How to Make Dough Softer for a Cookie Press

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Things You'll Need

  • Cookie press

  • Dough

  • Refrigerator

  • Flour

  • Butter or milk

A cookie press (sometimes called a cookie shooter or spritz maker) is a baking tool used to make spritz and other formed or shaped cookies. A cookie press may be electric or manual and consists of a hollow tube for the dough, a stencil-like attachment for shaping the cookie and a plunger for pressing the dough through the stencil. For a cookie press to work properly, the dough must be the right consistency—not too stiff and not too soft.

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Step 1

Allow your dough to come to room temperature before inserting it into the cookie press. Many cookie-press recipes will ask you to refrigerate your dough before using it in a cookie press, but refrigerating it for too long may result in dough that is too stiff to work with.

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Step 2

If the dough is too soft and sticky after removing it from the refrigerator, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough is firmer and more workable.

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Step 3

If the dough is still too stiff after you have let it come to room temperature, try adding butter or milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough softens. Be careful not to add too much extra butter, however, as this may cause your cookies to spread while baking or to not properly stick to the cookie sheet when you are using the cookie press.

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Step 4

You can also try loading room-temperature dough into the cookie press, and then putting the loaded cookie press into the refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes for the dough to set up.

Tip

Always use ungreased baking sheets when using a cookie press. You will need the dough to stick to the baking sheet.

Only use recipes specifically designed for a cookie press, and don't add sprinkles, chocolate chips or other additions to the dough as this could cause the cookie press to jam.

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