A cookie press is a hand-operated extruding machine. It is a cylinder with a metal die at one end (presses come with a variety of these, each creating different designs). The dough is held in the cylinder and pushed down and through the die by a plate at the top when the handle is pressed. Cookie presses work the way a gun does: One pull of the trigger pushes a uniform quantity of dough through the die every time—all the cookies emerge the same size.
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