“New” cookie gun that’s 65 years old


I started baking shortbreads last night, when I made a double batch of seven tins. Over the last two years the cookie gun that I had been using–which belonged to my mother–was starting to give me trouble. No wonder, since my mother used to tell me that it was older than me. Since her death I must have made more cookies over the past nine Christmases (2015-2023) than she did over fifty years. I truly believe this as I never saw my mom make as many as I do each Christmas. That said, sixty years later that cookie gun was acting as if it was on its last legs. The dough doesn’t advance down the barrel. Therefore for every cookie I made, I must depress the trigger five or six times to do it. I feared in 2022, and again in 2023 that the gun might stop working. What would I do if I was no longer able to make my mother’s shortbreads in the same way she had been making them for fifty years?

Fortunately I got through the 2023 Christmas season with cookies for everyone on my list yet I didn’t want to risk the gun self-destructing in 2024. Earlier this year I looked on-line for an identical model of cookie gun. I didn’t have to go further than eBay, however it took quite a bit of searching the listings to make sure the gun I wanted to buy had all the parts. I didn’t want to buy one if it was missing any of the cookie molds, especially the ones that worked best with shortbread dough. Let the buyer beware as I never took any vendor’s word for it when the listings advertised a complete package. From the photos provided in some of the listings I could tell very well that pieces were missing. I had a complete cookie gun package to compare it to. I asked vendors to provide additional pictures and to count the molds to make sure that the set was complete.

I bought a cookie gun that was advertised as complete and had it sent to a friend who lives in California, since it was cheaper to mail within the US. I picked it up in April. I examined the contents when I got back home and it appears never to have been used. Imagine that! I hope it still worked. Last month I washed all of the pieces and put it to work last night.

It worked beautifully. Cookies came out with only one depression of the trigger. I will be able to finish a batch of cookies faster since I will be spending less time struggling with the trigger to get them out of the barrel.

Here are some pictures of the new gun and the battered taped box that houses my mother’s. Inside the box lid is a handwritten date: August 29, 1959. The box has a small patch torn from the upper left corner (under TRIGGER-QUICK!). I wonder if a price tag had been affixed there:

Look how shiny and smooth everything is. It probably has never been used.

2 Responses

  1. Excellent. Glad you were able to find a quite unique device ( and in never-used condition) in this day and age!

    P.

  2. What a sweet story! So glad you found one and in such pristine shape! Now you can make more in the same amount of time. 🤣

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