Vintage Christmas Cheer: Mirro Cookie Press Recipe Booklet

Received an early Christmas present from my mom this year.  She bought me a never been used 1957-59 Mirro Aluminum Cooky Pastry Press with all the parts and recipe booklet.   GREAT CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO GIVE THIS YEAR! You can find several on eBay, this is perfect for the vintage lover or food lover in your family. We inherited my grandmother's press and we used it for 15 more years until the metal screw inside got stripped in 2006.  All the replacement Wilton brand presses I have gotten since then have been made out of plastic parts and I have broken at least 4 different models. Last year during Walmart's extreme Christmas sale around New Year's, I bought two presses for a grand total of $5. I was stocking up anticipating emergency part breakage and I did not want to have a sad family if I couldn't deliver the green tinted almond Christmas tree cookies with the green and red sugar sprinkles. One year I had to make the dough and patted them out into tiny balls and baked them.  Tasted the same but it was sad!  The plastic pieces and dies just don't hold up using thicker dough such as the dough for the cheese straws. 

The Mirro Aluminum company was officially formed out of other companies in 1957, it was bought out in the 80s and now seems to be defunct.  I am guessing this press was one of the earlier ones. I couldn't find a date in the book or on the box.  I wish they were still making cookie presses though.  These things are going to become pretty rare.

Many families still claim their traditional Christmas cookie comes from a recipe out of this Mirro recipe booklet.  The original press features many cookie dies that the newer Wilton plastic models don't include such as the scottie dog and the camel.  The detail is also another benefit of the older presses.  For example, the tree die cut on the older one has scalloped edges to the branches that makes for a fancier and prettier cookie than the newer plastic dies that just have straight lines.  I have installed a link to a pdf download, but if you are looking for that one special recipe,  you click on any of the pictures below they will enlarge and you can copy and paste them into Word to print them out.  I intend on enlarging the Christmas tree recipe and framing it in my kitchen this year. Picture update soon. Must remember to take more pictures of the cookies I make this year to add to the blog.  I also love the image near the bottom that says, "Party Time is Pastry Time." Hope you find these useful and nostalgic! Let me know how yours turn out!

Click the link below to download this as a PDF from my Google Drive account:

Vintage Mirro Cookie Press Cookbook PDF

Front

Back

So cute! Many thanks to Laura!

Love how they spell "Cooky" just for the press but "Cookie" for the rest of it.

Snow Flakes

Quick-Mix Spritz

Shadows and Sugar Cookies

Orange Crisps

Peanut Butter Cookies

Caramel Cookies

Molasses Spice Cookies

Chocolate Spritz

Holly Wreaths

Almond Christmas Trees

Ginger Snaps

Cooky Decorating

Decoration

Different Frostings

How Classically 1950s! Cheese Appetizers

Cheese Appetizers Cont. and Cheese Straws

Too Cute! Party Time is Pastry Time!

Schaum Tortes

Cream Puffs

Lady Fingers

Eclairs

Custard Filling

Chocolate Frosting

This year I am definitely trying out the camel, scottie dog, wreath, and trees cookie die cuts!

Update in December of 2023:  Now I have a 6 year old son named Jasper, and he gets to pick the color sprinkles we use every year.  This year he chose blue but the trees must remain green lol!   Here is a mix of pictures from the past several years.