Troubleshooting a Cookie Press: Popping Bottom Ring

Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

This thread explores various experiences and challenges faced by participants using a cookie press, particularly focusing on issues with the bottom ring popping off and difficulties with cookie dough consistency and release during baking.

Discussion Character

  • Anecdotal
  • Opinion-based
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes a situation where a customer reported the bottom ring of the cookie press popping off, suggesting it might not be screwed on properly.
  • Another participant mentions that the issue could be due to the cookie press being used upside down.
  • Several users share their experiences with the Classic Spritz Cookies recipe, noting that the dough often turns out crumbly rather than cohesive.
  • One participant found that adding water to the dough improved its consistency and release from the press.
  • Another participant emphasizes that using parchment paper may hinder the dough's ability to release from the press, suggesting direct application onto the cookie sheet instead.
  • One participant shares a specific recipe for cookies using cake mix and butter, highlighting its simplicity and effectiveness.
  • Several users express frustration with the dough not releasing properly, particularly on metal sheets and parchment paper.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Views differ on the best practices for using the cookie press, particularly regarding the use of parchment paper and the consistency of the dough. No clear consensus emerges on a single solution to the issues raised.

Contextual Notes

Participants are sharing personal experiences and tips related to using the cookie press and baking cookies, with a focus on troubleshooting specific problems encountered during the process.

Who May Find This Useful

Consultants and community members interested in baking with the cookie press may find the shared experiences and tips relevant to their own practices.

pc_jessica
pc_jessica
Messages
653
At my booth yesterday I had a woman come up and ask me a question about our new cookie press. She said she had just gotten hers and that she tried to use it but the bottome ring keeps popping off it when she tries it. Anyone have this happen or know why this would be happening. I told her she might not have it screwed on all the way, but she asured me she did. Anyone else have any thoughts?
 
I haven't heard of that happening to anyone else. If you get a minute call or email Pampered Chef so they are aware of a potential problem. Hopefully you have all of the customer's contact info because she will remember you if you help her.
 
She has it upside down, and she's trying to screw the bottom onto the top. You can tell by the way the PC Insignia is facing.

(I know, because I had the same thing happen to mine Thursday)
 
Along that line, has anyone tried the new Classic Spritz Cookies recipe that came with the Cookie Press? I have mixed up everything just like it says, but I have crumbs, not dough. 1 egg and 1t vanilla doesn't sound like much liquid to stick it together -- it does have lots of butter. I want to bake them tonight to take to a party in the morning, so I would appreciate any tips you can give me.TIA!
Sandi
 
OK -- so I thought, maybe if I just put my crumbs in, they will come out dough at the bottom if its smushed together. Nope -- it compacted my crumbs into a cylinder of cement-like stuff so hard I thought it would break the press. Good thing I like cookie dough (well, almost dough!)Sandi
 
I've made these several times and each time I've had to either use about 1/4 cup less flour or add a little water. The dough works like a charm if it is "sticky" instead of smooth. Once it's right, I've used all disks without any problems.
 
Right now I'm trying to make the Spritz cookies for the first time. Not impressed. But having seen the above tip to use a little less flour or add water- I'm going to go put a little water in there! My problem is the dough doesn't come off the press! It's a LITTLE crumbly, but sticks together when compacted- but it just won't come off the bottom of the CP when I turn out the dough. Definitely not as easy as she made it look in the Demo at NC. :D I may try another recipe I found in another thread (found in the "Similar Threads" below.Update: Ok...after adding some water, it did help with some of the discs. Others were still difficult to get the dough to release from the disc and onto the pan/paper. I'm using parchment paper, so I'm not working with hot-pans, not sure if that's it or not. I noticed it DOES seem to work a LITTLE better coming off on clean/fresh paper, versus a paper that's already been in the oven- but I hope that's not it! Could go through alot of paper making cookies! I'd be better off using a couple pans and letting them cool completely first. (obviously NOT stones- they take forever to cool :D). Open for suggestions!
 
Last edited:
Ok....i'm a little more at ease with the Cookie Press. Adding about 1/3 cup water to my dough, and then using the press directly onto the Cookie Sheet, NOT onto the parchment paper, makes a HUGE difference. They look like the shapes they should! And they come off of the press much better. Apparently, using the paper doesn't have the right texture to make the dough stick to it and come off the press. Just have to let the cookie pan cool enough before putting a new batch on...but that's ok.
 
