Deutsche Küche Spritz Shortbread Cookies

German week at Aldi is like a holiday unto itself. Sure, there are other special times of the year at the grocery store. The shelves are loaded with goodies for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, the Fourth of July, Halloween, and more.

With Aldi having origins in Germany, though, there are a couple of times each year when Aldi gives a nod to its heritage and stocks all kinds of authentic German imports, along with a few products that may not be from Germany but are inspired by Germany.

German week typically happens twice a year at Aldi: once during the spring, and then once again during the fall often in conjunction with Oktoberfest.

German products that show up at Aldi during German week often include:

• Indulgent cakes
• Potato dishes
• Cabbage dishes
• Schnitzel
• Whole grain mustard
• Sweet mustard
• Savory strudel
• Sweet strudel
• Cream cakes
• Jaffa cakes
• Frangipane tarts
• Doppel keks
• Doppelino sandwich biscuits
• German style pickles
• Spaetzle
• Peanut puffs
• Giant soft pretzels
• Schnupfnudeln 
• Potato sticks

Aldi does not stock German food year round other than a very limited handful of items such as certain canned soups. However, sometimes Aldi surprises us and temporarily throws a select few German products into the mix at other times of the year. For example, in the middle of the winter this year, some German shortbread cookies showed up at Aldi.

From left to right: vanilla, almond, coconut.

Deutsche Küche Spritz Shortbread Cookies cost $2.99 for a 10.6-ounce package at the time of publication. These are a product of Germany.

These are an Aldi Find, so they’re only in stores for a short time. Each store receives one shipment, and once that sells out, they’re gone until the next German week at Aldi. Aldi does not offer online ordering for products that are not in stock at your local store.

If you’re looking out for allergens, all of these cookie flavors contain wheat, egg, and milk. The coconut and almond cookies contain tree nuts (coconuts and almonds, respectively) and may contain other tree nuts. The vanilla cookies may contain tree nuts.

All of these cookies are made with certified sustainable palm oil.

Nutrition information and ingredients. From left to right: vanilla, almond, coconut. (Click to enlarge.)

The vanilla cookies have 7.5 servings per container, while the coconut and almond cookies have 6 servings per container.

One 2-cookie serving (40-50 grams) will net you between 220 and 280 calories, 12-18 grams of total fat (18-28% DV), 6-11 grams of saturated fat (30-54% DV), 24-26 grams of total carbohydrates (8-9% DV), and 9-14 grams of added sugars (18-28% DV). The vanilla cookies, which don’t have a solid chocolate coating over half of the cookie, naturally are the lowest in calories, fat, and sugars of all the cookie varieties here.

From left to right: coconut, almond, vanilla.

These cookies taste very good. In fact, they exceeded my expectations. I thought they might be dry, forgettable little cookies, yet they are anything but that. These are good shortbread cookies, and the chocolate accents make them even better.

The vanilla spritz cookies have the least amount of chocolate, so if you want a more basic shortbread cookie, these are for you with just a light drizzle of chocolate. Meanwhile, the tops of the almond and coconut spritz cookies are half covered in a thick chocolate coating. The chocolate on the almond cookies has crumbled cookie bits sprinkled on top, while the chocolate on the coconut cookies has shredded coconut sprinkled on top.

All of the shortbread tastes pretty similar whether you’re eating the vanilla or the almond flavors. My family and I couldn’t tell much difference in the shortbread itself. For instance, the almond spritz doesn’t have a strong almond flavor, and it doesn’t even have sliced or slivered almond bits in the chocolate coating: just cookie crumbs.

While all of these cookies are solid choices for a dessert or snack, I’m especially fond of the coconut spritz. It reminds me of Girl Scout Samoas without the caramel. It has all the other components of a Samoa, though: cookie, chocolate, and coconut.

These cookies are large, too. One cookie might be enough to satisfy your sweet tooth, although two cookies is considered to be one serving. One or two of these cookies would pair perfectly with a cup of hot tea or coffee.

I’m still pretty fond of Aldi jaffa cakes and doppel keks, but having now tried these shortbread spritz cookies, they’re probably among my favorite German cookies at Aldi.

The Verdict:

Deutsche Küche Spritz Shortbread Cookies are generously sized and come in vanilla, almond, and coconut varieties. The vanilla spritz features a light chocolate drizzle over the top of the cookie, while the tops of the almond and coconut spritz are half covered in thick chocolate. These are indulgent and delicious, and while all of the flavors are good, we like how the coconut spritz remind us of Girl Scout Samoas (only minus the caramel). If you’re wondering what sorts of German foods are good to try at Aldi during German week, these should definitely be on your shopping list.