The Old-School Cookie Kitchen Tool Boomers Love

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

When making cookies, the ritual is equally important to the result. Upholding baking traditions means gathering family and friends, dusting off old recipes, and shaping cookies into fun and nostalgic outlines. Nowadays, forming up the pastry itself usually means reaching for a cookie cutter, a biscuit cutter, or a glass, but in the olden days, there was another tool often employed for the task: a cookie press.

This handheld tool loosely resembles a salt or pepper mill, with a tall cylindrical design punctuated with a handle on top. In function, the device works akin to a caulk gun. You load soft cookie dough into the top of the tube, while intricate, interchangeable disks suspend at the bottom. Then, you pull the lever tight, and precise quantities of cookie dough extrude through the disks, forming eye-catching designs ready for baking.

Common cookie press disk designs include varying vaulted geometric forms, as well as holiday-specific creations like trees and snowflakes. Expectedly, not every type of homemade cookie dough shapes up using such a mechanism — Swedish oatmeal and chocolate cookies, for example, would not hold their shape. The press is designed for the spritz style, a thick and rich dough hailing from Northern Europe. The homogenous consistency moves well through the press mechanism, and turns crisp once baked — meaning the intricate, varied shapes will hold. It all comes together into a charming baking process that's a snapshot of a previous era.

The cookie press hasn't fully disappeared from baking circles – the device is still found in commercial contexts and the occasional home kitchen. However, as with many other once-popular kitchen tools, the device was most fashionable when first industrially available — probably developed based on German or Scandinavian cookie-making tools. In fact, the term "spritz" itself comes from the German "to spray" (aka spritzen), making the dough and the cookie extruder a natural pair.

Wisconsin-based aluminum manufacturer Mirro popularized the tool in the 1930s and '40s, with its model remaining the most identifiable old-school version. The industrial tool lasted for years, lingering in cabinets well into the 1980s. You can even still buy a used Vintage Mirro Cookie and Pastry Press online, accompanied by a dozen old-timey disc designs. Although modern versions are also available for sale — settle on a model like the OXO Good Grips 14-Piece Cookie Press Set for an updated version. Craft a spritz-style dough, and try out the unique Boomer-loved device for yourself, filling a cookie tin with holiday treats along the way.