Cookie Gun

I shot the cookie...

But I didn't shoot the deputy ...

My mission was to make cookies for a 5 year old's birthday party. Lots of them... So I searched for spritz cookie recipes, and then basically used the recipe that came with my gun, adapting here, playing there. This isn't the greatest recipe - it could be lighter and shorter, but for a first attempt it wasn't too bad.

Dainty Tea Cookies

• Butter 1 cup
• Sugar 2/3 cup (white, brown or a mixture)
• Egg 1
• All purpose flour 2 1/2 cups
  (for chocolate flavour substitute 1/2 cup good cocoa powder for equal amount flour)
• Salt 1/8 tsp (I think it should be more)
• Baking powder 1/2 tsp
• Vanilla extract 1 tsp (or fresh vanilla - yum)
• Decoration: marzipan, Smarties, dried apricot pieces, maraschino cherry pieces, crystallized ginger (my favourite), chocolate chips - use your imagination

Heat oven to 500f

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (I used my KitchenAid mixer)

Mix dry ingredients and then add about 1/4 of mix to creamed butter/sugar, mix thoroughly

Beat egg lightly with vanilla, add to mix

Add remaining flour and mix thoroughly until smooth and well blended.

Fill cookie gun and shoot onto cool, ungreased baking sheets
(I did mine on Silpat).

Add decorations and bake for 6 minutes (my oven runs very hot or cold but absolutely nothing in the middle, so the gun maker's temperature recommendation was good for me, you could drop the temperature and bake longer, either way just make sure they don't burn)

Cookie shooting isn't as easy as I thought, and after a while the outside of the gun gets a bit greasy, an inevitable byproduct of working with butter dough. Figuring out how much dough to squeeze out, how to pull back so the cookie stays on the tray with its markings intact...

And just so you don't get the wrong impression, I made 3 different batches, 1 using white sugar only, 1 using dark brown sugar, and 1 using cocoa powder and half and half white & brown sugar. Brown sugar burns quicker than white, and with the cocoa you can't tell nearly so easily. Good thing I like well caramelized cookies...

12 dozen cookies later I can honestly say...

This cookie shooting thing is a bit of an art.