Thw cookie dough I use is with the cake mix 2/3 cup flour 4 sticks melted butter do NOT put onto the parchment paper go staight onto the stone or sheet pan I have to make them for our meeting to demo a cookie show on Monday
 
Doreen,
can you give us that exact recipe?
 
All Occasion Cookies
You can add food coloring to the batter too
1 (18.25 oz) pkg white cake mix
2 3/4 cups flour
1 lb butter or margarine, divided (do not use vegetable oil spread)
milk or egg white so sugar will stick to cookie
Optional decorations: colored sugar crystals, sprinkles, chopped nuts, Decorator Icing, Melted Chocolate or powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. In Small Batter Bowl, microwave 2 sticks of the butter on HIGH 1 minute or until melted. Slice remaining butter into 1/2 inch pieces; add to melted butter, tossing to coat. Allow butter to stand 3-5 minutes or until softened. Meanwhile, in large bowl, combine cake mix and flour; blend well using Stainless Steel Whisk, breaking up any large lumps. Whisk butter until smooth and free of lumps. If necessary, microwave butter an additional 10-20 seconds or until creamy and pourable. Do not melt completely. Pour butter all at once into dry ingredients, scraping butter from batter bowl. Mix until dry ingredients are incorporated and dough is smooth. (If dough is too stiff to stir, knead by hand until smooth). Fill Cookie Press, fitted with disk of your choice, with dough. Press dough onto flat Baking Stone, 1 inch apart. To decorate cookies before baking, brush unbaked cookies lightly with milk or egg white using Pastry Brush and sprinkle with colored sugar crystals, sprinkles or finely chopped nuts. Bake cookies on flat Baking Stone 15-17 minutes or until very light golden brown. Cool 3 minutes on baking stone; remove to Cooling Rack. Cool completely. To decorate cookies after baking using Decorator Icing or Melted Chocolate, or sprinkle with powdered sugar using Flour/Sugar Shaker. Makes about 8 dozen cookies.
 
Thank you! I just got the cookie press last week and it did NOT come with a product care card - is there a place that i can download it???
 
chefmickey1 said:
I've made these several times and each time I've had to either use about 1/4 cup less flour or add a little water. The dough works like a charm if it is "sticky" instead of smooth. Once it's right, I've used all disks without any problems.
Click to expand...

One of the things the test kitchens advise is to make sure you whisk your flour before measuring and then spoon it into the cup. By just scooping the flour with the measuring cup you can add as much as a couple of ounces too much, which would make the dough dry.

That being said, I haven't made the spritz cookies yet. :D. I have, however made PB cookies (1 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 cup creamy peanut butter...mix, press and bake 14-16 minutes at 350 degrees on stone). I tried and tried (and tried) to press onto parchment and the plain metal cookie sheet but the dough wouldn't release! It only worked on the stone (but they were awesome...dipped 'em in melted chocolate!).

Has anyone else had issues getting it to release onto the metal? Or am I just a freak of nature? :yuck:
 
YOU CAN NOT USE PARCHMENT PAPER NO MATTER HOW HAD YOU TRY
i JUST MAD THE COOKIES WITH THE CAKE MIX AND THEY CAME OUT GREAT VERY EASY
 
Chefstover2 said:
That being said, I haven't made the spritz cookies yet. :D. I have, however made PB cookies (1 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 cup creamy peanut butter...mix, press and bake 14-16 minutes at 350 degrees on stone). I tried and tried (and tried) to press onto parchment and the plain metal cookie sheet but the dough wouldn't release! It only worked on the stone (but they were awesome...dipped 'em in melted chocolate!).

Has anyone else had issues getting it to release onto the metal? Or am I just a freak of nature? :yuck:
Click to expand...

you only use those 3 things for the PB cookies?? no flour or cake mix?
 
4mygirls said:
you only use those 3 things for the PB cookies?? no flour or cake mix?
Click to expand...

yup...and they turn out delish! Talk about a budget recipe! It's actually a good demo, too:

-Batter Bowl
-Measuring Cup Set
-Measure-All Cup
-Mix & Mash
-Large Scoop
-Cookie Press
-Decorator Bottle Set
-Scrapers ('cause the scoop doesn't get all the batter)
-Stoneware
-Mini Serving Spatula
-Oven Mitts
-Hot Pad/Trivet
-Snowmen Platter
-2-cup prep-bowl (for melting chocolate in the microwave for dipping, if you like)

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of now.

I'm offering this as part of a December Cookie Exchange party.
 
