Stained Glass Cookies

 

Simple Steps for Making Sugar Cookies

By Carroll Pellegrinelli, About.com

Cream Your Butter and Sugars

Even before this step, I’ve already:

• Chosen a recipe.
• Made sure I had all the ingredients.
• Cleaned my work area.
• Gotten out my ingredients and allowed them to come to room temperature.
• Pulled-out my measuring cups, mixer, mixing bowls, wax paper and one cookie sheet.

Creaming the butter* and sugar**(s) is the first step in the actual dough-combining process.

*Since these cookies were going to be the snack for my daughter’s Girl Scout troop, I used half real butter and half solid shortening. This combination makes for a sturdier cookie, which is less likely to break when being grabbed out of the container.

**There is only one sugar, white, in this recipe. Other cookie recipes (like Chocolate Chip) may call for brown sugar as well.

Scrape Bowl and Beater During Mixing Process

I scrape my bowl and beater with a rubber spatula a few times during the dough-making process.

Mixing the Dry Ingredients

 like to use a wire whisk to better incorporate the baking powder and salt with the flour

Gradually Add Flour Mixture

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture gradually while the mixer is running on low. If the mixer is running any faster and too much flour is added, flour will go everywhere

Mix for a bit and then be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Preparing to Roll Out Dough

I prefer to make my cookie dough one day and roll out the cookies the next day. To do that:

• Place a piece of waxed paper on the counter or bread board.
• Lightly flour it.
• Divide dough into quarters.
• Roll into balls.
• Place 1 ball on waxed paper.

Using too much flour can make the cookies dry.

Rolling Out the Dough

Begin rolling the dough from the middle.

• Lightly flour rolling pin.
• Roll out dough ball until it’s about 1/2 inch thick.
• Lightly sprinkle top of dough with flour.
• Place dough and wax paper onto a cookie sheet. Place the cookie sheet in the refrigerator.
• Continue this process until all four balls have been rolled out and place in the wax paper stack in the refrigerator.
• Refrigerate dough for a least an hour. Overnight is preferred.

Cutting Out the Cookies

The cookie dough may not release from the cutter. It all depends on the temperature of the dough and the cookie cutter.

The next day:

• In a flat bowl or high-sided plate put some flour.
• Remove 1 piece of wax paper with dough from refrigerator and place on counter.
• Dip the cookie cutter in the flour and start cutting out cookies. Return the cutter to the flour after every couple of cookies.
• Leftover dough should be put into a resealable bag to be re-rolled later after refrigeration.

Time to Bake and Decorate the Cookies

Be sure to spread cookies out in the pan

• Place cookie cutouts at least 2 inches apart on a lightly greased* shiny metal cookie sheet.
• If decorating with colored sugars, brush each cookie with either heavy cream or a slightly beaten egg white. Then sprinkle the cookies with the sugars. If desired, icing should only be put on the cookies after they’ve been baked.

*I spray with cooking spray and then wipe it off with a paper towel. Cookies may also be baked on parchment paper or a nonstick pan liner.

Cool Cookies on Wire Rack

Make sure to have the cooling racks ready for the cookies to come out of the oven

 like to use a metal spatula with a head about the size of the cookie, which makes it easier to remove the cookies from the baking sheet.

Stack of Cookies

I ended-up baking 30 cookies for my daughter’s Girl Scout Troop. Plus I was able to save about 1/4 of the cookie dough for my daughter to re-roll and bake later.

No excuses, everyone should be able to bake cookies after following these simple instructions. Just so you know it was much easier to bake this batch of cookies than it was to take photos and write about it.

Sugar Cookies

The Most Versatile Cookies

By Carroll Pellegrinelli, About.com

I will be the first one to admit that I hadn’t decorated a sugar cookie since I was in elementary school. They seemed too much trouble. You spend all that time decorating to just go ahead and eat them. But times have changed, and I have an elementary-aged child who loves to dabble in the arts (painting and sculpting clay). Loretta also likes to show off her culinary skills (she’s moved from stirring a pot of water on her little table to making supervised scrambled eggs). She also loves decorating sugar cookies with her friends. There’s a lot of entertainment packed into flour, colored sugars and a few eggs.

Sugar cookies are a rolled cookie in which the dough is made ahead of time and refrigerated. The dough also freezes well. I always make mine ahead of time. Even if you don’t have time to make the dough yourself, there are some good store bought versions out there. Kids don’t notice any difference. I think the fun is in the decorating not the eating. Although, I must say this recipe for sugar cookies is pretty good. In fact one of Loretta’s teachers says that my sugar cookies are “sturdy, yet tasty.” Sturdy means perfect for decorating and tasty means good to eat too.

