I B E L I E V E .
Everyone has a repressed cooky press memory or two sealed away. Mine are somewhere back in the 60's with mom's green-tinted wreaths and pink-tinted stars. Or were those flowers? She made them with a MIRRO cooky press - one I've since inherited, complete with its tattered box featuring pastel-colored creations. I thought it a rather festive and nostalgic way to ring in the second annual Cookie Exchange from Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook.
I chose an authentic MIRRO recipe from the recipe booklet - Caramel Cookies. Made with all shortening, (what, no butter? what gives?), I figured the "caramel" flavor must come from using brown sugar in place of white. Hm... sounds good, but let's spice this up a notch. I made a thin caramel sauce with sugar, heavy cream, a dash of vanilla and a bit of Fleur de Sel. Once the cookies had cooled, I drizzled the caramel sauce and sprinkled more Fleur de Sel. They made for a tender cooky with a slight crunch. I'm sure an all-butter cooky would yield a more "melt-in-your-mouth" flavor and texture, but hey, shortening has its place.
Be sure to head on over to the Di's Round-Up site this coming weekend to view all the cooky entries. There's sure to be at least one, if not several recipes to add to your holiday baking list.** And a special thanks to Nancy's of The Dogs Eat the Crumb's talented daughter, Allison (that's a mouthful, isn't it?) for creating with festive Exchange Badge - two years in a row! **
– mike
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* C A R A M E L S P R I T Z C O O K I E S *
Time: 10-12 min. Temp.: 375 degrees
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla exract
3 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
1. Cream the shortening; add sugars gradually and cream thoroughly.
2. Add beaten eggs and vailla extract
3. Sift flour, soda and salt and gradually add to creamed mixture.
4. Fill a MIRRO cooky press and form fancy designs on ungreased MIRRO Aluminum cooky sheets. Bake.
Yield – 6 dozen
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9 comments:
There was a lot of shortening in baked goods when I was young, too, and I still have fond memories of my mother's all-shortening pie crust (did that ever hold a crimp!) I'm pretty sure I have one or two inherited Mirro cookie presses hanging around; your beautiful cookies are inspiring me to dig one out and experiment!
That looks just like the cookie press my mom had that we used when I was a kid. The recipe we used then had shortening, too, but I like the butter one I use now. I'm going to have to figure out how to make a caramel version of it now. =)
My repressed spritz memories were unlocked and well documented last year. As you know it is the only Christmas Kookie I can bear to make. Its cooky how the quehkey has such a hold on us. I do think a little salt and caramel is the perfect update to this classic.
I remember making those tinted cookys with my mom! :) They are wonderful memories and I am looking forward to making some of these with my inherited MIRRO cooky press. Your cookies are just beautiful and the caramel topping with the flier de sel is just perfect!
I like this twist on the spritz! Great idea.
I LOVE my MIRRO cookie press... holiday baking will start full swing soon. Can't wait!
I have that same cookie press...I actually have a really old one that was my grandmothers, then this one that was my mother's, and my mother-in-law gave me one that is electric and shoots those cookies out faster than you can imagine and is just a whole lotta fun. Geesh, I have to downsize soon...things like this are going to be difficult to choose from. Your cookie additions/changes are really lovely...the looks of the tops of those is beautiful. Nice choice!
I have ZERO cookie press memories because my Italian mother did not bake! However, I did inherit a similar press from my husband's grandmother. I confess I was never able to make the thing work and purchased a replacement from King Arthur Flour.
Now, about those caramel spritz - I will definitely be putting a batch of those through my new-fangled press this year! They look so beautifully browned.
Caramel and salt? who cares if there is shortening? Those are beautiful little cookies your Momma would love. Pretty sure she probably would giggle knowing you used her press. Beautiful submission, Mike!
Merry Christmas
AmyRuth
Beautiful cookies!
Would you mind letting us know the measurements to the caramel sauce? And did you just sprinkle the salt on top (I'm guessing that's what the pic looks like).
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