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Sunday, November 21, 2004

Pre-Christmas Saturdays

I went out shopping yesterday.......a Saturday. I know. What an asinine thing to do. I was in a great mood when I left the house. I was humming. I was smiling. Then came the traffic, the line-ups, the crowds and the delays. (Do people who walk slower than a snail can crawl really have to walk down store aisles 3 or 4 abreast?!) By the time I had found a semi-suitable package of Christmas cards (searched through ALL the cards in 3 different stores to find them), and gotten out of there I was in a rage. I was gnashing my teeth and swearing under my breath. The thought of catalogue and internet shopping was looking better and better. I was hoping that Christmas would be cancelled. I vowed that I would not set foot in a store on a Saturday until after the "festive" season.

As I was leaving the mall I happened upon a little kiosk selling kitchenware. Given my ill mood, a present for myself seemed like a great idea. I bought a cookie press, hoping that a little baking would bring back my Jolly-Ho-Ho.

I thought I would be finished knitting my warm wooly socks by now, but I didn't spend as much time knitting last night as I thought I would. I ended up baking cookies instead.

My first attempt at using the cookie press was a miserable failure. I used one of the recipes that came with the press and it made a VERY stiff dough. I have never made pressed cookies before so I had no idea what to expect. I assumed that the dough for pressed cookies should be soft so that it could be forced through the small decorative openings, but well...it was THEIR recipe, so that must be the right consistency right? Guess not. The dough was so stiff that I couldn't get the cookies to come out. (Okay, I DID get maybe one dozen forced out, but they were not well formed and it took forever and far more than the one to two "clicks" the clerk suggested. I ended up taking off the decorative attachment and used the dough "slice and bake" style. They TASTE fine, but I didn't buy the gadget to make slice and bake cookies.

Today I am going to try again. I have a recipe for peanut butter cookies that I know makes a very soft dough. I'll use that. I also plan to get my mom's Whipped Shortbread recipe. If the cookie press doesn't work with those recipes then it is beyond hope and will be returned.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hope you update on how this works. I was thinking of getting one of these myself! If it works with the shortbread, can you share the recipe? Thanks! Anne

DebbieJRT said...

I share your feelings on shopping--particularly at this time of year. I don't know why I do it to myself. I can wreck a perfectly nice day by trying to pick up something at the store. I do my food shopping as early as possible on Sunday -- I've found that it is relatively quiet at the supermarket at that time. The mall has to be hit really early, as well.
The best holiday season ever was two years ago when I managed to buy everyone their present from catalogs. I think I'm going to try and do it again.

Anonymous said...

try using a Spritz or a Chocolate Spritz cookie recipe...they're intended to be piped or used in a cookie press.
You could also try searching cookie press dough...cookie presses can be great!

Debbie in Ontario