If you bake cookies
at all, you may find you want to make the easiest fancy cookies ever…those
that use a cookie press. My son and then
my grandchildren and I have made these cookies at Christmas time together…and you
don’t have to confine them to the holidays, as the recipe links below will show
you.
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| From Top left: Ateco decorating set, OXO cookie press, Mercato cookie press, vintage Mirro cookie press set |
Today, you can buy pretty good, automated, slick-looking
cookie presses, the OXO
cookie press good price…about
$30, Autumn and Christmas disc sets available for about $12-$15 has pretty good
reviews, as does the Marcato
cookie press made in Italy,
$35-$55, the Cadillac, 20 discs come
with it. Myrna had a newer cookie press
and hated it…she didn’t feel like she had the control that you get with an
older, simpler cookie press.
I agree, and bought my current Vintage
Mirro Cookie Press and Decorator set for a couple of bucks at our
church thrift shop, complete with the box and booklet, in like-new, never-used
conditon. I also have a Cake
decorating set from Ateco for less than $15 that works for simpler
patterns, like the lemon finger recipe. The
set isn’t complicated, but it’s well-made and is enough for someone like me who
doesn’t do anything complicated anyway.
The Mirro set has now been well-used, and I keep it in a
plastic box with my other decorating and cookie tools, ready to use, and easy
to see. It also has tubes for filling pastries and the like.
Here are a few cookie
recipes that we especially like that use the cookie press or cake decorating
set to advantage.
I love Spritz cookies. I have what was my mother in laws spritz cookie press & decorator set. The green box it came in is kinda falling apart but still have all the pieces that came with.
ReplyDeleteSpritz cookies are good Anytime throughout the year; not just around the holidays so dig out your cookie press, dust off the dust bunnies and lets make some cookies. :}|
I used to DETEST spritz cookies as a kid. To me, they smelled old and tasted of nothingness--or almonds, which was even worse! Or sometimes they were topped with those nasty preserved green/red cherries you find in fruitcake. As far as I was concerned, spritz were just as revolting as piecrust!
ReplyDeleteThen I found a peanut butter spritz cookie recipe (very similar to yours, actually) and it changed my attitude towards spritz completely. Turns out I don't hate spritz, I just hate flavorless ones!
I don't dip my peanut butter spritz in chocolate (although I like the idea!). I used to put a giant M&M in the center before baking. Now that giant M&Ms are no longer made (why? WHY?!?) I use Hershey's drops. It adds just the perfect amount of chocolate (a Hershey's kiss would be way too much). My family adores them.
Your lemon spritz looks right up my alley, with lots of lemon juice, extract, and zest, so I am going to give it a try. And I have a maple recipe I want to give a whirl when I can find some really good maple extract. Can you imagine little candied pecan or walnut bits on top a maple spritz cookie? Sounds like heaven to me!
I already have a Wilton Cookie press that works great, but I recently got myself an older, discontinued model--just for one particular disk. It's made up of dots in a oval with a cutout running in the center, and it makes the prettiest cookie--just like a cameo. I don't know why Wilton stopped offering that disk, but I've got it now!
PS: I just now saw the "cameo" cookie disc in the lower right-hand photo above! How cool is that?
ReplyDeleteI think the maple would be very good. Some candied pecan bits on top would be great also. However I like Spritz because I like almond flavor. Really I like Spritz I think because I like butter flavored cookies. Almost time to start the cookie baking. Not as many this year though now that My daughter has been diagnosed as Celiac also.
DeleteMyrna, I have very successfully made my peanut butter spritz cookie with gluten-free flour--give it a try! They have a bit of a "sandier" texture, but it's not displeasing and the flavor is still excellent.
ReplyDeleteWhat flour did you use? I have tried several and had mixed results and just bake for others most of the time.
DeleteI use Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour.
ReplyDeleteThe recipe I use is from http://happierthanapiginmud.blogspot.com (hope it's okay to put this here; if not, moderate as you need to)
Always happy to have a link to a good blogspot. Thanks so much for the answer. I have tried two other 1 to 1 type and not been real happy with the results so will give this a try. I have had good luck with them except for cookies for some reason.
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