These chocolate spritz cookies are light, tender, and full of chocolate flavor! The cookie dough is super easy to make, and there are so many ways to make shapes and decorate them. This spritz cookie recipe makes a lot of cookies from one batch, making it perfect for Fall and holiday baking.
I absolutely love my original spritz cookie recipe and make them every Christmas with my children. Spritz cookies are a fun way to make shaped, colorful cookies without the hassle and process of making decorated cut out sugar cookies. Those are also delicious, but take a good bit more time. Spritz are quick, easy and hold the attention of kids (if they’re helping you bake) because they all love the cookie press and endless sprinkles.
I recently found some Halloween cookie press discs, and because of the darker colors used, found that I needed a chocolate spritz cookie to be able to make brown and/or black spritz cookies. So I adjusted my original recipe and now I can make chocolate spritz cookies for Halloween, Christmas and more! Since the chocolate cookie dough doesn’t work as various colors (other than black), I decorated with some dipped chocolate and various sprinkles. Both the Christmas and Halloween ones (pictured below) are beautiful and festive without too much work!
Why You’ll Love Chocolate Spritz Cookies
- Great flavor. These little cookies are soft, tender, and have great chocolate flavor. You won’t want to stop eating them.
- Easy to make. The cookie dough is quick and easy to make, there’s no chilling and they are super cute without too much effort.
- Perfect for holiday baking. These cookies don’t spread much while baking and they’re small, so you can bake a lot at once and quickly. Perfect for holiday parties and Christmas cookie exchanges.
Ingredient Notes
You should have most of what you need to make these cookies in your pantry. Here’s a look at what’s needed, suggestions and notes. Scroll to the recipe card for the full recipe measurements.
- Butter – These buttery cookies get great flavor and texture from butter. Be sure to use unsalted butter at room temperature, so that it creams properly with the sugar.
- Egg – Be sure to use a large egg, not medium or extra large. These little cookies are sensitive to too much or too little liquid being added.
- Vanilla extract – For flavor. These cookies may be chocolate, but the vanilla softens the bitterness of chocolate a bit.
- All-purpose flour – Be sure to measure it properly. Too much and your cookie dough won’t stick to your baking mats. Too little and they will overspread and lose their cute shapes. I highly recommend a food scale, but the spoon and level method is next best.
- Cocoa powder – These can be made with your favorite type of cocoa powder – regular natural unsweetened or Dutch process. Both work. I do think they are a touch more sweet when made with Dutch process cocoa powder. For the ones I colored black, I started with Dutch process cocoa powder.
- Salt – Don’t leave out the salt! It amplifies the flavors already present and without it, your cookies will be bland.
- Black gel icing color – This is optional, but can be added for black cookies. Be sure to use a gel, not regular food coloring, which would thin out the cookies too much. Even with the gel, only add as much as you need.
- Sprinkles – I pulled from a few different sprinkle sets to get the ones I used for the Christmas and Halloween spritz cookies. See below.
- Melting chocolate – If you want to dip your cookies in chocolate, melting chocolate, almond bark and candy melts all are easy to work with. Choose your favorite chocolate and melt according to the package instructions.
Sprinkles I Used
I used a few different sprinkle options for the Christmas and Halloween cookies. If you’d like to match your cookies to mine, here are my recommendations.
Christmas Sprinkles
- Green, red and white non-pareils – The sprinkles used for the trees are this Christmas sprinkle mix.
- Gold stars – I used the larger of the stars in these gold star sprinkles.
- Crushed peppermint
- Holly and berry sprinkles – The ones I used were from Home Goods, but these are a similar option.
Halloween Sprinkles
- White and red non-pareil sprinkles – The sprinkles used for the bat and spider eyes were pulled each from the same Christmas sprinkle mix as I used for the Christmas trees.
- Green, purple and yellow jimmies – The sprinkles for the pumpkin stump and witch hats were grabbed from this jimmie mix.
- Silver non-pareil sprinkles – The ghost eyes are similar to these silver non-pareils.
- Food writer pen – While not a sprinkle, I used this to color in the mouth and eyes on the jack-o-lantern cookies.
How To Make Chocolate Spritz Cookies
Here’s a quick step-by-step photo look at how to make this cookie recipe from scratch.
Start by preheating the oven to 350ºF while you line your baking sheets with silicone mats (or leave them unlined). I don’t recommend using parchment paper, since the cookie dough won’t stick when you press it.
Cream the butter and sugar together for 3-4 minutes, until lighter in color.
Add the egg and vanilla extract.
Add the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Mix until well combined.
Hold the cookie press perpendicular to the baking sheet. Press out the cookies.
You can add sprinkles to cookies before baking, if using. Bake at 350ºF for 6-9 minutes.
Cool for 4-5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
After the cookies have cooled, melt your chocolate and dip your cookies, if using.
Add sprinkles and other decorations. Allow to dry completely before serving or storing.
Tips For The Best Chocolate Spritz Cookies
- Set up the press correctly. In most cases, you’ll add the plate of the shape you want to make to the bottom of the press. Then, add your cookie dough into the top. Hold the press upright with the bottom directly on the cookie sheet. Press the lever to release a cookie, then lift the press, and you have your cookie!
- Avoid dry cookies. It’s important to measure your flour correctly, particularly in these cookies. Too much flour will give you dry cookies that won’t stick when you press them. I highly recommend a food scale or the spoon-and-level method.
