Making Sablée Cookies with a Cookie Press

If you’ve never seen one before, a cookie press can be a bit perplexing. When you open the box, you’ll find a metal cylinder, a handle connecting to a notched rod, and a myriad little metal disks. Each disk produces a cookie with a different shape, so it’s easy to make a variety of different cookies with very little extra effort. This method works for virtually any cookie dough. To set the thing up, roll the dough—extra buttery sweet pastry dough is shown here— into logs that fit in the metal cylinder. Screw one of the disks onto one end of the cylinder and attach the handle/ plunger mechanism. Here is the trick: Hold the end of the cylinder very firmly over a sheet pan and press down the handle as far as it will go. Lift the whole gadget up with a very quick jerk. If you’re too slow, the dough will stick to the cylinder instead of forming a cookie on the sheet pan. Use nonstick or buttered sheet pans—parchment paper can’t be used because it will come up as you jerk up the press.