CONFESSION: Even though I love to bake I HATE making the cut-out cookies that you see everywhere from now until the holidays are over. I have never had good luck rolling out the dough after it's been refrigerated. No matter what you say, I find it difficult. Best when done as cool as possible, refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight or 2 days, let it warm a little but not to room temperature, use flour, use wax paper, etc. I've tried it all and just came to the conclusion that I stink at it and just don't enjoy it at all. The sticky mess and overworked sub-par cookies I'd end up with just weren't my cup of tea. This much to the disappointment of my boys who love to bake too and LOVE to decorate...
TIP: I'm going to start this section by stating that I am no longer talking to you if you knew of this trick already and did not share it with me! I found this tip on-line, desperately searching for a way to make this work so my boys could have some fun, and it is one of the best tips I've found in quite a while. After you make the dough roll it out BEFORE you refrigerate it that way when you are ready to make cookies all you have to do is throw on a little flour so the cookie cutters don't stick and you're good to go! I threw my wad of dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, patted it down with my hands, put another piece of parchment on top, rolled out the dough and finally to make sure it was even, I took another cookie sheet and pressed it on top. What a great idea! I am actually excited about this holiday delight and can't wait until Noah gets home to share the news.
THE RECIPE:1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup shortening or butter*
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Early in the day or the day before:In a large bowl cream the shortening and the sugar. Add the eggs, extract, and milk. In a medium bowl mix the dry ingredients with a wire whisk. Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl. Mix with mixer until well combined. With hands, shape dough into a ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Roll** half or 1/3 dough at a time, keep the rest refrigerated. For crisp cookies, roll dough, paper thin. For softer cookies, roll 1/8 " to 1/4" thick. With floured cookie cutter, cut into shapes. Re-roll trimmings and cut.
Place cookies 1/2 inch apart on cookie sheets. Decorate*** Bake 8 minutes or until very light brown. With pancake turner, remove cookies to racks; cool. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.
*I've found that if you want "sturdy and tasty" cookies you should use 1/2 shortening and 1/2 butter. Shortening makes cookies sturdy and butter makes them tasty.
4 comments:
Yay! That's a great tip! I never heard of it, but was thinking maybe rolling between two anything (dowel, sticks, pans, etc.) that are the right height (like I've seen people do for clay on HGTV) would work, too. The boys are going to be so excited! You'll need to send pics of their masterpieces. Have fun, guys!!!
I am so doing this!
this is a great tip! Never thought of it and I do a lot of cut-out cookies! Here is my simple tip (on something completely different): Use kitchen scissors to cut up kids food...works great for pizza, hot dogs, sandwiches...much quicker than a knife. There you have it.
Thanks for that hint, I will try it as I also have had poor success with sugar cookie cutouts. I have had better luck with gingerbread (the Betty Crocker recipe). We have a dairy allergy here we use all margarine and/or shortening. I'm not much for making frosting but I do make egg yolk & food coloring dye to for Sean to "paint" the cookies with and he loves that. I love your blog Tiff and wished we lived closer to hang out, I think we would have a lot in common. Love, Alison Tubo
Post a Comment