Retro Cookie Presses

[Abra]

My husband loves to haunt the cookware section of thrift stores and bring me little gifts, much as our cat brings us her special hunting gifts. Let us just say that I have not always appreciated his thrifty offerings as fully as I might have. But this week he brought home

a cool Italian cookie press that he got for $5, seemingly brand new. Now, my mother made incredibly boring cookies with a cookie press, and I've disdained them ever since. But just testing out my new toy I made

Starting at 1:00: hazelnut and allspice, roseflower and cardamom, cocoa with vanilla, orange and cinnamon, ancho and chipotle chiles, cocoa with almond, and in the center fiori di Sicilia. Some of these pretty much rock, others need refining, but I'm convinced that my new toy is well worth more playtime. Here's the bounty - this is what you can do with one pound of butter

So, what cool old-fashioned tool or technique have you recently re-discovered?

Edited February 19, 2006 by Abra (log)

[Sugarella]

Looks like fun.

They look and sound yummy..... did you find all of these recipes in one book or are they online somewhere, or did you make them up yourself?

[andiesenji]

That is a great cookie press. I have several in my collection, but none exactly like it. Really nice design and the box is also a big plus.

Your cookies/biscuits are beautiful.

I have an old one made by Mirro aluminum that is copper colored. It came with a small cookbook that has some unusual recipes, including a lemon-butter cookie, made with lemon zest for flavoring. I have to dig that little book out. Your post reminded me that I love those cookies and I can even make them with the Splenda/sugar mix to make them more diabetic acceptable.

Edited February 19, 2006 by andiesenji (log)

[LaurieA-B]

Abra, I think this is a wonderful idea for a thread and would love to read more about retro baking, but your cookie-press treats deserve their own thread and more details, please. My little daughter would be thrilled beyond all measure with an ancho-chipotle cookie (she is her father's daughter), and I'm intrigued by the orange-cinnamon.

andiesenji, does your copper colored press have a sort of purplish barrel, with copper rings on the ends? That's what my mom's looks like, and I've never seen it anywhere else. The two metal presses I have are both silver-colored.

[Abra]

Oh no, no recipes. The press came with the basic butter dough recipe, which is odd in that the butter is melted rather than creamed. I just added stuff to parts of the dough - aside from the spices and vanilla, which are self-evident, I used almond extract, hazelnut flavoring, fiori di Sicilia flavoring, orange oil, rose flower water, and Scharffenberger cocoa. I just kneaded in a bit of those and winged it, which is why they need refining now.

The really nice thing about the press that you can't see (maybe all presses are like this?) is that the plunger/handle arrangement is ratcheted so that every portion is equal, making it very easy to produce uniform cookies.

Edited February 20, 2006 by Abra (log)

[helenjp]

I'm really delighted to see this! I inherited a '50s spritz press from my mother, who got hold of it as a great American novelty and never mastered it (I don't EVER remember her using it). I admit, I'm not confident with it either - totally unsure about what texture/level of firmness the raw dough should be as it goes into the press.

Do you think melting the butter is the way to go? Gotta try this again, as kids' spring vacation approaches...

[andiesenji]

This is the one I have. There are always quite a few of the ones with copper ends on ebay.

ebay

Edited February 20, 2006 by andiesenji (log)

[rooftop1000]

That set is on the top shelf of my grandmothers linen closet waaaay waaay in the back. Someday she may let me have it, or I will climb up on a chair and grab it when she isnt home.

T

[andiesenji]

Abra, I think this is a wonderful idea for a thread and would love to read more about retro baking, but your cookie-press treats deserve their own thread and more details, please. My little daughter would be thrilled beyond all measure with an ancho-chipotle cookie (she is her father's daughter), and I'm intrigued by the orange-cinnamon.

andiesenji, does your copper colored press have a sort of purplish barrel, with copper rings on the ends? That's what my mom's looks like, and I've never seen it anywhere else. The two metal presses I have are both silver-colored.

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I found one like your mom's: on ebay.

There is also a Wilton Pro for a good fixed price here

I have one which works very well. Mine is an older one that came with 24 metal dies but you can also buy plastic ones to fit this press that work as well.

Edited February 20, 2006 by andiesenji (log)

[2010]

Wow Abra! Great looking cookies and I'm sure they probably taste just as good. What a wonderful find for $5!

[Abra]

Helen, the texture was perfect with the melted butter. You can see that some of the patterns are a bit blurred - those are the ones to which I added some additional liquid ingredient. Next time I'd reduce the liquid in the base ever so slightly to allow for adding flavorings. I doubled the recipe to make the cookies you saw above (less a few that we had sampled before taking the photo). Here's the basic recipe:

500 gm/1 lb flour (I used AP)

250 gm/1/2 lb sugar

250 gm/1/2 lb butter

pinch of salt

2-3 oz milk

3 egg yolks

2 tsp cocoa (optional)

Melt butter and let cool. In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, and salt (and cocoa if using). Make a well in the center and put in egg yolks, mix in well with a large fork. Pour in butter and mix with your hands until smooth. They forgot to print what to do with the milk, so I added a bit at a time here until I got the right dough feel - basically that it held together well and wasn't soggy. Bake at 350 - they say 20 minutes, but mine took 14 at convection-adjusted 350.

