Piped Vanilla Spritz Cookies: OXO Cookie Press & #CookiesForKidsCancer

Piped Vanilla Spritz Cookies are easy, fun and delicious; the OXO Cookie Press, which I received for the purposes of a review and to help promote #CookiesForKidsCancer, is simple to work and comes with loads of fun shapes to press out. Affiliate links have been used to like to items I am discussing in this post.

I am so sorry I took so long getting this post out–hopefully if you have seen the green, circular “Bake A Difference” sticker on OXO products you have realized that a portion of the proceeds from purchasing those products will go to Cookies For Kids Cancer.

To back up a bit, OXO sent me their amazing cookie press so I could bake up some cookies for Cookies for Kids Cancer. This has become a beloved September ritual for me! Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is an organization I have been supporting since I first became aware of it. You can read more about my discovering them and what they do here, but basically I became aware of them through OXO, as OXO is one of their big supporters and I work with OXO Blogger Outreach. Anyway, September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and one of the purposes of this post is to also make you aware that you can support Cookies for Kids Cancer this month by purchasing certain “Bake A Difference” products at OXO. A second purpose is of course to just raise awareness for Cookies for Kids Cancer and the work they do.

For every stickered item sold, OXO will donate 25 cents in support of pediatric cancer research as part of its $100,000 pledge to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. (Look for specially marked OXO products at participating retailers.)
So are you ready for the embarrassing truth about why I am late getting this post to you?

I had never used a cookie press before, and it made me a little nervous.

Now of course I realize how incredibly silly I was. This was so easy!! Alex and I had so much fun doing it also. The cookie press came with a wonderful assortment of discs; Alex chose the maple leaf design because it was fall. As you can see in the collage above, it was easy enough for a child to operate also–something I love about most OXO tools.

Because I had never made spritz cookies before, I wanted to first master a “plain” vanilla butter cookie.  This recipe, closely adapted from Nancy Baggett in her wonderful Simply Sensational Cookies, worked perfectly. I can imagine adding herbs (finely chopped rosemary or thyme) to it, spices (cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, apple pr pumpkin pie spice blends), citrus zests, or extracts (anise, espresso, maple, fiori di sicilia). I am plotting and planning for Christmas, as you might imagine! (December 2015 update: check out the awesome holiday cookie press flavors I made here!)

 Affiliate links were used in this post, but only to link to items I would be discussing and linking to in any case. The OXO Cookie Press was sent to me by OXO for purposes of an honest review and to raise awareness for Cookies for Kids Cancer. No other compensation was provided, and all opinions are my own.