September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Annually, OXO highlights this month with a program benefiting Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, founded by two OXO employees who’s son battled pediatric cancer. Cookies for Kids’ Cancer provides inspiration and support to allow anyone to easily get involved in fundraising to find a cure for pediatric cancer.
To show support, OXO will donate up to $100,000* to support Cookies for Kids’ Cancer through the sales of specially marked items, bake sale matches, and other fundraising efforts. And that’s where this post comes in! OXO sent me a set of cookie-baking tools including specially marked OXO baking products with this Cookies for Kids’ Cancer sticker:
OXO is donating $100 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer for each blog post dedicated to this cause in September. (I made these Vegan Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies and these Gluten Free Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes last year in support of Cookies for Kids’ Cancer as well.)
For my first attempt, I stayed traditional and made a traditional Butter Spritz Cookie Dough using a recipe adapted from the Food Network to make these Spritz Cookies!
Ingredients:
- 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon sized pieces
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 large egg
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Sprinkles or colored sugar, for garnish
- Food dye (optional)
note: to make Spritz cookies you need a cookie press
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Add an ungreased cookie sheet to the refrigerator to cool (this helps the dough stick better to the sheet. There is enough butter in the cookies that you don’t have to worry about them getting stuck, but it can be a bit difficult to get the dough to stay put while using the cookie press if the pan is buttered!) Add the butter and sugar to a large bowl and beat with an electric mixture until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Add the vanilla and almond extracts and the egg. Mix to combine. (If you don’t have almond extract, you can just substitute in another 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.)
Add the flour and baking powder, mixing to combine.
At this stage, if you wanted to dye your dough, separate the dough into different smaller bowls. Add desired color to each set of dough and mix until the color is consistent throughout. Repeat with remaining dough. (Food dye goes a long way, so start with 1-2 drops and add more as needed.) To use the cookie press, twist the bottom of the cookie press and add in the shape you’d like to make first and reattach. Next, unscrew the top of the cookie press and add some dough to the chamber. Screw the top back on. Pump the lever until some dough comes out the bottom. Wipe the press clean and you’re ready to go! The nonslip base of the cookie press keeps it steady on the cookie sheet. Line up the cookie press on an ungreased cookie sheet where you want the cookie to be and press the lever down firmly once. Lift the cookie press and you should have a lovely little cookie! If the dough doesn’t want to stick, try refrigerating the dough for a bit and trying again. The cookies don’t expand in size much so you can add a lot to one cookie sheet.
Here’s a step by step video courtesy of OXO in case you need a visual:
Before baking, top the cookies with sprinkles of your choice. (If you don’t have any sprinkles but still want to add color, you can also add some food dye to sugar as a colorful topping!)
Bake until firm but not yet browning, 6 to 8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes then move to a rack to cool.
The cookies are slightly chewy and soft. My decorating skills are seriously lacking, but a little dusting of sugar on top or some sprinkles add a fun little something extra to the cookies.
The cookie press was really easy to use! I had a ton of cookies in no time, perfect for gifts, especially around the holidays! (This recipe makes around 5 dozen cookies.) If you’ve been meaning to purchase new baking tools, be sure to go out some time in September to support a good cause with your purchase!
Spritz Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon sized pieces
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 large egg
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Sprinkles or colored sugar for garnish
- Food dye optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Add an ungreased cookie sheet to the refrigerator to cool (this helps the dough stick better to the sheet. There is enough butter in the cookies that you don’t have to worry about them getting stuck, but it can be a bit difficult to get the dough to stay put while using the cookie press if the pan is buttered!) Add the butter and sugar to a large bowl and beat with an electric mixture until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add the vanilla and almond extracts and the egg. Mix to combine. (If you don’t have almond extract, you can just substitute in another 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.)
- Add the flour and baking powder, mixing to combine.
- At this stage, if you wanted to dye your dough, separate the dough into different smaller bowls. Add desired color to each set of dough and mix until the color is consistent throughout. Repeat with remaining dough. (Food dye goes a long way, so start with 1-2 drops and add more as needed.)
- To use the cookie press, twist the bottom of the cookie press and add in the shape you’d like to make first and reattach. Next, unscrew the top of the cookie press and add some dough to the chamber. Screw the top back on. Pump the lever until some dough comes out the bottom. Wipe the press clean and you’re ready to go! The nonslip base of the cookie press keeps it steady on the cookie sheet. Line up the cookie press on an ungreased cookie sheet where you want the cookie to be and press the lever down firmly once. Lift the cookie press and you should have a lovely little cookie! If the dough doesn’t want to stick, try refrigerating the dough for a bit and trying again. The cookies don’t expand in size much so you can add a lot to one cookie sheet.
- Before baking, top the cookies with sprinkles of your choice. (If you don’t have any sprinkles but still want to add color, you can also add some food dye to sugar as a colorful topping!)
- Bake until firm but not yet browning, 6 to 8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes then move to a rack to cool.
Yay I am doing spritz cookies too! I need to get on that…
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie recently posted..Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookie Cake
Just adorable!
Mary Frances recently posted..Sorrel Pesto
I tried this. It is very much like my family’s generations-old Spritz recipe only we use salted butter, salt, and almond extract only. I liked the low-sodium aspect of this recipe, but prefer almond extract only.