I made this, then divided the dough into parts and gently kneaded the various flavorings into the smaller bits. That allowed me to change patterns for each of the flavors with little to no hassle.

[miladyinsanity]

Abra, I've got the same one!

I can get my mom's butter cookie recipe that involve melting butter if anybody wants it. I'm not a fan of butter cookies, for some reason, so I can't recite the recipe.

[helenjp]

Thanks Abra! On reflection, I think most of the problem would have been the difference in NZ and US flour - our flour is much, much weaker, and absorbs much less liquid, even from butter, but neither my mother nor I would have realized that, since we'd never used any other type of flour. I will definitely try again...

[SuzySushi]

What a wonderful thread! Thanks, Abra!

A couple of months ago, I also scored a cookie press -- a Hutzler plastic one -- at a yard sale. I've had no experience making pressed cookies and never got around to using it at Christmas as I planned, so this is a most welcome shot in the arm.

[chefcyn]

My husband loves to haunt the cookware section of thrift stores and bring me little gifts, much as our cat brings us her special hunting gifts.  Let us just say that I have not always appreciated his thrifty offerings as fully as I might have.  But this week he brought home

a cool Italian cookie press that he got for $5, seemingly brand new.  Now, my mother made incredibly boring cookies with a cookie press, and I've disdained them ever since.  But just testing out my new toy I made

So, what cool old-fashioned tool or technique have you recently re-discovered?

←

I'm a little jealous of that find--I bought the very same, one brand new, last year on sale for $18.95!

I really, really wanted to make some spritz cookies, and couldn't find my old one anywhere! Of course, just after all the cookies were done and out of my system, I found not one, but two old aluminum spritzers with all the dies and stuff! It made me reorganize all my kitchen cabinets, to know where everything is again!

[natasha1270]

Abra,

That cookie press looks beautiful and the cookies too!

I have a Kuhn Rikon Cookie Press but I think I've only used it once or twice. I may have to give it another try.

N.

[hannahmontana]

These cookies are incredible-I want a cookie press! Do all of them have the ratchets for uniform size? Does anyone have a brand they really like. I love the fact that is so easy to experiment with different flavors. This looks like fun, although I do remeber my mom using some not so christmasy phrases when she made spritz!

[Sugarella]

Does anyone have a brand they really like.

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The one that Abra's got pictured above is actually a good one. Marcato is the same company that makes the famous Atlas pasta machine.

Abra's husband and I must shop at the same discount stores because I just got the same one for $10 today.

[andiesenji]

Not all the presses have "automatic" measuring ratcheting. A couple of the powered ones do. I have an old Salton (wired) that presses out an exact amount and the VillaWare cordless rechargeable that also does.

The Marcato is also sold under at least three other names but made by the same maker in Italy.

I have many recipes for spritz cookies and almost all are made with butter.

There is one recipe on this site that is made with shortening (I use Crisco) and I also use an egg substitute I found at a health food store, for my vegetarian friends.

It is by far the best I have ever tried that doesn't use butter. (The Spritz Cookies II Recipe)

If you have a similar situation, you might want to try this one.

I added 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder and 3/4 teaspoon of water to convert it to a chocolate cookie.

[Abra]

I'm going to try something new with my press tomorrow. I made some mashed potatoes tonight that are now chilling. Tomorrow I'm going to add a bit of stuff to them and try to press them into one of the more forgiving shapes, then spritz them with olive oil and put them in a very hot oven, to see if I can get golden potato shapes. Weird, eh? Retro.

[JFLinLA]

You will, of course, post your recipes once you work through your refinements, right? Please, please, please.

[miladyinsanity]

Please Abra! And then we can figure out whether it'll freeze so I can just reheat them, like frozen hashbrowns.

And my mom's butter cookie recipe does not involve melting butter. That's what I was trying to say earlier.

[DiH]

So, what cool old-fashioned tool or technique have you recently re-discovered?

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Anybody remember these? Not a recent re-discovery but I love it. 50 cents at a garage sale!!!

Di

Edited February 23, 2006 by DiH (log)

[snowangel]

I'm going to try something new with my press tomorrow.  I made some mashed potatoes tonight that are now chilling.  Tomorrow I'm going to add a bit of stuff to them and try to press them into one of the more forgiving shapes, then spritz them with olive oil and put them in a very hot oven, to see if I can get golden potato shapes.  Weird, eh?  Retro.

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Actually, Abra, this makes perfect sense, and would not be unlike Duchesse Potatoes! And, if you're as impaired with a pastry bag as I am, this would be a great solution.

Yes, let us know how they turn out. And, do try freezing or fridging a couple and reheating so we know how that works.