Aunt Judith's Spritz

One of my Christmas baking traditions is Aunt Judith's spritz.

Aunt Judith was my friend Lynn's aunt, not mine, but I called her Aunt Judith regardless.

She was a lovely Swedish lady and oh, could she ever bake!



She wasn't stingy with her recipes, either, most of which she'd memorized years ago.

Aunt Judith dictated her spritz recipe to me several years ago.

I've kept it carefully stored in my cookie press ever since.

I get out the cookie press each November-December and mix up a batch of Aunt Judith's spritz.

Making spritz isn't for the feint of heart, if being feint of heart includes not wanting to get your hands into the batter to give them a good mixing.

I'm sure Aunt Judith was more meticulous than I in making sure each and every cookie was the exact same size as the one before it.

I take a more casual approach, press out a long line of dough, then haphazardly cut it into approximately 2" lengths and form each length into a circle.

The baked cookies are always packed into my Beatrix Potter tin once they've cooled.

I don't remember where I got this tin, but it's prefect for storing spritz so that I'll stay out of them, more or less, until Christmas.

I enjoy making Aunt Judith's spritz each Christmas. Aunt Judith was a lovely Swedish lady, as I said earlier, and these cookies are a small way of honoring her memory.