Christmas Cookies--Spritz Cookies

Maddie and I decided to bang out another variety of cookies for our Christmas cookie trays today.  And by 'bang out', I mean, become increasing frustrated because the cookie press that normally works like magic was giving me fits.  I'm exhausted.

That being said, Spritz cookies are on of life's great pleasures.  So yummy.  (Normally) So easy to make.  And one batch makes quite a few, so I don't usually have to quintuple the recipe.  My tools-- my Kitchen Aid mixer (HOW did I live before I had one of these????):

and my Pampered Chef Cookie Press (old style--can be found on Ebay, I imagine!):

Now, I've already made about 16 dozen of these cookies in the last 2 weeks.  Tonight we planned on making about 21 dozen more.  I should also point out that this is the first year I've ever frozen butter---oy vey.  For the first batch, I didn't soften the butter enough.  So the dough was very firm, and that made it hard to use the press.  

They're delicious, but I'm so not happy with how they came out.

I'm pretty sure I have carpal tunnel after pressing these through the press--ouch!

Batch #2 came out fine.  Perfect.  My cookie press acted like the press that I know and love.

And then came batch #3, where I wanted to make sure that the butter was soft enough, and ended up MELTING it.  Aughhhh!  So, to compensate, I put an extra 1/2 cup of flour in the recipe, so that it wouldn't be too soft.  BIG mistake--the dough was SO stiff.  My hands are so sore.  It took so much longer than it should have.

But they are pretty, and still taste great.  YOU can find the recipe HERE.   For anyone counting, that's 34 dozen cookies down, about a kajillion to go.