Cherry Vanilla Butter Spritz Cookies

So when you get a new cookie press, I feel you kind of have to make new cookies using the new disks you have. So, hearts for Valentine's Day.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 sticks of butter, softened to room temperature
• .5 cup of white sugar 
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt 
• 1 large egg at room temperature 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 three ounce package cherry jello
• 250 grams all purpose flour
• 2 drops food coloring gel (optional)   

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 
2. Get out ungreased, unlined baking sheets.
   (Clean off cookies sheet, and cool down between batches.)
3. In a stand mixer, blend the butter, sugar and salt.  Beat until fluffy.  
4. Add the vanilla, the egg, and the cherry jello. 
   (If doubling recipe, add 1 egg, beat it in, and then add the other.) 
5. Gradually add 1/2 cup of the flour at a time, blending after each addition. 
6. Add the food coloring (optional). 
7. Spoon the dough into your cookie press, and spritz onto pan.
   (Refrigerator your dough for 15 to 20 minutes if it feels really soft.)
8. Bake 1 tray at a time in top 1/3 of oven for 8 minutes.

Carole's Notes:

The cherry jello adds a light cherry flavor to these cookies. I found that the cookies browned lightly on the bottom when on a tray in the lower 1/3 of oven, so I recommend keeping the tray in the top 1/3 of the oven.

The recipe is lightly adapted from OXO Good Grips Cookie Press manual - I added the jello and red food gel to get a pretty color.