My mother usually makes three kinds of Christmas cookies: gingerbread cut-outs, white-velvet cutouts (sugar cookies with cream cheese in the batter), and press cookies. The press cookies are my favorite. We originally had a Mirro cookie press, which functioned like a cross between a coffee press and an icing bag with a tip. Dough was put into a metal tube and pushed out with a plunger through a disk with a shape so the cookie would have a shape without having to be cut out.*
Mirro cookie press. Image from food.com.
I’m pretty sure we only use the cookie press for Christmas. After the Mirro stopped working, we’ve had a couple replacements , none of them as glorious as the original, and a couple recipes over the years, but cookie-press Christmas cookies must be 1. made with the tree tip, 2. green, 3. almond-flavored, and 4. decorated with red sugar or sprinkles. The recipe and specs are originally from the book that came with the press, since press cookies need to be a certain consistency to retain their shape. I know a number of families from southern Ohio who make these exact cookies, too, meaning that cookie presses must have been popular That said, I like my mom’s the best.
Even if my nostalgia for Christmas tree cookies makes me want to continue the tradition, I fear I’d be hard-pressed (sorry!) to find a cookie-press in Japan. What I have found, though, is that Lupicia’s Cookie Tea (クッキー), which is made with almonds, tastes almost the same as Mom’s cookies.** I had resisted buying this type because I thought it would make me want real cookies instead of a tea that uses add-ins to approximate the flavor. That said, none of the holiday teas at the store really grabbed my interest this year despite the adorable Dino Tea Party for the year of the dragon, and so we decided that cookie tea would be our seasonal pick even though it’s available year-round. This tea is amazing with milk and a little bit of honey.
I’ll probably made some sort of homage to Christmas-tree press cookies this year, but until I get it right, there’s milk and cookies in a glass of tea for me whenever I want it.
Cookie Tea is also available in the US!
Notes
*I was shocked to see the new models on amazon.com with the clear plastic. That just doesn’t seem right.
**I am not affiliated with Lupicia. I am merely obsessed.
Oh my goodness! Another cookie press aficionado! We have an old fashioned one as well. It is basically just a metal tube and a rolling pin. You press the dough out by forcing the rolling pin into the tube. One end of the pin is rounded and the other is completely flat. You press the round end into your diaphragm, pulling the tube towards yourself, and out comes the dough.
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Ah, so it’s not a Midwestern thing! I think I’ve spent all but one (now two) Christmas back in the Midwest, so I never did cookies in Colorado. I also didn’t realize there were like 10 models of the new-style one on amazon, either. Don’t think I’ve used one quite like yours, though–it’s like a cookie vacuum?
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My family always does the press cookies too, though ours are multi-colored and buttery, rather than green and almond-flavored. We usually toss on some sprinkles to decorate the tree shapes too.
I just bought some White Christmas, and now I want to go back for the Cookie Tea! Sounds amazing!
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Cookie tea is so good! I bought White Christmas last year–liked it a lot but it wasn’t mindblowing. It IS sparkly, though!
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