Spritz cookies

[Lisa Shock]

17 hours ago, cakewalk said:

I was wondering about the baking powder, I noticed its on-again/off-again appearance. I agree, the lightness it might add to the cookie's texture is kind of self-defeating in terms of its shape and contours. I was also wondering about different flours used. I don't like King Arthur AP Flour for cakes (protein level is too high), but I do often like it for cookies. I used it for the Spritz cookies I made yesterday, and I'm wondering if that's why the cookies tasted too floury. (Actually I think it was just a bad recipe.) I noticed the combination of cake/bread flour above. What does that contribute? Thanks so much for your input.

 

The flour mix is a way to accurately (as much as reasonably possible) control several properties of the flour. The cake flour provides tenderness, and it will rise more easily with the weak leavening present. The bread flour provides gluten, which is important because the almond paste doesn't really want to be cohesive. The gluten is particularly helpful in holding together piped cookies in twisty 3-D shapes in ways that eggs as a binder alone cannot.

 

Essentially, in the US, there is no trade standard for AP flour. In the South, it's very close to cake flour as manufacturers assume most people are using it to make biscuits. In the NE, it's more like pastry flour or weak bread flour, because the mills doing business there are catering to people baking lean yeasted breads, pretzels, etc. So, walking into a supermarket and buying a bag of AP is a bit like playing the lottery. The formula above gives a mix that's 10.5 - 12% protein, which is the same as some but not all AP regional flours.

[MelissaH]

Serious Eats also has a spritz cookie recipe. They suggest creaming the butter and sugar super-well, creaming some more after you add the eggs, and then pressing the cookies onto chilled naked cookie sheets.

 

Those of you who regularly make spritz cookies: what cookie press are you using, and do you like it? I'd like to get one, I think, but want to make sure I get a good one.

 

One of my friends (who actually takes a week of vacation specifically to bake about 2000 cookies, which she distributes to her friends) had to replace hers this year. She decided to go with the one King Arthur Flour is selling, and had a world of trouble with it. And nothing on Amazon is popping out with universally glowing reviews.

 

I've never owned a cookie press. What does one look for when one shops for one?

[cakewalk]

I bought an Oxo Good Grips cookie press a while ago. I don't remember what I paid but I'm sure it was cheaper than the KAF press, because I wouldn't have paid that much money for it! I don't have anything to compare it to, I've never owned or used a different one. In the meantime, I'm having more trouble finding a recipe I like than using the press. The ones I've tried so far did not come off the cookie press as easily and cleanly as they do in the video, but that's probably a recipe and/or temperature issue. Yesterday I made the almond paste recipe, but it was too soft to press (it would have been good to pipe), so I refrigerated it. It's now sitting on the counter to soften a bit, and I hope to press them later today. I saw the Serious Eats post, I'm a bit suspicious of all that mixing. 

 

[cakewalk]

Today's take: the almond paste recipe is delicious, I really like the flavor. However, it spreads so much! The first photo is the daisy cookie shape (with a chocolate chip in the middle). They pressed cleanly out of the cookie press, but spread so much in the baking that most of the contours were lost. Baked at 350 F for 8 minutes. The second photo is the heart shape! I pressed them out and put the cookie sheet in the fridge to chill for a half hour, but as you can see they baked practically into circles (also at 350 F for 8 minutes, but these could have used 9 minutes). Not sure what to do. I still have some dough left, tomorrow I might press out some cookies and freeze them before baking. The recipe makes a lot of cookie dough, so I made only a third of the recipe for testing (which will still end up making about 3 dozen cookies, if not more, but they are quite little). The recipe divides pretty neatly into thirds except for the eggs: instead of dividing 2 eggs and 1 white into thirds, I just used one whole egg. Does it need that little bit more egg white? Lisa, do you (or anyone else) have any suggestions? Many thanks. To be continued ... 

[Lisa Shock]

The original formula called for 4.5oz of 'eggs'. I changed it so that home users would have an easier time figuring that out.

 

You might try adding a little bread flour to the leftovers, maybe a couple tablespoons. This would also be a good time to test mixing in some lemon peel, orange peel, flavor extracts, etc.

[JohnT]

I do not have a "cookie press", although I have been looking for one for quite a time. However, I have looked at a recipe linked by @Shelby here 

it is very similar to a butter biscuit recipe in South Africa called "Eet-sum-Mor" and I think would be ideal for a press. It contains no egg or rising agent and is a real "melt in the mouth" biscuit - for clarity, your "cookie" is known as a biscuit here.

