Cookies made from a  Cookie Press (biscuit cutter) is often known as Pressed Cookies or Spritz Cookies. The latter is the term used in both the U.S and in Germany. A term derived from the action of the cookie press- ‘das Spritzen’ (meaning to inject/squirt)- hence the dough for a Cookie Press  has to be the correct soft consistency or else you will encounter great difficulty making cookies with the device. Amma used to make Cookie Press biscuits for Diwali but often struggled to get the right consistency for the dough. One of the main reasons for this was the incorrect ratio of flour: butter. Less butter results in a rubbery hard dough which is impossible to press through the Cookie Press-but too little flour results in one that is too weak to be pressed.

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Cookie Press dough -like Butter biscuits- contains high butter content but it does not contain any corn flour (Maizena) or baking powder -the result is a very soft, buttery dough. The optimum flour: butter ratio is  1/2 cup butter: 1 1/4 cups of flour. You can use margarine instead of butter but I would not recommend it. Margarine results in a soft rather than firm biscuit texture. Although it may work in getting cookies out of the cookie press-the quality of the biscuit is not the same as it is with butter.

Apart from the soft dough – to get the best results from your cookie press read the instructions on the package for how to insert the pattern discs correctly etc.

To make the dough for the cookie press you will need:

• 2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla essence

1. Sift the flour.
2. Combine the egg yolk and vanilla essence.

3. Cream the butter and sugar –i.e. mix until soft then combine with the egg yolk to form a smooth paste.

4. Add sifted flour the butter/ egg mixture-little at a time mixing to form a soft dough.

Note: If the dough is feels too sticky then dust with little flour until you are able to form a roll to insert into the Biscuit Press.

5. Press cookies onto a lined baking tray. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for no more than 7 minutes. The biscuits should not be brown.