So......let's talk about cookie dough. I thought I start at the beginning.....and hopefully I'll work my way up to decorating.
First things first.....many things I do are NOT the conventional way. I don't sift flour or powdered sugar. I don't chill my dough at any point. I cut out thick cookies. I bake them at a lower temp for a longer time......trying not to get them brown, so they will be soft and not crunchy. I leave the baked cookies on the pans to cool. I don't use royal icing.....rather corn syrup glaze. I decorate my cookies standing up...................
You get the picture......so if you read something about my decorating that shocks you, just know that I'm unconventional. You've been pre-warned. lol
I won't bore you with the mixing of the cookie dough. Everyone can do that......it's not rocket science or anything.
One thing I will say is that I make my dough pretty stiff so that I don't have to mess with using a lot of extra flour or chilling my dough when I'm rolling it out. When mixing my dough, I add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup extra flour to make it nice and stiff......but not so much that it is dry and crumbly and won't hold together. Then I just roll out the dough, cut, put on pan, and bake. It was so freeing when I came to this conclusion!
I took some pics to show you my set up. Here's everything set out and ready to go.
I've got my cookie sheets with Sil Pat liners on the left; my DoBoard to roll out the dough evenly; dough ready and waiting to become cookies; :) cutters and templates; and finally.....my list and sketches of cookies I want to cut out. (Sil Pats are silcon mats you put on your cookie sheets......the dough does not stick to it as it bakes and they are fairly easy clean up. I guess you would call them the "green" way compared to using parchment paper.)
My DoBoard is an invaluable tool. It is pricey, but worth every penny. It allows you to roll out dough at 5 different depths. I cut my dough at about 3/8" thick.
In the next few days I'll show you how I created a few of my fun shapes.
Here's another entry of my 2011 Winter collection. For some reason, I just love mittens attached by strings.....so I wanted to do a cookie with them. I still can NOT stand my handwriting on a cookie.....but it is what it is. lol
That's it for today. Happy baking!