Look on the next 3 pages for the suggested shopping list, recipe, and some fun flavor variations. Enjoy!

Shopping list

Keep these ingredients on hand and you’ll always be able make sugar (and other) cookies.

flour
granulated sugar
brown sugar
butter*
solid shortening
vegetable oil
eggs
baking powder
baking soda
milk
vanilla extract (and other extracts, if desired)
salt
colored sugars (red and green)
colored sprinkles or any other nonpareils
colored icing (either make you own, or buy the already made)
chopped nuts
shredded coconut
M&M’s
any other toppings you desire at the store
unsweetened chocolate
food colors

*I know that a lot of chefs prefer unsalted butter for baking. They do it to control the amount of salt in the recipe. Personally, I find the taste of unsalted butter flat. That’s why I always use salted butter

Recipe

1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup shortening or butter*
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Early in the day or the day before:
In a large bowl cream the shortening and the sugar. Add the eggs, extract, and milk. In a medium bowl mix the dry ingredients with a wire whisk. Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl. Mix with mixer until well combined. With hands, shape dough into a ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Roll** half or 1/3 dough at a time, keep the rest refrigerated. For crisp cookies, roll dough, paper thin. For softer cookies, roll 1/8 ” to 1/4″ thick. With floured cookie cutter, cut into shapes. Re-roll trimmings and cut.

Place cookies 1/2 inch apart on cookie sheets. Decorate*** Bake 8 minutes or until very light brown. With pancake turner, remove cookies to racks; cool. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

*I’ve found that if you want “sturdy and tasty” cookies you should use 1/2 shortening and 1/2 butter. Shortening makes cookies sturdy and butter makes them tasty.

** Rolling Hints: Sue B. says: ” Roll the dough out BEFORE chilling and then chill. I roll out my sugar cookie dough right after it is mixed up between 2 sheets of waxed paper, place it on to a flat baking sheet and put it in the fridge. Continue until all the dough is rolled out, stacking the dough sheets on top of the first one. You will go through a lot of waxed paper, but the convenience is worth it for me. When you’re ready to cut them out, take out one sheet at a time, peel off the top waxed paper, lightly rub some flour onto the dough, replace the waxed paper and flip the dough sheet over. Peel off the now top sheet of waxed paper and you’re ready to cut out your cookies. Collect the dough scraps in a plastic baggie so they don’t dry out, re-roll when you have enough for a large sheet. I reuse some of the waxed paper sheets for re-rolling the scraps. A couple tips….. If the waxed paper slips on the counter while rolling, wipe the counter with a damp cloth. And while rolling the dough, sometimes the bottom waxed paper wrinkles, flip over the dough and waxed paper, release waxed paper and re-roll. This method of rolling out cookie dough has been a real time and mess saver for me.” ShadoeRose says: “I have found that it is difficult to roll if attempting to do so immediately after taking out of the refrigerator. Take a portion of the dough out and put the rest back in the refrigerator as you don’t want the dough to get to room temperature. Let the piece you are working with, warm slightly but keeping beneath room temperature. Experiment with different lengths of time of warming until you find the temperature you find the easiest to work with.”

***To decorate with colored sugars: Prepare cookies by brushing with heavy cream or an egg white slightly beaten with 1 tablespoon of water. Sprinkle with decorative toppings.

***To decorate with food colors: Mix 1 egg yolk and 1/4 teaspoon water. Divide mixture among several custard cups. Tint each with different food color to make bright colors. (If paint thickens while standing, stir in a few drops of water.) Paint designs on cookies with small paint brushes.

Flavor variviations

Butterscotch-Pecan: Substitute 2 cups packed brown sugar for sugar. Add 1 cup finely chopped pecans to ingredients.

Chocolate: Increase milk to 3 tablespoons. Add 3 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted, and 1 cup finely chopped walnuts to ingredients.

Coconut: Add 1 cup coconut, chopped, to ingredients.

Lemon: Substitute 4 teaspoons lemon juice and grated peel of 1 lemon for vanilla.

Almond: Substitute almond extract for vanilla and add 1 cup ground almonds to ingredients.

Peppermint: Substitute peppermint extract for vanilla. Any other extract flavor you choose: Use instead of vanilla.

The Sky is the Limit: With all of the flavorings out there, you can make up any combinations.

