Delicious spritz cookies with apricot jam. The recipe is flexible, so you can substitute any fruit jam you like!
Recipe Science
- Use cake flour for a crisp exterior and melt-in-your-mouth texture. The lower 6 to 8% protein content creates a delicate crumb.
- Gradually mix in flour until just combined. Avoid overmixing to keep the dough tender and easy to pipe.
- To prevent the cookies from spreading, avoid over-whipping the butter and sugar. They should hold their shape while baking.
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Featured Comment 11
“I’ve been searching for a spritz dough that isn’t difficult to pipe, as the pipe-ability of my old tried and true recipes is in conflict with my increasing arthritis. This one piped magnificently well!”—Nora M.
Why It Works
This classic spritz cookie recipe is easy to make! They deliver just the right amount of butter flavor and sweetness. When I worked at a European bakery in high school, these always flew off the shelf. So, if you have a cookie exchange coming up, these make a great treat to include!
Pick your favorite pipe design or make fun shapes. This recipe is completely customizable, down to the filling. I’m a big fan of apricots, so I’ll show you how to make a simple yet flavorful homemade jam to add to the middle of each cookie. If you don’t have piping tips or a spritz cookie press, make my thumbprint cookies instead!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Butter: Use softened butter below room temperature, 60 to 70ºF (15ºC to 21ºC). This gives the cookies structure by trapping air. It also keeps them light and crisp since the recipe has no baking soda or powder.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar provides clean sweetness and helps create a crisp texture in spritz cookies.
- Flavoring: Vanilla extract enhances the sweet flavor and baked aroma, while salt elevates the flavor by balancing the blandness of the flour.
- Egg: Eggs add richness to the buttery cookie base. The lecithin in the eggs helps to emulsify the butter, keeping it evenly dispersed in the cookie dough. The egg proteins help to set the cookie, holding its pretty piped design.
- Flour: Use cake flour for a spritz cookie that’s slightly crisp outside and gives a melt-in-your-mouth texture. The lower amount of protein compared to all-purpose flour (6 to 8% vs. 10 to 13%) gives the cookie a more delicate texture.
- Filling: When I first developed this recipe, apricots were in season. I decided to create a simple apricot ginger jam. Making homemade jams and jellies is a nice way to capture the season’s flavors. However, you can use store-bought jam or jelly.
See the recipe card below for all ingredients and measurements (US and metric).
Ingredient Substitutions
This spritz cookie recipe is easy to customize! Try these tasty options:
- Shapes: You can press the dough through a cookie press using different discs to make shapes like Christmas trees, wreaths, snowflakes, flours, bears, or swirls.
- Flavoring: Add vanilla and almond extract, or try anise, peppermint, lemon, orange, rose, or cocoa powder.
- Coloring: A few drops of gel food coloring to make festive-colored cookies.
- Filling Options: You can add different fillings, such as Nutella, chocolate ganache, lemon curd, jams, jellies, or preserves like strawberry, boysenberry, grape, or raspberry.
- Decorating: Dust powdered sugar or decorate with sprinkles on top. Dip in melted chocolate.
How to Make Spritz Cookies
Step 1: Prepare the Apricots
Boil water and score an “X” on the apricot bottoms. Blanch for 30 to 60 seconds until the skins loosen, then transfer to an ice bath to cool and peel easily.
Step 2: Puree and Strain
Drain and peel the apricots, then halve, pit, and slice into ½-inch pieces. Blend until smooth and strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl.
Step 3: Apricot Filling
Simmer apricot puree, sugar, lemon juice, and ginger over medium heat until it reaches 215 to 220°F. Let cool, then transfer to a piping bag, snipping a small corner before decorating.
Step 4: Preheat the Oven
Position the oven rack in the center and heat to 350ºF. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper to prevent sticking.
Quick Substitution: You can also use an ungreased cookie sheet to prevent the cookies from spreading.
Step 5: Make the Dough
Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until light and fluffy, aerating the mixture for a tender texture. Add salt, vanilla, and egg, mixing thoroughly to ensure even distribution and emulsification. Gradually add the flour, mixing until combined to avoid overdeveloping the gluten. The dough should be firm, pliable, and not sticky.
Step 6: Shape the Cookies
To create a wreath shape with ridges, use a large piping bag and an 824-sized star tip. Pipe the dough directly onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Start from the center and connect the cookie dough back in the middle. Give two inches of space in between. Alternatively, add the desired disc shape if you have a cookie press. You can also use a round tip to create a thumbprint cookies.
Pro Tip: If the dough is difficult to pipe, roll it between your palms a few times to warm it slightly while in the piping bag.
Step 7: Add the Filling
Add an indent with your finger or use the back of a measuring spoon so that you have a place to add the jam. Pipe enough of the apricot jam to fill the well in the center, about ¼ teaspoon.
Experimentation Encouraged: Using the spritz base, you can enjoy other flavors like raspberry, strawberry, boysenberry, or lemon curd. The pectin used in these products makes the consistency very thick. Stir it well, and it’s easy to pipe or scoop into the center of the cookie.
Step 8: Bake the Cookies
Bake the cookies one tray at a time until the surface is dry and pale yellow and the bottoms are lightly golden-brown. The jam should concentrate and set inside the well of the cookie. The process takes about 12 to 14 minutes.
