These cream cheese spritz cookies are the best spritz cookie recipe ever! They’re tender, full of flavor and so pretty when dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. A must have for any holiday celebration!
If you think classic spritz cookies are boring, think again! These cute little guys are the ultimate Christmas cookie that is sure to become a family favorite.
I’m going to be honest and tell you that for the longest time I thought spritz cookies were boring. Now that I’ve discovered these amazingly delicious cream cheese spritz cookies, I’m a total convert. They’re everything a good holiday cookie should be, and when you dip them in chocolate and sprinkles? They get even better.
WHAT IS A SPRITZ COOKIE?
The name spritz comes from a German word spritzen, which means to squirt. They are named this way because a soft butter cookie dough is pushed through a cookie press to make intricate designs.
How to make spritz cookies
This recipe is actually quite simple yet yields the most impressive results. The dough takes about 5 minutes to put together and contains the usual suspects – flour, butter, sugar, vanilla, egg, along with some cream cheese. There’s no chilling required here, the dough goes straight into a spritz cookie press and you’re ready to make some beautiful treats. I used a variety of cookie designs here, all the discs came with my press and it’s easy to just unscrew the bottom and change to a different disc as you go.
These cookies don’t spread much, so you can fit a bunch of them on one pan too. I divided my dough in half and colored part of it green. That’s totally optional but it sure does look pretty. The cookies bake for just 10 minutes, then after they cool you’re ready to start decorating.
WHAT IS A COOKIE PRESS?
A cookie press is an inexpensive kitchen device that consists of a cylinder with a plunger on one end. The cylinder is filled with cookie dough and decorative discs are attached to the front of the press so that when the cookie dough is extruded, it will come out in a unique and attractive design.
I dip my cream cheese spritz cookies in white and dark candy melts, then add festive holiday sprinkles. This is a great project for the kids, my girls had so much fun with it! The chocolate coating really makes these cookies special, it adds a lot of flavor but also makes them look really fancy. These cookies keep well at room temperature in a covered container for up to 3 days, and they freeze beautifully too.
No holiday celebration is complete without the classics, and these cream cheese spritz cookies are a requirement in my opinion! You won’t believe how good they taste and you’ll get tons of compliments on how beautiful they look.
MORE FESTIVE HOLIDAY RECIPES
Spritz Cookies Video
Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 3 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- green food coloring optional
- 10 ounces white and/or dark chocolate candy melts
- assorted holiday sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a non stick baking mat.
- Place the butter, cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a mixer. Beat until smooth, about 3 minutes.
- Add the egg yolk and vanilla, beat until combined.
- Add the flour and mix until just blended.
- Divide the dough in half. Color half the dough green if desired.
- Shape 1/4 of the dough into a log and place into the barrel of the cookie press.
- Spritz the cookies directly onto the baking sheet, about 1 inch apart.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are set and light golden brown on the edges.
- Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
- After all cookies have cooled, place the dark and white candy melts into two bowls. Microwave one bowl at a time in 30 second increments until melted, stir until smooth.
- Dip the cookies halfway into the chocolate and decorate with sprinkles. If the dipping chocolate starts to harden, microwave for a few seconds to re-melt.
- Let dry completely, then serve, or store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
This post was originally published on November 28, 2017 and was updated on November 15, 2018 with new content.
I’m thinking of adding peppermint extract…should I replace the vanilla with peppermint or add in addition to?
You can add peppermint in addition to the vanilla!
Made these tonight for a cookie exchange at work tomorrow. However, I’m never one to leave a recipe in its original state so I replaced the vanilla extract with orange extract, added the zest of an orange and 1/2 c. finely chopped Pomegranate juice infused Craisins. I also used Baker’s White Chocolate as it has a higher cocoa butter content so isn’t waxy like some other chocolates can be with a lower or no cocoa butter content. They tasted amazing and were beautiful.
I love the changes you made, can’t wait to try it that way!
Thanks. I hope you enjoy my variation.
I added a pic with the variation info on the Pinterest location.
What about a comment on how they taste?
I’ve noticed that people often post their reviews of recipes in other places like on Pinterest, looks like someone made them and left a note here: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/283375001538741798/
Hope that helps!
I made them and they look beautiful! However I thought the taste was blah.
Oh so perfect for my holiday baking group!
These look super delicious and festive. I will have to try these for the holidays!
Cream cheese? I am definitely game for this recipe! I like the decorations as well, it’s really nice to have in your table on Christmas or to give to guests!
One of the things that I look forward to during the Holidays would be the cookies! I think these are adorable and I love how you decorated them!
These look absolutely delicious! I would love to make some of these for Christmas!
The cookies are amazing looking but OMG I need these. I’m bookmarking the page- Thank you
Ohh, these have my name written all over them! I like how you colored half green. They are so festive and pretty!
These spritz cookies look so good. I have always enjoyed spritz cookies. I haven’t made them in ages.
There are so many holiday cookie recipes coming out and I am finding it hard to choose which ones to make. However, your cream cheese spritz cookies will be on the top of my list of cookies to bake this holiday season. Yummy!
Spritz cookies are perfect for the holiday season and yours look fantastic! I bet the cream cheese makes them extra soft too.
I AM TOTALLY GOING TO MAKE THESE FOR OUR COOKIE SWAP! they LOOK SO INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS AND PRETTY TOO!
These are super cute! And a family favorite- I’ll have to make them this christmas!
These cream cheese spritz cookies are dangerous! Haha. I would want to eat them all up. I will be trying to make these for our holiday gatherings this year.
Those look AWESOME! I’ve never heard of cookies like this before, but I see several dozen of them in my future! Tasty.
We will have to make these cream cheese spritz cookies! I love how they look! When you mention cream cheese, I’m definitely interested!
These cookies looks soo good! I love anything with cream cheese so I am adding these to my holiday baking list.
Those cookies are so festive. I Love how they call came out. I need to make some when I host xmas.