Help me with one last girly sorority project :)

September 11, 2009 6:04 AM

CookieFilter! I have this cookie press with the standard lot of holiday themed dies that came with it. I am either looking for a particular set of dies, or a way to create them myself.

This weekend is formal recruitment for my sorority, Gamma Phi Beta, and will be the first one I have not participated in for awhile due to my graduation. I wanted to do something nice for all the sisters, especially since it will be my little sister's first recruitment. I want to bake them cookies, and I was thinking to myself, my oh my that's a lot of chocolate chip cookies to make (at least 100, probably more), and then I remembered that I have a cookie press! This will surely make things easier, right?

As happens whenever I embark on doing a project for someone else, it quickly turns into this unmanageable beast. I now want to make cookies in the shape of our Greek letters: Gamma, Phi, and Beta. I know if I tried to form them by hand it would take hours upon hours to complete, and they would look like total crap and probably bake unevenly.

So. I want to find a regular alphabet die set, as I could use the L and the B for the gamma and beta, but what to do about the pesky phi??? Suggestions on die sets, either Greek alphabet or non, and/or how to make the phi would be greatly appreciated!

I would not be opposed to using cookie cutters to accomplish this goal, if they can be found, or made.

Alternatively, our symbols are the crescent moon, pink carnation, our gem is the pearl, and our chapter animal is the fox if anything can be found in that vein.

If you can think of another project I could do (with the help of my big sister) that you would have appreciated during the long hours of formal recruitment and is fairly inexpensive to make for 100 women, let me have it! I'm open to suggestions, and am not stuck on the cookie idea.

Good cookie press cookie recipes are welcome as well! The sugar cookie recipe I have now is good, not great in my opinion, plus the amount of sugar gives the consumer bad breath after consumption...a big no-no for recruitment!

Recruitment ends on Sunday, so my project will need to be completed soon! Help me MeFites!

posted by Gonestarfishing to food & drink (5 answers total)

It occurs to me that you could craft a Phi out of an O and I conjoined.

Good luck
posted by mikewas at 6:48 AM on September 11, 2009

There are several flower or flower-like discs in that set, you could color your cookie dough pink they will look sorta like a carnation.

There is a bar disc that makes a small rectangle it is the one that looks like a line. You could press out a large length on the sheet, cut into several pieces before baking, and either pipe or stencil the Greek letters on them when finished. Though rolling out cookie dough and cutting into squares may be faster.

Look for sprinkles at specialty stores - you never know what you may find. You might get lucky and find some crescent shapes. If you find something close to a pearl, experiment with pressing these into the top of the dough before cooking.

Another thought: the cookies that press makes are very small, you may actually need to make several 100. The good news is that they are tiny and tons fit on a tray.

As for a recipe, I don't have a specific one to share, but you could also look for "spritz cookie recipes", as that is the name I have traditionally heard. Try adding citrus rinds or almond extract to the recipe.

Good luck!
posted by gagoumot at 6:49 AM on September 11, 2009

You could try something like these -- not a press but a cookie cutter.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:49 AM on September 11, 2009

sliced refrigerator sugar cookies are one of my favorites (you know, like the ones you get in the store w/ the christmas pattern made in the cookie). if you make different color dough and then press it together into a large tube, you can make awesome designs that always amaze people. it's kind of hard to explain, but here and here for a pumpkin themed example.
posted by alejandria at 8:41 AM on September 11, 2009

You can buy plain construction plastic in various thicknesses at a Lowe's or Home Depot, and cut out whatever shape you like with an X-Acto knife. Or, for that matter, balsa wood.
posted by rokusan at 8:55 AM on September 11, 2009