Step 9: Let Them Cool
Immediately transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool. If left on the warm tray, the bottoms will turn too brown.
Frequently Asked Questions
Spritz cookies are classic buttery cookies made by pressing dough through a cookie press to create intricate shapes. The name comes from the German word spritzen, meaning “to squirt,” referring to how the dough is pushed out to form the designs. They’re crisp, tender, and perfect for decorating!
Store cookies in a single layer with parchment in an airtight container for up to 1 month; defrost at room temperature. Freeze cookie dough for 3 months; defrost before shaping and baking.
Spritz and butter cookies share similar ingredients, but their texture and preparation set them apart. Spritz cookies have a softer dough designed to be piped or pressed into shapes. This is achieved by a slightly higher fat ratio to flour, creating a more delicate texture. Butter or sugar cookies have a firmer dough that is rolled and cut into shapes, resulting in a denser, crisper cookie.
Serve This With
If you tried these Spritz Cookies with Jam, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Spritz Cookies with Apricot Jam
Ingredients
Apricot Filling
- 8 ounces apricots
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 slices ginger, peeled, ¼" slices
Spritz Cookies
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, softened to 60 to 70ºF (15 to 21ºC)
- 4 ounces granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 10 ounces cake flour, sifted after measuring
Instructions
- Prepare the Apricots – Bring a pot of water to a boil. Score the bottoms of the apricots with an "X" making the cuts halfway up the sides and through the skin. Add the apricots to the boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds, just until the skin pulls away from the flesh. Quickly transfer to a bowl filled with ice cubes.
- Puree and Strain – Drain and peel the apricots. Cut in half, pit them and slice into ½" pieces. Puree in a blender for 1 to 2 minutes until smooth. Run the puree through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl.
- Apricot Filling – In a small saucepan, combine the apricot puree, sugar, lemon juice, and ginger. Simmer over medium heat, skimming foam as needed, until the puree reaches 215 to 220°F (101 to 104ºC). Remove from the heat and cool. Place the filling in a ziplock bag and cut a small corner off right before decorating.
- Preheat the Oven – Set the oven rack to the center position. Preheat to 350ºF (177ºC). Line two large sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Make the Dough – Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add salt, vanilla, and egg. Beat well on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides as needed. Gradually add the flour, beating until just blended. The dough should be firm but neither sticky nor stiff.
- Shape the Cookies – Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip (824 tip size). Pipe the dough into small rounds on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. The cookies should be about 1 ½ to 2" in diameter. Leave 2" space in between.
- Add the Filling – Dip your finger into a bowl of water, and make small indents into the center of each cookie for the jam filling. Pipe a small amount of jam into each indent. If using cold jam, spoon ¼ teaspoon into the center.
- Bake the Cookies – Bake one tray at a time, until the surface becomes lightly browned around the edges and on the bottoms, 12 to 14 minutes. The surface will stay mostly pale in color.
- Let Them Cool – Immediately transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack.
Notes
- Apricot Substitution: If apricots are not in season, use store-bought fruit jam. You will need about an 11-ounce jar.
- Storing: Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for about five days or frozen for up to 1 month.
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. All nutritional information is based on estimated third-party calculations. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
Shannon says
Something is wrong with the metric conversion in this recipe. 8oz of butter is 227g or two sticks. However the metric conversion of recipe says 130g.
Jessica Gavin says
Thanks for the catch, I updated the recipe!
Judy says
Beautiful. I don’t have the pastry items to make these but I’ve always thought they are so pretty. I’ve had a couple from a bakery and I liked the light taste. The jam in the center is the crowning touch and so versatile.
Jessica Gavin says
You can always roll them into balls and make thumbprint cookies!
Margaret says
I tried these this evening, and with the recipe adjustment they came out fantastic!! I subbed the vanilla extract for almond, but I left everything else the same, and they could not have been easier! A minor note I would add: if using a cookie press, like I did, don’t use parchment paper, because it will interfere with your cookie shapes. Once I figured that out, it was smooth sailing—and the results were delicious!
Jessica Gavin says
Thanks for sharing the piping tip for using a cookie press Margaret!
HappyBunny913 says
Margaret, Thank you for your comment & suggestion. I was wondering if this would work in my press. I think I’ll give it a try.
HB913
Nora Mitchell says
I’ve been searching for a spritz dough that isn’t murder to pipe, as the pipe-ability of my old tried and true recipes is in conflict with my increasing arthritis. This one piped magnificently well, but I must ask where you got the photos of your finished product from. I want pictures of cookies from this recipe that look like those!
Judy Caywood says
Hi Jessica,
They look beautiful. I guess I need some new tools, a piping bag and star tip, so I can give these a try.
I’d love to see a video on Instagram of you piping these as the visuals are so helpful. I think the videos you have posted are very well done. Multi-talented-that is you.
Judy
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you so much Judy! Piping bags and tips always come in handy 🙂 Great suggestion for a video!
Barbara Schall says
I find that using a star tip on the pastry bag is easier to use and makes more uniform cookies. I just press the bag down after forming each one which allows a space for the filling. I also put my filling in a pastry bag with no tip.