Peppermint Spritz Christmas Cookie Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, beat butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in egg yolk and extracts. In another bowl, whisk flour, cornstarch and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture., Divide dough in half. Tint 1 portion with food coloring. Using a cookie press fitted with a disk of your choice, press dough 1 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. If desired, sprinkle with colored sugar., Bake until edges are light golden, 10-12 minutes. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool. Freeze option: Freeze cooled cookies in freezer containers. To use, thaw before serving.

Steps:

• Glaze: Whisk together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Whisk in vanilla. Glaze can be stored at room temperature, with plastic wrap pressed directly on surface, up to 3 days; whisk before using. (Makes 2 cups.)
• Cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter with granulated sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add yolk, flour, salt, peppermint extract, and milk; beat to combine.
• Fill a cookie press with dough and fit with a wreath disk. Press cookies directly onto unlined baking sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until just golden on edges, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer sheets to a wire rack; let cool completely.
• Working in batches, add a drop of food coloring to a small amount of glaze (about 1/4 cup); use a toothpick to swirl a tiny bit. Dip tops of cookies in glaze, then turn glaze-sides up and place on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet to catch drips to set. (As you dip, colors will become more combined and no longer look like swirls; change to fresh glaze at this point.) For additional "swirls," dip a toothpick in red glaze and drizzle over cookies. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. In another bowl, whisk flour, cocoa and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture., Using a cookie press fitted with a disk of your choice, press dough 1 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8-12 minutes or until set. Immediately sprinkle crushed candies over cookies. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Store in airtight containers.

Steps:

• Position oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
• Beat the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the almond and vanilla extracts and egg and mix until combined. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the flour and salt and mix until just combined.
• Remove a third of the dough to a flour-dusted surface and reserve. Add the candy canes to the dough left in the bowl and mix on low until just combined. Remove to a flour-dusted surface and fold with your hands until it comes together.
• Add the reserved dough back to the mixer bowl and add enough red gel food coloring until it is a vibrant red like a fire truck, about 10 drops. Mix on low until the dough is completely red. Remove to a flour-dusted surface and fold with your hands until it comes together.
• Tear off 2 Ping-Pong ball-size pieces of the white dough and add to the barrel of a cookie press; add 1 marble-size piece of the red dough. Repeat this pattern until the barrel is filled (you will not use all of the dough). Place a wreath disc onto the cookie press barrel according to the manufacturer's instructions. Press the cookies onto an ungreased baking sheet and set aside. Repeat 2 more times in the same pattern with the remaining dough.
• Bake 2 of the batches until the cookies are firm but not yet browning on the bottom, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool the cookies for 1 minute on the baking sheets, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Bake the third batch and let cool. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Steps:

• 1. Cream butter,gradually add in sugar and continue beating until blended.Beat in the egg and the extract.Mix all together.
• 2. Gradually add flour to the creamed mixture.Add food coloring if you wish(sometimes I separate dough into halves and make half one color and one half another)or can leave as is and just sprinkle w colored sugar.
• 3. Chill in frig at least 1 hour. Oven to 350 degrees when you are ready to bake them.
• 4. Remove from frig. Using a cookie press,place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate as desired. Bake for 8-10 min's **watching after 8 min** as they brown quickly.