C*e*l*e*b*r*a*t*e*!

Ding! I'm done with exams! So what did I do? I baked cookies!
Mark's mom was kind enough to give me a cookie press last christmas when she cleaned out her cabinet. My old roomie had an electric, which I didn't like. But the manual one so far is pretty cool. Its easier to clean, I can use it anywhere in the kitchen, and it doesn't make a weird noise.
So my first batch was a half batch of spritz cookies from the Betty Crocker Cooky Book, a classic (and great gift idea) cookie book. (Anyone know when we started spelling cookie with the ie?)
Ingredients:

* 1 cup butter or margarine
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 tsp flavoring (almond or vanilla)
* 2&1/4 cups Gold Medal Flour

Equipment:

* Cookie press
* Mixing bowl
* Spatula

Procedure:

1. Heat oven to 400.
2. Mix butter, sugar, egg, salt, and flavoring thoroughly. (I used a mixer, I don't think they existed when the book was written.)
3. Measure flour by sifting or dipping method. (I sift because I don't know what dipping method means.)
4. Add flour slowly.
5. Put dough in press in 1/4 batches. Put onto UNGREASED cookie sheet. (Apparently if the sheet is ungreased, it helps the dough stick to it. Also, the cookies are prone to sliding if you grease it.)

I haven't quite worked out the best method of getting the dough off the press. It might depend on the shape. I had the hang of it for like, 8 cookies, and then I lost my touch. I was using the butterfly shape. I think in the future I might go with "Scottie". There are also club, spade, and heart shapes for my next poker night.