Kitchen Toys: Electric Cookie Press (Cuisinart) & Giveaway!

We were out at the Outlet Mall (almost as bad as the real mall) shopping for gifts for the parents in November.  In one of the kitchen stores, I scoured every isle and every shelf searching for a cookie press to make my spritz cookies.  I gave up, the kids were looking at me like I was mad (the crazy kind not the about-to-blow-my-top kind).  I happened to turn around while leaving the store to hold the door open.  “THAT’S IT!”  I scream-whispered to Hubby.  “That’s the cookie press I was looking for all over the store!”  By then we had hit the point where the kids started acting like little animals, they needed to be fed.  I didn’t want to spend a moment more at the outlets either.

A couple of weeks went by and I decided to pick up a cookie press I found at the grocery store, a seasonal item sitting among the oven mitts, cookie cutters, and festive cupcake papers.  I tried the first batch of cookies, cleaned it up, and it’s been living on the kitchen counter ever since.

Little did I know, Hubby was listening to me at the mall.

Christmas came and I unwrapped Hubby’s gift (he even bought new paper to wrap it in).  An electric cookie press and piping tool.  Everything works better as a power tool, obviously cookie making and cake frosting needed an extra boost of horsepower too.  I thanked him profusely for the very thoughtful gift and that I would return my manual press or give it to his mom.

On the way home, Hubby confessed he had kept the receipt in case I wanted something else.  I liked his gift.  I liked the idea of faster, maybe more consistent, cookies.  Plus it was multi-purpose!  I opened the box and found a recipe booklet, several different flavours of cookie batter are included, as well as pâte à choux!  Awesome.  This will be a swell addition to kitchen toy island.

Now the manual cookie press needs a new home.

Giveaway!

All these contests have rules, so here it how to enter to win this cookie press (used once to subdue my craving for spritz)

• Follow my blog (leave 1 comment for this)
• Like Cardamom Finnish Cottage Bakery on Facebook (leave 1 comment for this)
• Follow midnitechef on Twitter (leave 1 comment for this)

Choose any or all methods, maximum of three entries until contest closes Jan 14th, 2012

You must live in Canada or continental USA to win.  Random.org will be used to select the winner.

UPDATE:

The lucky comment is #1, that means The Edmonton Tourist!

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Oatmeal(+) Cookies

Despite the fact that it is a blazing 100 degree day, I have fired up the oven to make some cookies.  I grew up on homemade cookies and can’t remember how old I was when I found Oreo’s for the first time.  I was probably at my friend’s house in elementary school.  Her mom worked at the hospital and probably didn’t have much time for baking, nevertheless I still have fond memories of afternoons spent there,  Oreo’s or not.  This has had a lifelong impact, which I’m certain was not something my parents were trying to accomplish with me.  Call it a side-effect to growing up on the farm where everything was done at home (or at Grandma’s).  To this day, I cringe if I have to buy cookies.  The reason is two-fold:  homemade cookies just taste better (familiar), and I have nut allergies.  I’ve made the mistake once of buying a good looking bag of cookies as a treat just to take a bite of the first one to discover there really are traces of nuts.  Rats.  The remainder is either chucked or donated to a very happy friend. 

Today I just could not physically make it to the store to try to find suitable cookies, maybe from the bakery so they are a little closer to my own oatmeal cookies.  So I pulled out the cookie sheets and the mixing bowl to make a batch as quickly as I could.  didn’t even let the oven sit idle after it proclaimed with a loud beep “I’m ready!”.  The oven was on and off again in under half an hour, with four sheets of cookies completed!  To compensate for heating up the house, I put the laundry outside to dry so as not to use the dryer and compound the problem.

By the time I could sit down to write my blog, the kitchen was cooled off almost to the point you wouldn’t have known the oven had been used.  The towels outside were nearly dry and fresh smelling, albeit crunchy.  I think this trade-off worked out just fine.

These cookies are very tender and not overly sweet.  The hints of sweetness are more noticeable when you find a raisin or chip of chocolate…oozing in the center .  Arm yourself with a cold glass of milk to attack a couple of my cookies…

Recipe

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda in 1/4 boiling water
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, plain raw seeds
• 3/4 cup Thompson golden raisins
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cream the butter, margarine, sugars, egg and vanilla until fluffy.  Add the flour and salt, mix well.  Dissolve baking soda in the boiling water and blend gently into the mixture.  Stir in the oats, raisins, seeds, and chocolate.  Drop by tablespoon and flatten cookies slightly.  Bake at 350 F for 12-14 minutes (it will depend on the size of cookie) until light golden brown edges appear and the center is set.  Cool on racks. 

Enjoy 🙂

Update: These cookies are very moist and will not last long.  I strongly encourage immediate consumption 😉

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