[chefmd]

Here is a link to a free Kindle book that may help

 

https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Spritz-Cookies-Traditional-Collection-ebook/dp/B00HAWVB4U/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1481905012&sr=1-4&keywords=christmas+spritz+cookies

[cakewalk]

1 hour ago, chefmd said:

Here is a link to a free Kindle book that may help

 

https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Spritz-Cookies-Traditional-Collection-ebook/dp/B00HAWVB4U/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1481905012&sr=1-4&keywords=christmas+spritz+cookies

Very cool, thanks for the link! Just "bought" it, will look through it later.

[cakewalk]

Last night I added a couple of tablespoons of flour to the almond paste recipe. They held their shape better, but still spread somewhat. Also, the extra flour was noticeable in the taste. Not terrible, but if I add any more flour it will be. I baked up the rest of the dough and planned to continue today with some more recipes. I started with the King Arthur Flour recipe, which includes Fiori di Sicilia flavoring. The rest of the recipe is pretty similar to the Betty Crocker recipe. Anyway, the plan for today was to try the KAF recipe, then the Betty Crocker recipe, then those cornmeal cookies, because I think they'd be great. (I'm a sucker for any baked cornmeal product.) Oh, the best laid plans of mice and men ...

 

I cannot find the bottom part of my press!! The part that you put the die into, that screws back onto the body of the press. It is gone. It has disappeared. I cannot begin to tell you how annoyed and upset I am. I have no idea where it is, where it could be. I have a tiny NYC kitchen, there isn't enough room for anything to get lost in there. I cleaned up last night, and all the other pieces of the press were in the drainboard. But not that piece. I didn't throw out the trash last night and yes, you better believe it, I checked the trash, but that piece was not there either. So I binged all afternoon on Netflix (Twin Peaks, I've never seen it and now seemed like the perfect time, boy it's a hoot), and now will attempt to step back into the kitchen and search once again. Although God knows where.

 

The KAF recipe is pretty good. It was too stiff to pipe, so I rolled teaspoon-size balls and flattened them out a bit. I'll fill with some sort of lemon flavored filling. But if I can't press them, I won't be trying any more spritz recipes. Damn! Where can that thing be?

[Thanks for the Crepes]

@cakewalk, is the lost part the "nipple"/funnel thing on the end of your press? Do you have a garbage disposal? If yes to both, it's small enough to have fallen down there. I hope you haven't turned the disposal on!

 

It drives me so insane when something disappears in my kitchen! Once, my kitchen sponge disappeared when I was living with a new roommate who'd already registered her displeasure about my "unsanitary" kitchen sponge. (Turns out she was mostly right.) I'd similarly weighed in with my displeasure about her dishcloth constantly hanging over the pivoting sink faucet. I came right out and accused her of getting rid of it and she repeatedly denied it. Next time I pulled out the ice trays, the dang thing was stuck to the bottom of one. It probably froze on when someone set it down on top of it. My roommate and I eventually became very close, but I still don't like sharing a kitchen with another active cook in my home.

 

I hope your find your MIA part for the press. If you do get around to trying the Betty Crocker recipe for the classic ones, please let us know how you like it.

 

I don't guess I was clear enough in my previous post about these not holding their shape as well some I have seen. The "some I have seen" refers to commercial ones with very sharp contours. Pretty, but they can't hold a candle to the flavor of Betty's homemade ones. The texture of the commercial ones is hard too. So looks ain't everything.

[cakewalk]

8 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

@cakewalk, is the lost part the "nipple"/funnel thing on the end of your press? Do you have a garbage disposal? If yes to both, it's small enough to have fallen down there. I hope you haven't turned the disposal on!

 

It drives me so insane when something disappears in my kitchen! Once, my kitchen sponge disappeared when I was living with a new roommate who'd already registered her displeasure about my "unsanitary" kitchen sponge. (Turns out she was mostly right.) I'd similarly weighed in with my displeasure about her dishcloth constantly hanging over the pivoting sink faucet. I came right out and accused her of getting rid of it and she repeatedly denied it. Next time I pulled out the ice trays, the dang thing was stuck to the bottom of one. It probably froze on when someone set it down on top of it. My roommate and I eventually became very close, but I still don't like sharing a kitchen with another active cook in my home.

 

I hope your find your MIA part for the press. If you do get around to trying the Betty Crocker recipe for the classic ones, please let us know how you like it.

 

I don't guess I was clear enough in my previous post about these not holding their shape as well some I have seen. The "some I have seen" refers to commercial ones with very sharp contours. Pretty, but they can't hold a candle to the flavor of Betty's homemade ones. The texture of the commercial ones is hard too. So looks ain't everything.

I lost the part that screws onto the bottom of the press, the part where you would put the metal plates that create the shape of the cookie. I don't have a garbage disposal. It hasn't turned up yet. It looks so pathetic! It's completely useless. I'm going to write to Oxo and ask if they sell spare parts. I'm not buying a new one. Thanks for the clarification about the cookies holding their shape. Oh well, in the meantime I'm making other cookies.