Every year for Christmas, my mom would make these yummy cookies. Now I make them for my family. We have the Mirro brand cookie press, which is styled like the PC one. It has some different tips, though, that I wish our PC one had. Here's a picture of the tip we use for this recipe.

Here's the recipe:

Spritz Slims (chocolate dipped shortbread cookies)

1 1/2 cups butter (3 sticks)
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
3 1/2 cups sifted flour (sift, then measure 3 1/2 cups)
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Beat butter with sugar until fluffy-light in a large bowl. Beat in egg yolks, vanilla and salt. Stir in flour, a third at a time, blending well to make a soft dough. Fit rosette plate or star disk onto cookie press; fill with dough (or fit pastry bag with a small star tip). Press dough out into 3-inch lengths on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 375 for 8 minutes or until firm. Watch closely that they don't over-brown. Remove from cookie sheet to wire racks; cool completely. Don't let them sit too long on cookie sheet, they are very delicate and can break easily trying to get them off the pan when they are cool and hard.

Melt semisweet chocolate chips and dip both ends of the cookie. Use a gently touch so the cookies don't break in half. Place cookie on wax paper for the chocolate to cool and harden. Can store them in a tin, keeping them on the wax paper and in layers.
 

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I just got done making the peanut butter ones - they are YUMMY! I can't wait to use them as a demo at a show!
 
4mygirls said:
Thank you! I just got the cookie press last week and it did NOT come with a product care card - is there a place that i can download it???
Click to expand...

You can request one in an online adjustment or download it from consultant's corner
 
Chefstover2 said:
...That being said, I haven't made the spritz cookies yet. :D. I have, however made PB cookies (1 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 cup creamy peanut butter...mix, press and bake 14-16 minutes at 350 degrees on stone)...:
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for posting this recipe. My mom used to make these, and I had forgotten about them!

:love::love:I just used the new cookie press for the first time, and OMG!!! It was so freaking easy! I had the old style, but never used it because it intimated me, but this one was a breeze!:love::love:

Thank you all so much for the tips about not using parchment paper, metal pans, etc. Saved me some time!

I made these for our cluster meeting tonight (my first since I resigned). Can't wait to share the easy recipe, and that they are GLUTEN FREE!
 
Chefstover2 said:
yup...and they turn out delish! Talk about a budget recipe! It's actually a good demo, too:-Batter Bowl
-Measuring Cup Set
-Measure-All Cup
-Mix & Mash
-Large Scoop
-Cookie Press
-Decorator Bottle Set
-Scrapers ('cause the scoop doesn't get all the batter)
-Stoneware
-Mini Serving Spatula
-Oven Mitts
-Hot Pad/Trivet
-Snowmen Platter
-2-cup prep-bowl (for melting chocolate in the microwave for dipping, if you like)I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of now.I'm offering this as part of a December Cookie Exchange party.
Click to expand...
I like the recipe. The only thing I would change in the demo is that * I* would use the stainless mixing bowl instead of the batter bowl. I would talk about the benefits of the batter bowl when I talk about the prep bowls. My reasoning is that I have never had a host book to get products that are fairly easy to afford. By throwing the stainless mixing bowl set in there you have a booking *carrot* .Just a suggestion. :)
 
beckyjsmith said:
I like the recipe. The only thing I would change in the demo is that * I* would use the stainless mixing bowl instead of the batter bowl. I would talk about the benefits of the batter bowl when I talk about the prep bowls. My reasoning is that I have never had a host book to get products that are fairly easy to afford. By throwing the stainless mixing bowl set in there you have a booking *carrot* .Just a suggestion. :)
Click to expand...

It's also lighter to carry to the show!
 
A customer at last night's show suggested I "rice" cauliflower with the cookie press. She is diabetic and substitutes cauliflower for mashed potatoes. I'm not brave enough to try it, but it sounds possible...anyone daring enough to try?
 
I tried the new cookie press for the first time tonight using the recipe that came with the press. My dough wasn't crumbly - it was too soft! The cookies came out I used the PC cookie sheets, but they spread - so my trees were fat and buterflys too wide. Any suggestions for this problem?
 
Maybe a little less butter next time. But for this time you could try a tbs of more flour, but you have to be careful, otherwise it will taste flour-y.
 
The only thing I would change in the demo is that * I* would use the stainless mixing bowl instead of the batter bowl.
Click to expand...

I would also take SS bowls. I would talk about depending on kind of cookie you are making, and HOW many, the SS bowls come in a set of 3, and you could be making up to 3 kinds of cookie batter at work at one time. I've got family recipes that need to "rest" in fridge. Well I put in my SS bowls, that lid goes on and keeps tight seal.

