Trick for Sugar Cookies that Keep Their Shape
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Whenever I make sugar cookies, I'm always challenged with finding a way to keep their shape exactly how it was when I cut it out. No matter what recipe I use, they always seem to puff up and lose their detail. I got clever, though, and came up with a way to cut the cookies so they keep their shape — cut them after baking!
It's so simple... I just rolled out an entire sheet of cookie dough in a pan and cooked it, and then cut the shapes out immediately after taking it out of the oven.
It worked great! The cookies were exactly the size and shape of the cookie cutter. The trick is that you have to move fast. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, use the cookie cutter to cut as many shapes as you can before the cookie sets up and becomes too difficult to cut.
As soon as you finish, go back and re-do every cut again, to be sure you got all the way through. Metal cookie cutters work better at this than plastic ones do. As they cool, you'll be able to lift the cookies and snap off any of the edge pieces easily.
When they were totally cool, I frosted them to create cute little Pacman ghost cookies for McGeeky's 80s themed birthday party.
Yes, there was a little bit of wasted dough after I cut the cookies out this way, but that just meant that I got to snack on cookie scraps while I was decorating the ghosts. I think I'll be using this method for all my sugar cookies in the future.
2 comments so far:
Now that's a good idea. I would most definitely have to do that whilst the children aren't home. I can see it now, attempting it whilst they are there and wind up with a huge misshapen cookie because I was distracted.
You can also roll out your cookie dough on a cookie sheet, cut out the cookies as you did, place them in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes. Take them out and then just lift off the excess dough. Put your cookies in the oven and they won’t spread because they are cold.