by Sheila South
A The Kids & Me Contributor
Let's face it: rolling dough to make cut-out sugar cookies can be a daunting task. I surely wish we had known all the tips in this post when our kids were younger and making these cookies! We surely struggled with keeping the dough from sticking to the counter surface and removing the cookie shapes without distorting them. I tried dusting the counter and the cookie cutters with flour which seemed to make the cookies pasty. I tried dusting with confectioners sugar which made a gooey mess. The struggle was frustrating. But, we gave it a go year-after-year because I felt the value of sharing the Christmas story with our kids, reinforcing the story with the yummy cookies, and having a means to reach out to neighbors was all worth it.
Here's the good news of rolled sugar cookies! There are some tested techniques that will make this whole process much easier! Happy happy happy!! You will be able to successfully pull this process off even with your littlest littles. Guaranteed! - If you follow the directions and don't cut corners. ;)
First off, here is the recipe:
Please Note: The butter (and it should be butter, not margarine) needs to be ROOM TEMPERATURE. Set it out several hours or even the day before you bake. The egg, however, should be CHILLED and come directly from the frig for the recipe. It matters ;)
Follow the steps above listed in the recipe to make the sugar cookie dough. Here are some pictures to see the texture you should be achieving at each step.
Now comes the genius part (found it somewhere online) - the parchment paper!! Parchment paper is your friend, I promise!
1) Measure out a portion of parchment paper double the width of your baking sheet.
2) Divide your dough in half. Work it together kneading a few times. Place that dough- half in between the folded parchment paper.
3) Roll the dough ON TOP of the parchment paper. You don't even have to wash the pin when you are finished! :)
4) Once the dough is fairly uniform in thickness, pull back the parchment and check the edges of the dough. Curl them up if they are thin around the edge.
5) Replace the top parchment and lightly reroll the edges.
I'm getting excited about this next part! So easy and so genius!
6) Select your cookie cutters. The angel, gingerbread boy, star, heart, & Christmas tree were chosen to follow this narrative.
7) Cut your shapes as close to one another as possible without overlapping. This recipe does not cause the cookies to rise, so take advantage of putting them CLOSE together. Should NOT be necessary to dust your cutters with flour, sugar, or anything. EASY clean-up!
8) Once you have cut as many cookies as you can fit on that section of dough, remove the extra scraps from the cookie shapes. Use scissors to cut the parchment paper on the fold.
9) Carefully lift the parchment paper containing the cookie shapes and place it on your baking sheet WITH THE PARCHMENT PAPER intact. No need to touch any cookie, to try to lift individual cookies, or to distort cookies while moving. (I love that part!)
10) Gather the dough scraps and use the remaining half-sheet of parchment paper to repeat this process. Now fold the half-sheet in half, put the dough scraps inside the fold, roll out the dough, and cut as many shapes as you can fit. At this point you will need to lift the cookie shapes and place them in empty spaces on the baking sheet or use a second baking sheet.
Now all you have left to do is decorate with sugar sprinkles and bake! If you prefer a crunchy sugar cookie, you can eat them straight away out of the oven. If you prefer a chewy sugar cookie, bake the cookies, let them cool, then freeze them. Remove cookies from freezer and allow to thaw. Yum yum!
Hopefully these tips will create an enjoyable rolled-cookie experience for you and your children. :)
Blessings and Merry Christmas!
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