Little colorful buttery nuggets of cookie goodness. Cookie presses take a little getting used to—each one is different. The trick is to have the dough cold enough to hold its shape, but not rock hard so you can’t turn the handle and press the cookies out. Start with a drop or two of food coloring; you can always add more.

Ingredients

1 Cup butter (2 sticks)
1/2 Cup plus 1 TB. sugar
1 egg
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. VANILLA EXTRACT
1/4-1/2 tsp. PURE ALMOND EXTRACT (optional)
2 1/2 Cups sifted all-purpose flour
colored sugar, candies for decorating

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°. Beat butter and sugar together until creamed. Blend in egg, salt, VANILLA and ALMOND EXTRACT and flour. The dough will be quite stiff, it is easiest to turn it out onto a table and knead the dough by hand until soft and pliable. Divide into as many pieces as you have colors, stir or knead in the color, a few drops at a time, and form the dough into loaves approximately the size of the chamber of your cookie press. Chill for about 30 minutes. Press the dough through the cookie press onto ungreased cookie sheets. Decorate as desired. Bake at 400° for about 8 minutes.

Prep. time: 15 minutes plus 30 minutes chilling time
Baking time: about 8 minutes per pan
Yield: about 6 dozen