Almond Spritz Butter Cookies

You know how sometimes baking leaves you with random misfit ingredients that just don’t make the cut? Making that delicious custard ice cream leaves you with 7 egg whites that you just don’t know what to do with, or how making the cakes described above, including the cherry and/or spice cake leaves you with a fridge full of egg yolks? This post uses up some extra egg yolks, resulting in a most delicious and simple dinner party approved cookie – the spritz cookie. When I finished making all of the spice and cherry cakes for the baby shower, I had a whopping total of 16 egg yolks left over, so I had some serious make-up baking to do! Spritz cookies immediately (well ok, after the many thoughts of ice cream) came to mind. As a child my mom would make spritz butter cookies in the shape of trees every Christmas, complete with green sprinkles. And, these almond flavored butter cookies made with her old cookie press never even lasted long enough to make it to the plate destined for Santa and his reindeer. But, given the current excess egg yolk situation, I decided to break from the mold and make these cookies in, yes, April, and choose another cookie press shape.

Almond Spritz Butter Cookies
1 cup of butter (do not substitute more than ½ cup with margarine as it changes the texture of the cookie and the aesthetic of the pressed shape)
2/3 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp almond extract
2 ½ cup flour

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Using an electric mixer, mix butter, almond extract and sugar until thoroughly light and fluffy. Mix in the flour in several stages – in the end you want a thick dough that hold together well – not excessively sticky. If you have to use a little more flour than the recipe recommends, do so one tablespoon at a time.

Take pieces of the dough and roll it into tube and fit it into the cookie press. Press out the cookies onto a foil lined cookie sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes until light golden brown on the edges.

*If you do not have a cookie press, roll out the cookie dough between two pieces of parchment paper (NOT FLOUR) and cut out using cookie cutters. Alternatively, bed bath and beyond sells cookie presses for $20. Enjoy!