Learn secrets to baking the perfect sugar cookies
Oh, that first nor’easter — a taste of a long winter — put me right in the mood to bake! Between now and when Santa takes his first bite of crunchy sugar cookies, I will be baking up some of my traditional favorites. Sugar cookie cutouts are a must in my family. Here are some tips for making and baking them.
Make your favorite sugar cookie dough a day ahead so it is good and chilled. Bring the dough out at least 2 hours before rolling it out.
Make sure your cookie cutters have a sharp, clean edge. Look for unusual shapes to add to your collection.
Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper. This minimizes the need to dust the cookies with flour as you roll; additional flour can toughen them.
Use a dry silicone brush to dust away excess flour on cookie dough cutouts before they are baked.
Use rimless baking sheets; they conduct heat more evenly.
Roll the dough to an even thickness so all cookies will bake uniformly.
Use a wide-face metal spatula lightly dusted with flour to lift and place cookies onto baking sheets.
Don’t bake more than two trays at a time and rotate them halfway through the baking cycle. If your oven has convection baking capabilities, use it; it will produce a nice result with no burnt edges. So if your recipe calls for baking at 350 degrees; lower oven temperature by 25 degrees for convection baking.
For large cutouts like gingerbread men, reindeer and others, cut them out right on the parchment paper; this eliminates having to lift them off a work surface and position them on a baking sheet.
Frost after all cookies have cooled so glaze does notdripoff.
To freeze, let cookies dry completely after frosting, then wrap and lay flat in containers between sheets of wax paper.