Valentine Spritz Cookies

Valentine Spritz Cookies are bright, cheerful, and will bring a smile to anyone’s face.  These are so easy to make and so delicious too!  Break out your sprinkles and have some fun!!

VALENTINE SPRITZ COOKIES

It’s beginning to look a lot like – wait!  Sorry about that, Dear Reader.  Even though these Valentine Spritz Cookies are for Valentine’s Day, it seems that I’m still in Christmas mode.  But, in my defence, it’s not my fault.  It seems as though the older I get, the faster time goes. That means that holidays begin to melt into each other.

The truth of the matter is that I’m not that old.  But, as I’ve mentioned before, the life of a food blogger is always on fast-forward.  The Valentine Spritz Cookies that you see in the photos before you were baked and photographed on January 13th.  You see, I have to so that the recipe is out there in time for Valentine’s Day.

Now, I really didn’t need to use that as an excuse. Because I’m always cooking and baking and planning posts for Lord Byron’s Kitchen.  And, I love to be ahead of the game.  I’m one of those people that like to plan way ahead; being late or not on time, is not an option for me.

MY FIRST SPRITZ OR COOKIE PRESS

In addition to my self-diagnosed obsessive-compulsive tendencies, there is another reason I was so excited to start baking valentine’s cookies in mid-January.  For Christmas this past year, John.e bought me a cookie press – sometimes referred to as a biscuit machine.  I’ve wanted a cookie press for quite some time. I never got around to purchasing one for myself, so I was quite excited to find one in my stocking!

I don’t own many kitchen gadgets. They’re certainly not something that I promote here at Lord Byron’s Kitchen. But, I’m going to make an excuse for the cookie press.  The reason for this is simple. I think most bakers already have one. If you don’t, I encourage you to purchase one, because it makes baking cookies so easy and so pretty!

I’ve often thought that it would be something I’d use once and never use it again.  I also thought the images of pressed cookies looked too perfect. In my mind, there was no way a cookie press could get cookies to look that precise and uniform.  I was wrong.  The brand that I have – Marcato – works brilliantly and I couldn’t wait to break it in!

YES OR NO TO VALENTINE’S DAY PRESENTS?

Here’s a thought!  If you don’t already own a cookie press, why not ask your valentine to buy you one for Valentine’s Day!?  Listen, Valentine’s Day doesn’t need to be all about chocolates, flowers, and fancy dinners with expensive wine.  You can make your own rules. 

For example, we have one Valentine’s Day rule – no presents!  In our home, we say I love you to each other every single day – without fail!  And that’s not just me and John.e, that’s McKenna too!

So, we don’t need a special day to express how we feel.  I don’t think we need to reserve sweet words or gifts for one particular day each year.  We often will be ‘just-because’ presents for each other; there’s no need for a special day. 

If we see something we think the other person will like, we get it.  Sometimes it’s big – like a $400 Le Creuset 3.5L Bonbon Braiser – and sometimes, it’s something small – like a Star Wars candy dispenser!  That’s just how we roll!

VALENTINE SPRITZ COOKIES MAKE A GREAT GIFT IDEA

Gift-giving doesn’t need to include going to the store and spending a tonne of money on material things.  You could buy yourself a gift – like a cookie press – and make a batch of Valentine Spritz Cookies for your loved ones. 

You can toss a few in a nice bag, tie a ribbon around it, and you’re done!  So easy!  This particular batch makes about 80 cookies, so you’ll have enough to put together a least 8 bags of 10 cookies!

Valentine’s Day is all about pink; isn’t it?  That’s why, Dear Reader, when I was thinking about how to properly display these cookies, all I could think about was pink.  Even the cookies were pink!  And, here’s how I did it!

HOW TO GET PERFECTLY PINK COOKIES

Once the cookie dough was all mixed, I divided the dough into three equal portions.  In the first portion, I added a dab of Wilton’s Rose gel food colouring, and in the second portion, I added a dab of Wilton’s Pink colouring.  The third portion I left as is – that’s the whitish cookie you see in the photographs.

Using my handheld mixer, I blended the gel colouring through very well until no white cookie dough was left visible.  Then, being careful to keep the colours separate, I loaded up my cookie press and got to the fun part – spritzing cookies and adding sprinkles!  (In case you haven’t noticed, I love sprinkles!)

A PERFECT SPRITZ COOKIE TAKES A LITTLE PRACTICE

Sometimes, it takes a little practice to get the cookie dough to come out of the press just right, but don’t fret.  You can re-load the cookie dough right back into the press and have another go at it. 

If you’re adding sprinkles, be sure to do so quickly.  I find that spritz cookie dough dries quickly.  If you wait too long, the sprinkles won’t stick.  If you want more sprinkles, you can gently brush the tops of the cookies with an egg wash, but keep in mind that this will change the brightness after baking, but you will be able to get more sprinkles to stick to the cookie.  I did not use any egg wash in the cookies you see here.

There you have it – bright and cheerful Valentine Spritz Cookies – an easy and affordable way to spread love this Valentine’s Day.  And, lastly, Dear Reader, Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours from me and Lord Byron’s Kitchen!