Retro Cookie Press Review!

(Click here to jump to today's recommended song, Gene Vincent's cover of Unchained Melody!)

It's Valentine's Day, rebels!

Even though I didn't post this in December like I wanted to, Valentine's Day is an equally opportune time to talk about making cookies.

Last year, I got this Mirro "Cooky" Press for my birthday, because someone needed to get rid of it and thought I'd want it. And why not? It's food-related, it's old, and it's obscure.

I wasn't sure how old it was at first, so I did some minor digging.

Using The Internet Archive's handy-dandy "search within text" function (which I used in this post), I found documents containing "Mirro Cooky Press" from as far back as 1949.

A book called Spiffy Kitchen Collectibles says it's from the "1940s-1950s", and since it came out in the final year of the 40s... let's just call it 50s.

Mirro's Cooky Press boasted an "Easy Grip" handle, "12 fancy shapes", and that it was made of "Electro-Hardened Aluminum".

I was curious as to why Mirro thought electro-hardened aluminum was a selling point. They made it sound like this exciting new material that would revolutionize the culinary industry.

Okay, maybe not.

It turns out Oldsmobile and Plymouth cars from the 30s and 40s had pistons made of electro-hardened aluminum, because the metal was lightweight and durable at the same time. I can only guess Mirro used the material for similar reasons, and/or because it was cheaper than steel.

Weirdly, everything I could find on electro-hardened aluminum is either talking about pistons or- get this- a cookie press.  

Maybe other companies used the same material under different names, whereas Mirro and a bunch of vehicle manufacturers happened to use the same name. Who knows.

I just thought this would be interesting to look into because of my well-established skepticism towards marketing ploys. My question was whether this metal was as exciting as Mirro would have us believe... and I still don't know, but I don't care.

NOW WHAT IN THE HECK IS A COOKIE PRESS?

For those who don't know, a cookie press is an extruder for cookie dough. You load the press with dough, put the top on, then turn the handle. This pushes a plunger down and squeezes out the dough into the shape of the disc you use.

Even if you have a vintage model, you can buy other separate discs for different shapes. My set is missing the swirly disc, but I really want the leaf disc so I can make leaf cookies.

You know, the ones in the Italian cookie assortments that always manage to show up at very non-Italian family gatherings.

Spritz cookies, the kind you make with a press, originated in Germany as Spritzgeback. According to Reverso Context, which I repeatedly used in this post, Spritzgeback literally means "squirt cookies".

Hey man, I'm not the one who came up with it.

Even if you've never heard the name, you no doubt have seen spritz cookies before. They're popular in the United States because they look nice and you can make a lot of them real fast. This makes them especially good for parties, since you can feed a lot of people.

Christmas tree-shaped spritz cookies. Image credit: Ann Gordon, Wikimedia Commons.

But the question is, does my new-to-me cookie press actually work?

Well... yeah.

When working on the mysterious lost December version of this post, I made cinnamon spritz cookies for a Christmas party.

The cookie press takes patience to master, for sure. At first you won't know if you're squeezing out too much dough or too little, but the directions say you should just see the dough peeking out between the brackets on the bottom.

You have to use the brackets to stand the press on a cookie sheet, so the cookies are actually pressed and the dough spreads out. Otherwise you'll get a bunch of weirdly-shaped cookie noodles.

You want the pressed dough to touch enough that it doesn't fall apart, while not being so spread out it closes the shapes altogether.

Here's a visual guide to show what I mean:

How do you achieve the correct result? Practice. Lots and lots of practice.

You will be able to eyeball the correct amount of dough while you use the press, but only after making your share of mistakes. Don't worry about the thickness- that's the same no matter what.

RECIPES

Like any self-respecting food manipulation device, the Mirro Cooky Press came with its own selection of spritz cookie recipes. Usually I wouldn't trust recipes that come with kitchen utensils, except I honestly didn't think to look elsewhere.

And why would I? These instructions have everything! I'm especially intrigued by the "velvet cookies", given that they're not the same as red velvet.

I used the "regular" spritz cookie recipe for these pink ones, but with anise extract (you know exactly why) and beet powder for color. Surprisingly the beet powder didn't change the taste much, despite being cherry flavored. If you're used to brighter colors, this method won't be for you, but I think it looks good.

I tested food coloring and beet powder in tiny portions first, because I used wheat flour and worried about the color looking too brown. I ultimately went with the beet powder (left) instead of food coloring (right) because that color pink was scaring the crap outta me.

My phone's camera made the food coloring (right) look less neon.

Just a personal preference, but I don't want my food to look like it came from a nuclear waste dump.

If you use any of Mirro's recipes, I recommend baking them for a slightly shorter time than the "minimum" it says to use. 

My cookies didn't burn when I used the time printed in the recipe, but they were harder, browner and less anise-y that way. Eight minutes kept the flavor, color and texture intact. And they were pretty good! Decent, serviceable taste and texture.

I'd rather have the texture of a shortbread, but the dough for that might be too hard for a cookie press. Maybe I'm just thinking of frollini. That stuff has haunted my dreams since January.

I had to try making the velvet cookies, too. These, while being "peanut butter cookies" actually have other flavorings, which I found interesting. This time I made half a batch since we already had enough cookies in the house.

The velvet cookies are soft-yet-dry and stick in your mouth when you chew them. They also have that weird baked peanut butter taste.

Despite my preference towards harder cookies like cantuccini, I like these a lot. These have more of the "sandy" texture I was looking for, which I can't really explain but is present in shortbreads.

 

Peanut butter "velvet" cookies

CONCLUSION

This was fun to check out, though once again I "felt like a detective" only for most of my info to turn out useless. It happens often.

I enjoy finding and using old equipment that actually works. Nowadays "built to last" only occurs in niche products with steep prices. And then we're meant to believe it's worth it because all the "normal" products are flimsy on purpose, even though they don't have to be.

It's just refreshing, alright? And I like the feeling of "traveling through time".

I'll also use this space to say that I won't put "original" recipes on The Rebel Palate for a while.

In the Cotti in Fragranza post, I put up recipes that really aren't good. My frollini come out way too hard, and I should've done more experiments. Yes, even more. 

I'm just putting this out there for those of you who tried the recipes and were disappointed with the results. It's not your fault, it's mine, and I'm aware of my mistake.

Granted, maybe I didn't follow my own instructions. I don't know. And I may come out with an updated version where the frollini aren't ridiculously hard, but that won't be for another while. Because man am I ever tired of cookies.

Today's recommended song is Gene Vincent's cover of Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers. It's a love song from the 50s, after all, and I doubt you've heard this version even if you have heard the original, Elvis or Tom Jones ones.

Stay sexy!