perfect!

The parchment paper did not allow the cookie dough to separate from the press and stick to the sheet.