Which ones can you come up with?

Freezing and Baking Cookie Dough

By Carroll Pellegrinelli, About.com

 

I’ll admit it. I’ve bought already-made cookie dough at the grocery store even though I always regret it later. It’s not that those cookies are bad; it’s just that they’re not that great either. In fact, the joke in our house is that the raw dough is much better than the baked cookies. Plus, you learn right away that those cookies are good right when you bake them, but not later. These days there just isn’t an excuse for not making your own homemade cookie dough to keep on hand.

Steps for Freezing Cookie Dough

1. Make the Dough from Your Favorite Cookie Recipe.
   Most cookie recipes freeze beautifully. Just stay away from cookies that are made with an egg white base. Heavier doughs are needed for better freezing.
2. Prepare the Dough for Freezing.
   If you’re planning to bake all of your dough at once, you may choose to place all the dough in an airtight container for freezing.
   • Defrost entire container in the refrigerator and bake as directed in recipe.

   For Drop Cookies: I prefer to pull a few cookies out at a time.

   • On a parchment or foil lined baking sheet, I’ll place heaping-full tablespoons of dough. Put as many as you can get on the sheet.
   • Put baking sheet in the freezer for a couple of hours or overnight.
   • Remove from the sheet to an airtight container or freezer bags.

   For Rolled Cookies:

   • Divide the dough into even proportions for rolling.
   • On bread board or counter, place cookie sheet pan-size of parchment paper.
   • Roll dough into 1/2 – 1/4 inch oval.
   • Place on baking sheet.
   • Continue with the other portions.
   • Layer doughs with parchment paper on baking sheet.
   • Freeze for 2-3 hours or overnight.
   • Remove from pan and place in hard-sided container for freezing.
   • Dough will defrost fairly quickly in the refrigerator.
   • Cut out cookies and bake according to recipe directions.
3. Approximate (depends on dough density) baking time for frozen cookies is 10-15 minutes on a parchment lined baking sheet in a 350 degree F. oven. Allow to cool on pan for 2 minutes and remove to rack for cooling.
4. Frozen cookie dough lasts for about 3 months.

Cookie Dough Baking Times

For Different Pan Types

By Carroll Pellegrinelli, About.com

Have a bar cookie recipe and want to make drop cookies with it? Have cookie dough leftover and want to do something different with it? Use your creativity and these baking times to help you in your quest.

In a preheated 375 degree F oven on or in lightly greased or lined pans –

• Drop cookies – baking sheet – bake for 8 – 10 minutes*.
• Bar Cookies – 13 x 9-inch pan – 25 to 30 minutes.
• Bar Cookies – 15 x 10-inch pan – 20 to 25 minutes.
• Tart Shell or Cheesecake crust – in 9-inch tart or springform pan – 20 to 25 minutes.
• Pie Crust – 9-inch pie plate – 10 to 15 minutes – push crust down to form shell soon after removing from oven.
• Dessert Cookie or Pizza – 10 to 12-inch circle – 10 to 15 minutes.
• Mini Tarts – 1-1/2 to 2-inch dough balls in mini muffin pan, make indentions in top of balls prior to baking – 8 to 12 minutes.

*Baking times depend on dough density and temperature. Plain butter or sugar cookie dough will take less time to bake than a Kitchen-Sink cookie dough. Frozen or ice-cold dough will take longer than room temperature dough to bake.

How To Make Drop-Cookies

By Carroll Pellegrinelli, About.com

I don’t know about you, but on more than one occasion I’ve gotten a cookie recipe that didn’t have the complete instructions. Luckily, I can usually figure out what to do, but I realize that not everyone bakes as many cookies as I do. Here are the steps I follow when making a drop cookie recipe. Be sure to print yourself a copy just in case you get one of those directionless-recipes.

Difficulty: Average

Time Required: 20

Here’s How:

