Italian Easter Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies Recipe 425

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 375°F. With a stand mixer (use the paddle attachment) or a hand mixer, beat the butter, cream cheese, and sugar in a large bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and whatever extract you wish touse, and beat again until blended. Add the flour and mix on low speed until blended. Fit a cookie press with a die plate. Scoop up about a quarter of the dough* and, using a small amount of flour if needed, shape the dough into a log just narrower than the barrel of the cookie press. Slide the log into the cookie press and spritz the cookies directly onto ungreased baking sheets about 1 inch apart. (optional) Brush the tops with the beaten egg white and sprinkle with colored sugar if using. Repeat with the remaining dough. Otherwise, don't brush with the egg white and sugar and bake plain. Then make the glaze. Bake until the cookies are just golden around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes (it's best to bake one sheet at a time). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet on a rack for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely. Be sure the baking sheet is cool before spritzing more cookies. Glaze: Blend all of the ingredients. I like to lay my cookies on a cooling rack, and then drizzle the glaze with a spoon. Or, you can dip each cookie in the glaze. Sprinkle with nonpareils or colored coarse sugar. Allow to dry for at least 15 minutes. Store at room temperature or freeze in an airtight container, separating the cookie layers with waxed paper. Tips: I found the dough to be a bit soft to work with my cookie press. I refrigerated the dough for about 30 minutes, and froze each baking sheet. Do NOT line the baking sheets with parchment paper, nor grease them. Spritz cookies want to be on a cool baking sheet. The reason for freezing the baking sheets, is to prevent spreading of the cookies.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Cream butter and cream cheese together in a bowl using an electric mixer; add sugar and beat well. Mix in vanilla extract and food coloring. Slowly add flour and mix well to combine.
• Fill a cookie press with dough and form cookies onto ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until edges are set, 8 to 10 minutes, making sure to remove at the first hint of browning.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
• In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon almond extract, 1/4 cup milk and oil. Combine the flour and baking powder, stir into the wet mixture. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. On a lightly floured surface, roll the balls out into ropes about 5 inches long. Tie into loose knots and place cookies 1 inch apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
• Bake for 5 minutes on the bottom shelf and 5 minutes on the top shelf of the preheated oven, until the bottoms of the cookies are golden brown. When cookies are cool, dip them into the icing.
• To make the icing, cream together the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon almond extracts. Beat in 3 tablespoons milk, one tablespoon at a time, then stir in the food coloring if desired.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Cream shortening, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk together flour, salt and cinnamon; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in orange zest. If desired, add food coloring., Using a cookie press fitted with a disk of your choice, press dough 1 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Decorate with candies and colored sugar as desired. Bake until set (do not brown), 9-12 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.