What is this kitchen (?) implement/tool used for?

April 15, 2016 9:20 PM

We found this metal scissoring-action type tool (YT video) in my Swedish grandmother's kitchen drawer after she passed away. No one in the family knows what it was for. Is it a kitchen tool or a handicraft thing? Do you know?

Picture 1
Picture 2
Scissoring action on video

Several people have attempted to find this tool online using Swedish keywords. I have tried to find it online in English as well to no avail - must be using the wrong search queries. Any help appreciated!

posted by gemmy to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

Best answer: Looks like a cookie dropper.
posted by FencingGal at 9:33 PM on April 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

Best answer: And here's a video showing how they work. I had one, but got rid of it because it wasn't all that useful.
posted by FencingGal at 9:37 PM on April 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

Yes, it's a cookie dropper. I found a silicone spoon works better.
posted by fiercekitten at 10:26 PM on April 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

I had no clue what that was, but after looking at FencingGal's video, and considering that both FencingGal and fiercekitten think it's not all that great as a cookie dropper, and considering that were talking about a Swedish grandmother, it occurs to me it might be a lot more useful as a tool to scoop a consistent portion of something less sticky than cookie dough out of a bowl and drop it safely into hot fat -- a meatball, say.
posted by jamjam at 10:50 PM on April 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

You'd use a table spoon to form as meatball (says this Dane). So I'd go along with a cookie dropper, though I've never seen the tool used in a Scandi kitchen.
posted by kariebookish at 11:13 PM on April 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

It is most definitely a cookie dropper.

However, if you want to have a tall tale to tell the uninformed, as our family loves to do regarding odds and ends of our accumulated things (and in keeping with the Swedish heritage): you might want to call it the "lutefisk de-boner."

Of course, the big center blade pushes the spine of the fish out the back, while being gently supported by the side strut things.
posted by yesster at 12:15 AM on April 16, 2016 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you! A cookie dropper makes total sense as some sort of gift to my cooking/baking master of a grandma. Absolutely not common in a Swedish kitchen (spoon and hands!), and probably not well used given that nobody had seen it in action.

(And lutefisk deboner or meatball former were funnier answers!)

Mystery solved! I knew I could count on y'all!
posted by gemmy at 2:14 AM on April 16, 2016