1. Clear a working area for making dough and cooling cookies.
2. Gather the ingredients. (Most recipes work better if the ingredients are at room temperature.)
3. Prepare baking sheets either by greasing lightly (spray and wipe off), cover pan with pan liner or parchment paper.
4. Get out other necessary equipment such as: mixing bowls, electric mixer, measuring cups (dry and wet), measuring spoons, rubber spatula, spoon for measuring flour, spoon for scooping out cookie dough, cooling racks and metal spatula.
5. Preheat the oven.
6. In the mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter* and sugars**.
   *Margarine or shortening may be used according to the recipe.
   **Granulated, brown sugar and so on.
7. Add eggs and other wet ingredients such as milk, water, extract. Combine completely.
8. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients such as flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt with a wire whisk.
9. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Combine completely.
10. Hand-stir in any extras like chocolate chips, nuts, coconut and so on.
11. Drop by teaspoons or tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet. (I take the dough and roll it into a ball first.)
12. Some recipes bake as is. Some recipes direct that cookies be flatted by a glass or a cookie press dipped in sugar or flour.
13. Bake for the specified time, which can be anywhere from 325 degrees F. for 15 minutes to 375 degrees F. for 8 minutes.
14. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet.
15. Remove from pans with metal spatula to wire cooling racks. Cool completely before storing them.

Tips:

1. Re-read your ingredient list a couple of times to make sure you’ve got the correct amounts.
2. Don’t add the flour too quickly. It’ll go everywhere and your cookies may not come out as you desire.
3. If you’re someone who likes to eat raw cookie dough like me, be sure to use clean, un-cracked eggs. This is not a guarantee that you won’t get ill from the raw eggs, but, most fortunately, I’ve never, ever had a problem.
4. To avoid cookies from flattening-out, never put cookie dough on a warm baking sheet. Plus, be sure to keep dough cool in between batches. I put mine in the refrigerator.
5. If you want your cookies to stay soft, keep them in an airtight container. If you want to keep your cookies crisp, place them in a cookie jar with a loose lid.

What You Need:

• A good recipe.
• A clean working area.
• The right ingredients.
• Mixing and cooking equipment.
• Lots of milk to drink while eating the cookies.

All About Cookies

By Carroll Pellegrinelli, About.com

Of all of the desserts you can bake, cookies can be the easiest and the most fun. Right after Dad taught me to make coffee (there are some priorities), Mother taught me how to “cream my butters and sugars”. Children are taught at an early age, like I was, to make cookies. If you are intimidated by baking, this is a great place to start.

Most cookies are made from the same basic ingredients. The dry ingredients consist of all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. The sweetness comes from granulated and/or brown sugar. The fat is either softened butter or margarine and sometimes shortening. Eggs and vanilla extract are also used. For different flavored cookies you can add any or all of these: chocolate, cocoa, nuts, raisins, oatmeal, spices or extracts.

Making the dough is pretty consistent with all cookies. Mix your dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. In a large bowl, cream your butters and sugars, then add your slightly beaten eggs and vanilla. To this mixture, slowly add the dry ingredients until well mixed. Usually at this point the extra flavorings are added to the dough. Then the dough is prepared the way dictated by the cookie type.

Hints:

• Use only the freshest ingredients.
• Large eggs are the standard eggs used.
• Try not to use substitute fats. If the recipe calls for butter, use butter.
• Make sure you measure your ingredients properly.
• Keep the dough chilled in between baking batches of cookies.
• Cool your cookie sheets by running tepid water over the back of them.
• And last but not least, don’t eat all the cookie dough. Save some for the baking process.

 

Storing Cookies:

• Soft cookies, such as bar cookies, are stored in a container with a tight lid. If they tend to dry out, add a slice of apple to the container.
• Crisp cookies should be stored in a container with a loose lid, like a cookie jar. If there is a lot of humidity in your area, add a piece of bread to the container. The bread helps to absorb the moisture.

Bar Cookies are prepared by putting the dough in a rectangular pan. They are baked and then cut into squares. Most drop cookie recipes can be converted to this type of cookie. These are the easiest cookies to make, because several batches are baked at once. Recipe: Caramel Squares.

Drop cookies are the easiest individual cookies to make. Balls of dough are dropped from a spoon onto a cookie sheet. Recipe: Golden Chocolate Treasure Cookies.

Molded Cookies dough is formed by the hands into shapes such as: wreaths, crescents, canes, or balls. Balls are sometimes flattened with the bottom of a glass. Recipe: Peanut Butter Cookies.

Pressed Cookies are made by pressing the dough through a cookie press or pastry tube to form different shapes. Recipe: Butter Spritz Cookies.

Refrigerator or Icebox Cookies are prepared by shaping the dough into long rolls and then refrigerating them. Once cold, the dough can be sliced and baked. This is a great prepare-ahead-of-time dough because it can also be frozen. Recipe: Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread.

Rolled Cookies take a little more preparation. With a rolling pin, chilled dough is rolled out. The dough is cut into shapes by using a knife, pastry wheel or cookie cutter. Recipe: Sugar Cookies.