When it comes to cookies, Iâm not afraid to say it: I make some fine specimens. But when it comes to decorated cookiesâthe kind you roll out, bake, and prettifyâwell, I kinda suck.
Good thing I know an expert. Gail Dosik, the owner of New York Cityâs One Tough Cookie, does work so spectacular I almost want to kill her. Weâre talking painstakingly detailed edible artwork, the kind of stuff that requires a hand steady enough to defuse bombs. And Gail has a blog.
On that blog, she shared a bit of genius so smack-your-head obvious, and yet (as far as Iâve heard) so little-known, I have to share it with you: When you make dough for rolled cookies, donât follow the instructions. Don’t refrigerate two disks of dough, then attack those too-stiff hockey pucks with a rolling pin. By the time the dough softens enough to roll, itâs so squishy you canât transfer the cut cookies to the cookie sheet, and then they bake up all puffy and misshapen. Trust me, I know about this.
Instead, as soon as you turn off the mixer, scoop half the dough onto a piece of parchment paper. Cover with a second piece, and roll to your desired thickness. Repeat with the other half. Freeze the whole thing (I stacked mine on an upside-down cookie sheet), and when youâre ready to bake all youâll need to do is cut and bake. Shockingly easy. And clean. The rolling pin never touches the dough, and because you’re rolling on parchment paper you won’t have to coat your workspace with flour to prevent sticking. I baked off one sheet of rolled-out Chocolate Sugar Cookie dough just now, and it was the best rolled-cookie experience Iâve ever had. The other sheet I cut in half for storage, then wrapped tightly in two layers of foil. Itâll make some fine Valentineâs Day cookies next week.
Gail goes into more detail on her blog, and I urge you to see for yourself.
If you like to roll and decorate cookies, this technique is a game-changer.
Gail already changed my life once with her treatise on why we SHOULDN’T sift, and instead, whisk. How did I miss this post??
I’m just glad I was able to call it to your attention, Amber đ
But wait… You did think of it for your almond sesame crackers! I was just thinking about how I don’t love to waste the parchment but I do love the results!
True, Heather, but the difference here is the freezing post-roll, pre-cut. Usually sugar cookie dough is refrigerated, then rolled, and sometimes chilled again before baking. Extra steps & much trickier. My crackers don’t spread so they don’t need to be chilled–they’re super-simple.