- Color correctly/avoid spreading. You won’t want to add color to these, unless using black. Do not use water-based food coloring. You’ll need to add too much to get a dark color, which will thin out your cookie dough, causing the cookies to not stick to your baking mat and to spread too much. Go with gel icing colors and add only as much as needed. Even with the gels, too much can make it hard for the dough to stick when using the press.
- Add sprinkles quickly. If the cookie dough sits for a while before you add the sprinkles on top, the dough won’t be as sticky, and the sprinkles may not stick well. I recommend adding the sprinkles just after pressing out the cookies.
- Don’t over bake. These cookies are pretty small, so they really don’t need long to bake. Take them out of the oven just after they no longer look glossy, and they should be perfect.
Why Are My Cookies Not Sticking?
- Surface material matters – Be sure you aren’t using parchment paper, which is naturally non-stick. A silicone baking mat is best, but you can also pipe the dough directly onto the cookie sheet.
- Make sure it’s oil-free – Wash your mat or cookie sheet with warm, soapy water before using it. If any residual oils or anything are present, it could prevent the cookies from sticking.
- Too much coloring – If you’ve thinned out your cookie dough to the point where it won’t stick, you could try adding a touch of flour to it, a teaspoon at a time. You could also put the cookie sheet and/or baking mat into the freezer for about 5 minutes, then quickly use the press to make the cookies. The frozen mat should be sticky while cold and help the cookie dough stick.
- The shape surface area – I’ve noticed that some shapes don’t pipe as well as others, particularly in the Halloween set I used. The pumpkins were a little tough to get to stick, but it wasn’t the cookie dough. I ended up using one full press of my cookie press, plus a little more of another press, to get it to have enough cookie dough on the mat to stick.
More Holiday Shapes
Did you know they makes disks for other holiday shapes? My cookie press comes with Christmas shape disks, but there are others available as well. These Halloween disks and Thanksgiving disks are particularly fun. I combined this chocolate spritz cookie recipe with my regular spritz cookie recipe to make all the shapes and colors.
Storage and Freezing
- To store. Place them in an airtight container to keep them fresh and prevent them from drying out. Layer the cookies with parchment or wax paper to avoid sticking or breaking, especially if they’re decorated with icing or sprinkles. Store them at room temperature for up to 1 week or so.
- Freeze. For longer storage, freeze the cookies in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months, then thaw at room temperature. If they have sprinkles on them, keep in mind that the colors could bleed. I’d thaw those in the fridge to avoid too much condensation that would contribute to the colors bleeding.
More Great Christmas Cookies
Chocolate Spritz Cookies
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Ingredients
- 1 cup (211g) unsalted butter (room temperature)
- ¾ cup (155g) sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons (195g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons (43g) cocoa powder (I used Dutch process cocoa)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Black gel icing color (optional)
- Chocolate melting wafers (optional)
- Sprinkles (optional, see notes)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats. I don’t recommend parchment paper with these cookies. You want the cookie dough to stick to the surface you press them onto and parchment paper is non-stick. Set cookie sheets aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixer bowl on medium speed until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. You should be able to see the mixture lighten in color and get a creamy texture and know it’s ready.
- Add the egg and mix until well combined. Add the vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
- Add the flour, cocoa powder and salt and mix until the dough is combined, then remove the bowl from the mixer and finish combining with a rubber spatula, if needed. Do not over mix. NOTE: If adding black gel icing color, you can add it now. Add a little bit at a time until it looks mostly black. The color will deepen with time, so don’t add too much.
- Add the cookie dough to your cookie press (I use this one) and follow the directions for your press to set it up. Place the cookie press perpendicular to your cookie sheet and press out the cookies. They can be fairly close together, since they don’t really spread much.
- Decorate the cookies with sprinkles, if using at this point.
- Bake cookies for 6-9 minutes. I prefer them nice and soft, so I went with 6 minutes, but feel free to increase that time and adjust based on your oven.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on baking sheets for 4-5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- If dipping your cookies in chocolate, melt your chocolate according to the package directions. Dip each cookie into the chocolate, shake off the excess, then place on parchment paper. Decorate with sprinkles, if using, then allow to dry completely.
- Store cookies in an air tight container for up to about 1 week.
Notes
- Prep time – The prep time for this recipe includes make the cookie dough and pressing the cookies. Decorating will add time, but that will vary depending on how you chose to decorate.
- Cocoa powder – I prefer Dutch process cocoa powder in these cookies, which makes them a little sweeter. But you could also use natural unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Chocolate melting wafers – Ghirardelli and Bakers both have great chocolate melting wafers for baking. Almond bark is another great option. Wilton also makes candy melts that would work.
- Cookie press disks – The cookie press I used is linked within the instructions and comes with Christmas disks. Here are links to the Halloween disks and Thanksgiving disks.
- Sprinkles – The sprinkles used for the trees and bat and spider eyes are this Christmas sprinkle mix. I used the larger of the stars in these gold star sprinkles for the tree toppers. This is the crushed peppermint. The holly and berry sprinkles I used were from Home Goods, but these are a similar option. The sprinkles for the pumpkin stump and witch hats were grabbed from this jimmie mix. The ghost eyes are similar to these silver non-pareils. While not a sprinkle, I used this food writer pen to color in the mouth and eyes on the jack-o-lantern cookies.
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
