Yahoo Lifestyle The Genius Christmas Cookie Trick We Wish We'd Known About Sooner
I typically avoid making cut-out cookies for the holidays. Why? Because they're ticking time bombs. You know how the first pancake is always imperfect and the rest will be good? Well, I’m convinced cutout cookies follow the reverse principle. You have to act fast or else you’re met with progressively sticky dough that’s impossible to cut out. My cut-out cookies of Christmas past have resembled amorphous blobs rather than gingerbread men.
Related: 200+ Christmas Cookie Recipes Your Family Will Love This Holiday
Still, cut-out cookies are a hallmark holiday dessert and I'm a food pro, so I would like to figure out how to overcome my cut-out cookie curse. Lucky for me (and you), bakers are always willing to help other bakers. Recently, through the advice of King Arthur Baking and the legendary baker Dorie Greenspan, I learned about a simple trick for getting super sharp-edged and perfectly shaped cut-out cookies. Here’s what you need to know about this pro-baker-approved trick.
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How to Make Better Cut-Out Cookies
Typically people mix, freeze, then roll out their cookie dough. The issue with that is that you're left to deal with a block of frozen dough, which is often either too hard to roll out or you leave it on the counter too long and then it gets all sticky.
To solve all of those issues, this clever trick has you change the order of operations. After you mix your cookie dough, transfer it to a sheet of parchment paper and top it with a second sheet of parchment. Roll out the dough to achieve the specific thickness called for in the recipe.
Transfer the dough on the parchment to a baking sheet, then remove the top sheet of parchment. Repeat with the rest of your dough, stacking the sheets on top of each other, leaving the bottom sheet of parchment still on the dough so you have parchment between each layer. If you're making cookies in a few hours or a couple of days, you don't have to cover the dough. If the dough is going to be in the freezer longer, wrap the baking sheet tightly with plastic wrap.
When you're ready to roll, remove a dough sheet from the freezer, let it thaw for 5 minutes, then cut out your shapes. This tweak will give you easier-to-stamp-out dough that will create cookies that are clean, sharp-edged and true to their cookie cutter’s design. Freezing the dough first also means the cookies won’t spread as much in the oven and all the cookies will look perfect.
Related: The Secret Ingredient to the Best-Ever Sugar Cookies
A Few More Tips for Perfect Cut-out Cookies
Soften your butter. Softening butter for cut-out cookies ensures that the butter blends smoothly with sugar and other ingredients, creating a cohesive dough that’s easy to work with and bakes up beautifully.
Flour your cookie cutters. Dipping cookie cutters in flour helps prevent the dough from sticking to the cookie cutter, allowing for cleaner and more precise shapes.
Pick up the scraps around the cookie cut-outs. To help make sure your cut-out cookies stay pristine, try to pick up the scraps around the cut-outs instead of the cut-outs themselves. Using this technique means you can just pick up the parchment paper with the cut-outs on it and put it on a baking sheet. Genius!
Keep your cut-outs close. The closer you cut the fewer scraps you'll have to re-roll.
Reuse dough scraps with caution. Scraps should be repurposed to make more cookies but after a few rollouts, they run the risk of toughness. Try to re-roll cookie dough sraps no more than twice.
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Our Very Best Holiday Cookie Recipes
'Tis the season for the best bakes. Below are some of our favorite cookie recipes to make this time of year.
These Vintage Black Forest Christmas Cookies Are Surprisingly Easy
The 140-Year-Old Oatmeal Cookie Recipe That Stands the Test of Time
The Simple 150-Year-Old Family Christmas Cookie Recipe I Make Every Year
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