UPDATE, Sunday, January 6 Snowing in Vermont today, so my youngest daughter and I spent the afternoon baking cookies with the new OXO Good Grips Cookie Press. While we were at it, we made a video to show you just how easy this is to use! Here's the cookie recipe we used:
Cream Cheese Spritz
1 cup butter (sticks)
3 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 1 teaspoon other flavoring (orange, lemon, almond are all good), optional
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
Directions: Beat room temperature butter and cream cheese together until softened and well blended. Beat in sugar, then beat in the egg yolk, salt and flavorings. Stir in the flour until well combined and dough holds together. Use immediately. Makes about 8 dozen.
NOTES: You can substitute baking margarine for the butter &/or lowfat cream cheese for the regular. If you want to make the dough and then hold it overnight in the fridge, allow it to soften and come back to room temperature before you attempt to use it.
LINKS FOR OTHER RECIPES IN COMMENTS
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I love spritz cookies little buttery, crisp cookies that are perfect with tea or lemonade or even just by themselves. They're easy to make too as long as you have the right cookie press.
For many years the "right" cookie press in my house was the Mirro that I got as a teen. You filled the barrel with your cookie dough, stood it on your sheet pan on little feet and twisted the top dial to make the cookies. Worked like a charm for many, many years but then somewhere along the way in one move or another I lost my Mirro cookie press and couldn't find another.
Since then, I've gone through many a cookie press trying to find THE one. One cookie press split right down the middle of the barrel the first time I tried to make cookies with it. The "trigger" style are usually too hard for my hands to work. Most of them don't have little feet to rest on the cookie sheet so you're trying to press out cookies in midair. Frustration Level Over the Moon! I can't count the number of cookie presses I've returned to the store or shipped off to the thrift store bin.
I cannot tell you how delighted I am that this OXO Good Grips Cookie Press with Disk Storage Case has solved all of those problems! It arrived this afternoon just as I finished a batch of homemade cream cheese. The very last of the Cream Cheese Spritz are in the oven as I type. The press is easy to assemble and disassemble and easy to clean. Most of it can go into the dishwasher if you want to bother with that. Like that old Mirro, the bottom of the press rests on your baking sheet as you form each cookie by simply depressing the handle, which works by lever action rather than being a "trigger" easy even for my old hands to use. If you are using a standard half-sheet sized baking pan, you'll get two dozen cookies on each pan 4 across, 6 down. Most recipes will fill the barrel (see through!) about four times and make about 8 dozen cookies (Do pay attention to the bit in the directions that tells you to use an ungreased cookie sheet. Don't use a parchment liner either your cookies won't stick to the surface correctly and so won't pull away from the press.) Learning curve about 2 minutes.
The press comes with a dozen different discs for various shapes teddy bear, butterfly, daisy, fleur de lys, buttercup, heart, leaf, shell, snowflake, sunflower, tree, wreath that store away in a specially fitted box that allows easy access to the discs. (Yes, you can change the disc without having to wash the entire cookie press first.)
The included instruction booklet contains recipes for three different kinds of spritz (Cream Cheese Spritz have always been my favorite use the included recipe but leave out the cinnamon) and you will find many more recipes on line. Be sure to look up a recipe or two for savoury spritz as they make nice quick-to-produce nibbles for an appetizer selection or cocktail party.
Spritz cookies are great keepers they'll stay fresh for several weeks in a tightly covered container. Ideal for little girls tea parties, feel free to color the dough or dress the spritz up with sprinkles, sparkly sugar or bits of candied fruit.
I'm off . . fantastic cookie press that will have pride of place in my kitchen for many a year to come . . . anybody want a cookie?
PS I found it easiest to fill the barrel using a small rubber spatula about an inch wide.
UPDATE, May 15, 2013 I recently came across this OXO Good Grips Cookie Press Springtime Disk Set, featuring a half-dozen designs especially for spring cherry blossoms, a rose, twin hearts and more. My set is on the way. Can't wait to try them! I wonder if they'll do another series later in the year? Pumpkins and bats would be nice. September ,2013 Why yes, yes they did! Pumpkins, bats and more. The Autumn set is available from the same link as the Springtime set.
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I love this cookie press. I bought it to replace one I had for about 10 years that was always a pain to use. There was a high fail rate, and the press would rock as I was trying to put the cookies down. With my new Oxo, the only cookie fails I had was with the first one or two cookies each time I refilled the cylinder. Each cookie after that came out perfectly. And the silicone on the bottom of the press kept the press firmly on the sheet as I was pressing out the cookies. I love the little plastic container that holds the discs. With my old press, the discs were always in a heap in the baggie I stored them in, but with the Oxo, they're neat and organized. I also like that this press has cookie shapes that are not seasonal -fleur d'lys, daisy, butterfly, etc., which will certainly encourage me to use it at times other than Christmas. As opposed to another reviewer, I did not find the cookies small at all; I do not like big cookies and find these to be the perfect size. I made a batch of cookies using this to bring to my son's game, and they were absolutely inhaled. People were shocked that they weren't bakery cookies.Best Deals for OXO Good Grips Cookie Press with Disk Storage Case
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I tried the Good Grips cookie press using the chocolate shortbread cookie recipe in the instrucion manual. The manual is easy to understand and includes three recipes and two variations in all. The recipes did not include any hard to find ingredients, were simple, and easy to follow. The design disks included are snowflake, heart, buttercup, shell, wreath, tree, sunflower, daisy, fleur de lis, bear, leaf, and butterfly. I used the shell, buttercup, fleur de lis, bear, and butterly disks. They all worked well with the exception of the butterfly disk. The dough seemed to stick to the bottom of the cookie press and not release well using the butterfly disk. I loved the other disks so much, I consider this a small issue.The quality of the disks were very nice and stainless steel, not as thin as the disk set that came with my previous cookie press and I did not have any issues with warping. The barrel of the cookie press is a thick plastic material that is listed as BPA free. I am not impressed by clear barrels myself as I do not find it impossible to tell when the cookie press is near empty using the plunger depth as a guide but I love, just love, the plastic disk storage case and new to me disk designs.
