How to Make Lemon Pudding Spritz Cookies

How to Make Pudding Cookies

Spritz cookies are a holiday tradition and favorite in my family—I've been making them for as long as I can remember. I'm always looking for new and different ways to make and enjoy these delicious cookies all year long. This spritz cookie recipe is similar to traditional spritz cookie recipes but with instant lemon pudding thrown in the mix. I love using Jell-O in my kitchen (especially to make my Strawberry Jell-O Poke Cake) and this is another treasured Jell-O recipe. With so many flavors and colors of Jell-O brand gelatin and pudding, the possibilities for spritz cookie platters are almost endless. There's a flavor and color for just about every holiday and celebration. These easy but fancy little lemon cookies are an instant hit just waiting for you to bake them. Whether you're looking for easy-to-make cookie dough for your cookie press or recipes with lemon pudding, this recipe is a keeper!

Cook Time

Ingredients for Lemon Spritz Cookies

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 3 sticks (1.5 cups) butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 package Instant Lemon Jell-O Pudding, (3.4 ounces)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

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How to Make Lemon Cookies with Jell-O Instant Pudding Mix

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. In a bowl, cream butter, sugar, and gelatin together with an electric mixer until fluffy.
3. Mix in egg and vanilla.
4. Gradually add flour and baking powder. Mix well until soft, crumbly dough forms.
5. Load dough into cookie press and form cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Allow one inch in between cookies.
6. Bake in 400°F oven for 5 to 7 minutes. Allow it to cool before removing it.

Tips for Making Jell-O Spritz Cookies

• Make sure to prepare your dough as instructed. When made properly, this cookie dough comes out perfectly and is the easiest cookie dough I have ever worked with. It's not sticky at all.
• Be sure your butter is soft and not melted. Soft butter yields light cookies while melted butter yields denser cookies.
• I have the best success with my cookie press when using room-temperature cookie dough and an ungreased cookie sheet. I'm a parchment paper fiend any other time, but the cookies grab and release so much easier with just a clean cookie sheet.
• If your cookie designs seem disconnected when pressed, don't worry. Slight spacing is okay. The separate cookie sections do "melt" and meld together to form one pretty cookie. You can also slightly flatten your cookies with the back of a spoon if desired. This is helpful if some of your cookies look a little "rough" on top where the cookie dough is separated from the press.
• Some cookie press designs are difficult to decorate with sprinkles—unless the cookie surface is flat or concave. To make life easier, I mix my sprinkles directly into my dough before loading it into the barrel of my press. This means sprinkles stay put—no stragglers and no wasted and burned sprinkles. Use a little bit for a peekaboo effect or an entire bottle for heavy coverage and extra whimsy. I love both looks.
• Allow your lemon spritz cookies to completely cool before moving as they can be fragile when fresh out of the oven.

Heather Says

These lemon cookies taste lovely and are perfect to enjoy year-round. Using lemon instant pudding is quick and inexpensive. This method is perfect if you want to make lemon spritz cookies but can't find lemon extract or flavoring (or if you just prefer to buy an inexpensive box of Jell-O versus an entire bottle of flavoring). I love using this method and I hope you will too. What's your favorite cookie press design disk to use? What colors and flavors of Jell-O are you most excited about baking with? Happy baking!

These cookies are great year-round!

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© 2014 Heather