OXO 1257580 Cookie Press for Patterned Spritz Cookies

Shaping a tray of decorative cookies can mean rolling dough, cutting it and moving each piece to the baking sheet. For spritz cookies, the OXO 1257580 Cookie Press takes another route: soft dough goes through a patterned disk directly onto the sheet. The pattern is formed where the cookie will bake.

This Good Grips set supplies one manual press, twelve stainless steel disks and a case for those disks. It suits a baker who wants to make pressed cookies and keep the small pattern pieces together between baking sessions.

Shape cookies where they will bake

The cookie's outline comes from the disk seated inside the removable base. Dough passes through its openings as the plunger moves down. For a tray of repeated floral shapes, that gives the baker a forming tool to place directly at each cookie's intended spot.

To load it, fit the chosen disk, hold the release button and pull the plunger fully up, then remove the top and add prepared dough. Reassemble and prime until dough exits evenly; wipe off the excess. OXO then instructs you to hold the base flat on an ungreased sheet and press the lever once per cookie, moving between positions.

For a shared platter of patterned spritz cookies, this is the work the press handles: forming each piece on the sheet, without transferring a separate cutout. Mixing the recipe and baking remain separate. Decide whether that cookie style appeals to you before treating a press as essential baking equipment.

Start with soft dough and an ungreased sheet

Recipe choice comes before pattern choice. OXO calls for soft dough at room temperature unless the recipe says otherwise. Its own gingerbread spritz recipe, for example, includes a 30-minute refrigeration step. Prepare the dough as the chosen spritz recipe directs, including any specified chilling.

The manual does not recommend store-bought refrigerated dough. That matters if ready-made dough is the main reason you are considering a press. Choose a suitable spritz recipe first; buying the mechanism does not make every favorite cookie mixture work through its disks.

The sheet needs attention, too. OXO specifies a cold or room-temperature, ungreased baking sheet and washing it between batches. Its use guide suggests chilling metal sheets, while the manual also allows room temperature. Plan for a clean, suitably cool sheet before the next round of pressing, alongside the dough preparation and baking.

Keep the pattern disks together

The twelve disks include a heart, a tree, a snowflake and several floral designs. They fit into the press's base, so changing the fitted disk changes the pattern you form. The fourteen-piece description counts the press and disk case as well as the twelve disks.

For a holiday batch, you might choose the tree disk; for another occasion, a heart or a flower. The included case gives those small pieces a place together among your baking supplies. Choose the disk you need, then return the cleaned disks after the bake. The assembled press needs its own storage space alongside the disk case.

The clear barrel shows the remaining dough as you work along the sheet. A glance lets you check whether it is nearly empty before starting the next row, without taking the top off just to look inside.

Separate the parts for washing

At cleanup, dismantle the press and sort the parts by their washing instructions. OXO's manual allows the body, base and stainless steel disks in the dishwasher; the lever/top and plunger need hand washing. That gives you some dishwasher help, with a separate washing task for the upper mechanism before you put the set away.

Regular spritz baking gives both the press and its disk case a job: shape the cookies on the sheet, then keep the pattern pieces together for next time. If your usual cookies are spooned onto a tray or cut from rolled dough, buy only if you also want to make pressed cookies. The recipe preparation, repeated lever operation and split washing routine come with that choice.