The disks are dishwasher safe but the cookie press itself is not so I just wash them all by hand. A bottle brush would be nice to have and make cleaning easy peasy. The barrel was comfortable to hold, the plunger much easier to use and I never had to fiddle with it because it never twisted the wrong way. Much simpler to use than my other presses simply because the plunger does not rotate due to the release button that is used instead. Love that! One hassle gone! My old cookie press had a rotating plunger and it rotated when it wasn't supposed to therefore my cookies did not ratchet out of the press properly leading to a problem this design does not have. A headache solved.
As a scout mom, I am so delighted with the fleur de lis and the bear is so adorable, and the shell is so pretty. So much nicer than the disks in my other cookie presses. I am really pleased with the press. I am far fom a spritz expert and if anyone has any tips on getting a better result with the butterfly press I would really love to hear it. The ones that did come off were nice but overall it really did not work well for me. After swapping the disk to a different design I was back in business again. The other disks worked for me much better and really did not depend on a chilled cookie sheet. The bear worked so well, it stuck onto an unwashed cookie sheet from a previous batch and the instructions say to use a clean, ungreased cookie sheet, washing between batches.
Overall, I am very pleased with the product and would recommend this cookie press to friends. My one very minor gripe, aside from the butterfly disk, would be my wish that they showed the finished cookie along with the design disk images inside the product manual and not just on the box. The disk images are labeled inside the back of the manual but the finished cookie image is not included with it. They are all so pretty and inspiring it would be nice to not have to save the box in order to see the finished cookies as the box is larger than the box for my other two cookie presses. I am sure I can photocopy it. Overall, I love it.
Honest reviews on OXO Good Grips Cookie Press with Disk Storage Case
This is the easiest to use cookie press I have ever used. The old ones would stick not OXO. It was so easy it took me several tries just to believe it. I kept squeezing and didn't even realize the cookie was on the sheet. So easy your hands don't get tired and the recipe is accurate to a cookie and did I mention they were delish and adorable. I used the daisy pattern for a wedding shower and added a chocolate chip to each center to make black-eyed Susan's the young crowd had never seen cookie press cookies. The compliments actually made me blush, because it was so easy I felt guilty. This press will last for years. Well built easy to clean so easy. After all the rolling and cutting I've done this was a blessing. If you have children they will love the teddy bears, and it comes with several recipes. This is not a gadget it is a must if you do any baking at all. I love it so mush I'm ordering another one just so I could have one for vanilla and one for chocolate. Happy Baking!Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for OXO Good Grips Cookie Press with Disk Storage Case
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I've never had a cookie press, but always wanted one. Due to my infrequent baking sprees I never got one. When I saw this one come up on the Vine review list--lets just say I did a happy dance.The cookie press arrived very quickly--on Christmas eve in fact. We all know how busy Christmas eve can be doing last minute shopping, baking, arranging, entertaining and whatever! However, I couldn't wait to use my cookie press. It was kind of like the proverbial kid in a candy store analogy. I don't bake frequently, but found a recipe I liked online--in this case one provided by Martha Stewart's site which featured lots of vanilla (my favorite flavoring). I printed off the recipe, got the ingredients out and went to town with my very very new cookie press.
I had read the one-star review about the cookies being uneven and yes the first one was, but the directions had mentioned the first one or two might be. The author also had trouble with the dough coming out of the cylinder. So before I used mine I did an Internet search on how to use one and looked for tips and hints that would avoid the one-star reviewer's experience. After using the cookie press, I noticed the cookies got less 'pretty' and the dough was less malleable as it got warmer. I put the dough in the refrigerator for ten minutes or so and that seemed to solve the problems.
The OXO Good Grips Cookie Press contains the cookie press, 12 stainless steel disks, a holder for the disks (I really liked this feature--no searching in a junk drawer for your disks), and an easy-to-use instruction booklet. The booklet also contains a couple of recipes. I ended up using the Martha Stewart online recipe which is very much like the Butter Cookie recipe.
Anyhow, I really had fun using the OXO cookie press and making all sorts of shapes with the 12 disks. Like I said earlier--I was like the kid in the candy store. I'd make a tree or a sunflower or bear and call everyone over to "LOOK AT THIS!" Soon the house began to empty out as everyone left tired of my constant exclaiming! However, they came back in plenty of time to sample the cookies. The kids loved the teddy bears and butterfly shapes.
Soooo happy I am now a proud owner of a cookie press!
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