Tips on making and decorating cookies

[Loupy]

Go Sugar Cookie Crazy!
By: Allrecipes Staff

Try these tips for cutting, decorating and packing for the mail, and delight everyone with beautiful cookies.



Rolling and Cutting
Cookie dough is much easier to work with after it's been refrigerated for at least half an hour--and the cut-outs will hold their shape better if the dough is cold.

Keep cookie cutters from sticking to the dough by misting them very lightly with cooking spray.
If you're cutting out delicate or large shapes, roll out the dough on parchment paper, lifting off the scraps; slide the paper directly onto a baking sheet.

Frosting

One popular frosting for sugar cookies is a simple glaze of confectioners' sugar and either milk or fruit juice. By adjusting the ratio of liquid to sugar, you can make this glaze as thick or as thin as you'd like.

Royal icing is another option: it dries to a hard, crunchy finish and also holds up well in the mail.
Buttercream frosting is soft and thick; tasty, but not good if you plan to stack the cookies.
Instead of frosting, you can also dip half or all of a cookie in chocolate and then in chopped nuts or crushed candy canes.


Other Decorating Ideas
Sprinkle on coarse colored sugar, nuts, colored sprinkles, silver dragees or other small candies.
Or make colorful designs on the unbaked cookies by painting them with a mixture of egg yolks tinted with food coloring. The finished cookie will be bright and glossy.

Mailing
When making cut-out cookies for mailing, choose fairly sturdy shapes without too many pointy edges.

Pack decorated, dry cookies in a flat, sturdy container with a tight-fitting lid. Line it with parchment or waxed paper.
Pack a selection of cookie shapes in a single layer, fitting them together as closely as possible. Now pile more cookies into the container, stacking same-shape cookies on top of each other.
When the container is full, put wadded-up pieces of wax paper or unbuttered air-popped popcorn into any empty spaces, then seal the lid. Wrap the container in bubble wrap, and pack it into a box. The cookies should arrive fresh, beautiful and full of home-baked love.

[Loupy]

I have for years made my cut out cookie frosting with powdered sugar, and milk, but then I divide the frosting into three bowls and add food coloring, and different flavorings, green one add a couple of drops of wintergreen extract, red, which most the time is kinda pink, food coloring and add a couple of drops of peppermint, white add almond, and orange which is red and yellow food coloring add oranger extract, then put on the sprinkles, or other decorations, the kids love them at our Christmas gathering, and the adults are there ready to grab their share too. The kids also love to frost and decorate them on the day we make cut outs.
Posted by Sandy Lemke

[Loupy]

I haven't tried this recipe yet, but I have a tip for MAKING CUTOUT COOKIES EASILY: I put a sheet of baking parchment (now easily found in grocery stores) on my cookie sheet, then ROLL THE DOUGH OUT DIRECTLY ON THE PARCHMENT-LINED COOKIE SHEET. After making the 'cut-outs', appropriately spaced on the dough, I PEEL AWAY THE EXCESS DOUGH from around and between the 'cookies' and bake as directed. The parchment helps keep the bottoms of the cookies from getting too dark, eliminates any need for greasing the pan, allows you to remove the cookies from the sheet by simply sliding the parchment carefully off the side (which is especially helpful with extra large or delicate cookies), and CAN USUALLY BE REUSED IN BAKING THE REST OF THE COOKIES. I have also rolled dough out on the parchment without having it on the cookie sheet, done the cutting and trimming, and then slid the parchment onto the sheet for baking, which helps when you're short of cookie sheets -- the next batch is ready to pop into the oven as soon as the first comes out.

by KELLY GIORDANO

[Loupy]

This recipe is WONDERFUL. Make sure you: chill at least 1 hour to firm up the dough. Knead the dough before rolling out with pin. Use SUGAR instead of flour when rolling. There are many options with these cookies. They are great iced (and gorgeous using the sugar cookie icing on this site), yet they are still delicious when sprinkled with decorator coloured sugar ( available at your local "bulk barn" in LOTS of colours). If you like a chewier cookie, roll thicker, crunchier, thinner etc. Oh, and WATCH these CLOSELY, and remove from oven when edges just begin to brown. If you leave them in too long, get them off the cookie sheet FAST- they will cool faster. Lastly, use parchment paper to line cookie sheets for easy removal. Two thumbs up!!

by amsuka