Spritz Cookies With Citrus Buttercream

Spritz cookies are nostalgic, beautiful, and fun to make. You typically need a cookie press to shape them, but this recipe from cookbook author Zoë François works whether you have a cookie press or not. 

“Ultra-buttery spritz cookies piped into rosettes were a staple in my grandmother’s holiday cookie tins,” says François. She explains that “the soft dough can be easily squeezed through a piping bag fitted with a decorating tip — or you can use a special cookie press, if you have one.” 

Because the dough doesn’t require chilling, the whole piping and baking process is quicker than many classic holiday cookies. Simply pipe the dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and you’re ready to pop the pans in the oven.

Once baked, the cookies are tender, buttery, and delicately golden, with a shortbread-like texture. They’re delicious on their own — perhaps lightly dusted with powdered sugar — but they shine with the accompanying tangy-sweet, pink-tinted lemon buttercream and a final flourish of sprinkles or other decorations. The tart citrus flavor of the frosting balances the cookies’ richness. “I tinted the creamy top with grenadine to add a pink hue and summon the nostalgic flavor of the Shirley Temple mocktail of my childhood,” says François. 

When it comes to decorations, you have plenty of creative options, from supermarket nonpareils and sprinkles to specialty dragées, glittery sparkling sugars, and all shapes and sizes of unique sprinkles that you can find in craft stores or online. They’ll cling beautifully to the buttercream, whether you arrange the cookies on a platter or in a gift box. 

How to make fun variations on these holiday spritz cookies 

For the cookie base, you can use lime, orange, or grapefruit zest in place of lemon zest (and use the matching juice in the buttercream). Or skip the zest entirely for a straightforward butter-cookie flavor. You can also add a half-teaspoon of warm winter spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg for a cozy note. 

Vary the buttercream by replacing the grenadine with Aperol or Campari for a subtle, grown-up hint of bitterness. Or lean into chocolate by using milk instead of citrus juice and stirring in cocoa powder or a spoonful of Nutella, then finishing with chocolate jimmies. 

Tools you’ll need for this recipe

As noted above, you don’t have to use a cookie press to make these rosette-shaped treats. If you have one, use it. But if not, gather the following:

• Heavy-duty piping bags — cloth or thick plastic (Thin bags can burst.)
• Large star decorating tip — such as a Wilton 4B or Ateco 868; both are wide enough to pipe the dough through without excessive force.
• Parchment paper — for lining pans to help even out hot spots and prevent cookies from sticking.

Notes from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen

• Use light-colored, heavy-duty sheet pans or baking pans; dark or nonstick pans can overbrown cookies.
• If the dough feels too stiff to pipe, chill it for about 10 minutes and try again.
• Store-bought buttercream is fair game, especially during the busy holiday season. Brighten the flavor with lemon juice and tint it with grenadine as we did in the recipe.
  

This recipe was developed by Zoë François; the text was written by Ann Taylor Pittman.