I don't know how much you folks charge for a cookie bouquet but, its not enough!!!!
I have never made roll out cookies before and you folks make everything seem sooo easy, I thought I would try my hand at it this evening.
DISASTER I got a receipe from here, did all my research so I would not go into it blind and I still can't do it.
I refridgerated my dough for 3 hours, took small amounts out to roll at a time, rolled between parchment paper, diped my cookie cutter in con. sugar, and the dough sticks to EVERYTHING. I didn't think things could stick to parchment paper but my dough did.
I have tried non-stick spray, adding more flour, rolling out dough and laying it in the freezer for a minute before using the cookie cutter, everything I could think of. My final conclusion is to admire all of your wonderful cookies and appreciate all the hard work that goes into them

NEWTODECORATING, sorry that you had such an awful experience making cookies. I made a practice batch last night and I didn't have any problems at all. I use the sugar cookie recipe that is posted on Martha Stewart's website. The only problem that I have with cookies is that they are so much work!!

cookies are a ton of work.

Is it really hot where you are? Is it possible that your dough is melting before you get a chance to do anything with it?

What i do, is roll to dough out on parchment, not between two sheets. Cut the cookies on the parchment then remove the excess dough and move the sheet of paper with the cookies to the cookie sheet pop in the oven, when done pull the sheet of paper off the hot sheet and onto the counter, then let the cookies set there until cool.

I use the sugar cookie recipe from wiltons, i've had very good luck with that one, i just up the flavorings in it because sometimes its a little flat.

Partyanimal, I just checked out Martha Stewarts site and that is pretty much the receipe I used, mine had more butter. I don't know where I went wrong.
It is really hot here, but I have my air conditioning on.
I don't know maybe I should try it one more time before giving up completely. On the bright side my 3 year old loved the ROUND cookies he had as a snack tonight.
O yeah one more thing--my cookie cutters are old ones from my MIL. They aren't the nice metal open ones they have now. They are plastic and solid backed with some detail on them. Could that be it?

Hi there Newtodecorating....it is a possiblity that your cutters are old and they might have some sort of "film" on them. Also, instead of dipping them in conf. sugar, I think that's what you said, try to dip into flour. Ease up on your butter. The hot factor usually has something to do with it too..

So good luck in giving it another try............

bye bye for now......

crash........

OK thanks to another ongoing thread I just copied Sgirvan's cookie receipe. I think I will try it again another day. Her cookies are just wonderful,and I want to be able to do this!!

I make my dough fresh now, and roll it right away onto baking mats (Silpats). Then I cut the shapes with my cookie cutter, freeze the whole thing for 15 minutes and then pop them out frozen onto another Silpat to bake. I round up the scraps and start again.

I don't use any flour, I don't have to wait for my dough to chill/thaw, I don't waste any dough, there's no mess and I can use the scraps right to the end because they haven't gotten tough or dry from all that excess flour!

It works beautifully and saves time and $$$

Thanks for the tip Antonia, that sounds like a great idea!!

Antonia - I am try to build a cookie recipe collection to try - would you mind sharing your recipe and icing recipe?

Thank you,

Vicki

Hi NEWTODECORATING:

I don´t kwon if I undestand but Do you say you recipe had much butter?
In that case I think It could be the problem because when I do cookies bouquets I use few butter to get the sticks get to the cookie.

I hope you understand my writing.
Saborita

To rescue a dough that is too sticky-besides adding more flour- roll it out between two sheets of plastic wrap like you do some pastry. Once it is rolled out, put the whole thing on a baking sheet and chill or freeze it. Once the dough is firm, quickly peel off the plastic and cut the cookies. If they are soft again, re-chill to remove to a baking sheet.

You can roll it out on Silpat on the bottom, plastic on the top but be very careful not to cut the surface. (the inside of the Silpat has glass)

OR, throw the whole mess away and sit down with a cup of coffee.
JoAnn

I think if you go to KitchenKrafts.com they have some really good sugar cookie recipes. One of them I have been using for quite a while and never have any problems with my cookies. They come out beautifully, and I don't have to refrigerate either. I only slightly dip my cookie cutter in the flour and still no probs.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!
My DH came into the kitchen last night and I ask him if he wanted an American Flag cookie and of course he said yes. I then handed him a perfectly round sugar cookie with no icing and told him to use his imagination! LOL LOL He nearly busted a seam laughing at me!

TOO FUNNY newtocakedecorating, TOO FUNNY.

The recipes I've found to be the best are from "www.kitchengifts.com"

They are a cookie cutter website and the recipes there are AWESOME...because they taste amazing and they don't spread out of the original shape of the cutter!! PRICELESS!!

They have a great tutorial on their homepage for "how to decorate".

I've also posted the Royal Icing for Decorated Cookies in the recipe section on this site. It is perfect icing for cookies!

Could someone tell me if they have heard this. I read somewhere that if you rub some crisco on your cookie sheet before baking that your cookies won't spread out. I don't bake cookies much because of this.

I made some roll out cookies last weekend, using a recipe from the crisco.com site. (I always use butter flavored crisco to make my sugar cookies.) I think the recipe I used was called "Cut-Out Sugar Cookies" Next time I'm going to try their "Ulitmate Sugar Cookies" recipe, though I liked the first one just fine. I'm just curious what is 'ultimate' about it. LOL

Thank you antonia.......I ALWAYS get that cookie site mixed up.....
My brain is doing a thing of its own.......uuuuggggggghhhhhhh........