Also upselling and that's can hurt.

Lisa
 
just used my CP for the first time with that pb cookie and it was awesome!! let my son pick out the die and let him turn it out too... hes only 4! he was so excited, it was fun and i usually cant stand him helping me lol. awesome demo for show, it's not even that messy for using pb...

as for the cauliflower... u might have to REALLY cook it down for it to be soft enough to rice, and it mght not have any flavor left. interesting theory, and i obviously haven't used the ricing function of the CP yet, but it might not be worth it with cauliflower...?
 
I've not used my CP yet, going to this week.

With the ricer part, my cousin takes and steams cauliflower and mashes it and serves it as Mashed "potatoes" so her kids LOVE to come to others homes or my grandma's home they will get actual potatoes, when she saw this came with ricing blade, she's interested in also using this for her cauliflower.

I've thought about mixing cauliflower with potatoes to try and sneak in another good for you factor, but just haven't done it yet.
 
chef131doreen said:
All Occasion Cookies
You can add food coloring to the batter too
1 (18.25 oz) pkg white cake mix
2 3/4 cups flour
1 lb butter or margarine, divided (do not use vegetable oil spread)
milk or egg white so sugar will stick to cookie
Optional decorations: colored sugar crystals, sprinkles, chopped nuts, Decorator Icing, Melted Chocolate or powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. In Small Batter Bowl, microwave 2 sticks of the butter on HIGH 1 minute or until melted. Slice remaining butter into 1/2 inch pieces; add to melted butter, tossing to coat. Allow butter to stand 3-5 minutes or until softened. Meanwhile, in large bowl, combine cake mix and flour; blend well using Stainless Steel Whisk, breaking up any large lumps. Whisk butter until smooth and free of lumps. If necessary, microwave butter an additional 10-20 seconds or until creamy and pourable. Do not melt completely. Pour butter all at once into dry ingredients, scraping butter from batter bowl. Mix until dry ingredients are incorporated and dough is smooth. (If dough is too stiff to stir, knead by hand until smooth). Fill Cookie Press, fitted with disk of your choice, with dough. Press dough onto flat Baking Stone, 1 inch apart. To decorate cookies before baking, brush unbaked cookies lightly with milk or egg white using Pastry Brush and sprinkle with colored sugar crystals, sprinkles or finely chopped nuts. Bake cookies on flat Baking Stone 15-17 minutes or until very light golden brown. Cool 3 minutes on baking stone; remove to Cooling Rack. Cool completely. To decorate cookies after baking using Decorator Icing or Melted Chocolate, or sprinkle with powdered sugar using Flour/Sugar Shaker. Makes about 8 dozen cookies.
Click to expand...

Does this same concept work using, say, a CHOCOLATE cake? I have a recipe for cookies using cake mix that you can use whatever flavor you like, but wasn't sure about this one!

Thanks!
 
Bumping for a second look at my question (see previous post)...

thanks!
 

Frequently Asked Questions

What causes the bottom ring of the cookie press to pop off?

The bottom ring of the cookie press can pop off due to several reasons, including overfilling the barrel, using too much pressure while pressing, or not securing the ring properly before use. It's important to ensure that the dough is not packed too tightly and that the ring is firmly attached to the press.

How can I prevent the bottom ring from popping off during use?

To prevent the bottom ring from popping off, make sure to fill the barrel with the appropriate amount of dough, leaving some space at the top. Additionally, check that the ring is properly aligned and tightened before you start pressing. Avoid applying excessive force when pressing the dough out.

What should I do if the bottom ring pops off while using the cookie press?

If the bottom ring pops off while using the cookie press, stop pressing immediately to avoid making a mess. Carefully reattach the ring, ensuring it is secure, and check the dough consistency. If the dough is too thick, consider thinning it slightly or adjusting the amount in the barrel.

Is there a specific type of dough that works best with the cookie press to avoid issues?

Yes, doughs that are specifically designed for cookie presses, such as spritz cookie dough, work best. These doughs are typically softer and contain the right balance of fat and flour, making them easier to press out without causing the bottom ring to pop off.

Can I use the cookie press for other types of dough besides cookies?

While the cookie press is primarily designed for cookie dough, it can also be used for other soft mixtures, such as certain types of pastry dough or even mashed potatoes for decorative purposes. However, it's important to ensure that the mixture is not too thick to avoid issues with the bottom ring.

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