I have looked around the forums a lot and can't find the answer to this one. I have yet to try the nfsc recipe and wanted to know if you really have to refrigerate the dough before rolling out (or even after cutting out your shapes) or can you just skip that step and go right to baking them? I'm all about speed!! Has anyone ever skipped the chilling step and if so, does it perform different?
From what I have read, freezing helps keep the cookie from spreading while cooking. Spreading is something that you don't want when using cookie cutters to cut out the dough and decorating cookies. Mine is always cool, because I keep some made up and stored in the freezer. I don't know why you couldn't skip that step though, if spreading isn't an important factor.
What I'm really wondering is do they spread way out of control if you don't chill them?
NFSC really do need to be chilled. I am one of those who bake them frozen.
One cookie that didn't need to be chilled is these. I actually made them and rolled them out about 20 minutes after. I had them out on the counter in a stainless steel bowl. They are delicious also.
http://www.karenscookies.net/shop/recipes/info_11.html#recipe04
I would definitely NOT skip the "chilling" step of NFSC. I roll between parchment right after it has been mixed in my KA...then pop into the frig to
chill. Then I cut them out, and put them right into the FREEZER before I bake them. If you want this recipe to work...there really are no short cuts, and the
colder the dough, the less they will spread. I have never had a problem with
this dough, and I do it exactly the same every time. I guess you just can't be in a hurry when you are making them. Good Luck!
Like JOanne, I roll it out straight from the KA. I roll it between 2 sheets of parchment, put that sheet in the freezer while I roll out the rest of the batch(es). By the time I'm done, I've got 10 or 12 sheets in the freezer.
I then pull them out on the FIFO method .... first in, first out. Cut them and then straight into the oven. Start over with leftover dough from the cutouts.
I have only made the NFSC once, as i usually use a diff. recipe, but i hope this helps anyway:
Last Thursday i had to make princess cookies for a co worker's little girls Bday party. Her party was saturday, but i had to take them to work friday AM because there was NO way we could be in the same place at the same time after that to hand them off!!! LOL... anyways, i got home from work at 7:00 thursday night and had to have them done before bed I made the dough and put a handful at a time into about 10 freezer bags! popped all the bags in the freezer, put a frozen pizza in the pizza oven for dinner, ate, then took out one bag at a time to roll, cut, then bake. continued til they were FINALLY done... each bag i took out of the freezer was more than chilled enough to roll, and i didnt have any probs. w/spreading. I guess my advice would be to NOT skip the chilling step with any cut out recipe, but this only took a few extra minutes, and you can probably find something that needs to be done around the house with that half hour! (ugh.. housework!)
HTH!
by the way... never waiting til the last minute again... still trying to catch up on my sleep, didnt get to bed until about 1AM. But the smile on her little face was worth it!
Hi everybody ! Dont kill me for my reply !! I use the NFSC all the time ! I rolll out between parchment papers, and then either cut out my shapes. or layer my rolled dough on the cookie sheet and stick in fridge for an hr or so ! The Halloween cookies I just posted the other day, ( In my photos ) I cutout and baked right after I rolled them .NO CHILLING AT ALL! I only chill if Im getting the prep work done ahead ! I use NFSC all the time without chilling ! Always works for me !!!!
fiddlesticks, it IS good to know that next time im in a pinch, i CAN start right away without chilling, i've just been too scared to ever try!
i just posted from my own experience, which worked well for me. Maybe i'll try a batch of 'for-no-reason' cookies and see if it works for me. part of my problem i that i have a very small kitchen and it gets hot in here FAST when the oven is on. (at least that's what i decided..lol)
and BTW, you're cookies are very cute!
nikki1201... Thanks for the nice comments ! I dont want to tell anyone to do something that might not work for them ! Theres a lot of GREAT info on here that just doesent work for me and works well for others ! I just know with the NFSC That I can roll, cutout & bake & NOT have to chill But thats just what works for me !! If your kitchen gets hot fast, like you said ,maybe it wont work for you ! Just have to try I guess ! Thanks !!
I'm so embarassed that I'm not getting this nfsc thing so please be patient with some more questions...
You must go through a TON of parchment paper, am I right?
When you roll it out between parchment and chill, do you take it out of the freezer/fridge to cut it or cut it before it's chilled? Whichever way you do it, then what do you do with the scraps after you pop out the cutouts...rechill them?
How do you stack a bunch of cookie sheets with dough on them in your fridge/freezer. I roll my dough 1/2 inch thick. I think if I stacked them 10 high the bottom ones would just squish! Even if I stacked a bunch of rolled out dough separated by parchment on one cookie sheet in the freezer, I still think at 1/2 inch thick that would get pretty heavy on the bottom layers.
This all just sounds like so much work that I'm not sure it's worth it. I'm also not sure I'd always have the room in my fridge/freezer to do this. Maybe it's just not my fate to try the nfsc!!!!!!
Thanks to anyone patient enough to answer!!!!
Like JOanne, I roll it out straight from the KA. I roll it between 2 sheets of parchment, put that sheet in the freezer while I roll out the rest of the batch(es). By the time I'm done, I've got 10 or 12 sheets in the freezer.
I then pull them out on the FIFO method .... first in, first out. Cut them and then straight into the oven. Start over with leftover dough from the cutouts.
This is exactly what I do, too.
I'm so embarassed that I'm not getting this nfsc thing so please be patient with some more questions...
Dont' ever worry about this! That's why we're here!
You must go through a TON of parchment paper, am I right? ..... How do you stack a bunch of cookie sheets with dough on them in your fridge/freezer. I roll my dough 1/2 inch thick. I think if I stacked them 10 high the bottom ones would just squish! Even if I stacked a bunch of rolled out dough separated by parchment on one cookie sheet in the freezer, I still think at 1/2 inch thick that would get pretty heavy on the bottom layers.
Well, yeah, you'll use a lot of parchment, but it's the cost of doing business. Your other option is to chill the dough and wait. I always weigh the cost of the paper vs. the cost of time.
Once I roll out the dough, I don't put it on a cookie sheet .... I just pick up the parchment and put it in the freezer. When you have 10 sheets of parchment with dough on them stacked up, it's not near as heavy as 10 cookies sheets all stacked up.
When you roll it out between parchment and chill, do you take it out of the freezer/fridge to cut it or cut it before it's chilled? Whichever way you do it, then what do you do with the scraps after you pop out the cutouts...rechill them?
I cut my cookies two ways and there's no rhyme or reason on why I do it one way or the other. You can roll out the dough, cut out the shapes and leave them on the parchment and put the parchment in the freezer.
OR.....
Roll out the dough, put it in the frezer, then when you take it out of the freezer, cut the shapes then. I don't see a big diff one way or the other.
The scraps are kneaded together, rolled out and cut. If they've gotten warm, then I just repeat the rollout-freeze routine. If they are still pretty stiff, I just roll out, cut and put in the oven.
Ok, I think I'm getting it now. I may just try it after all. Indydebi - thanks for all the help. I do cookies all the time, you can look at my photos, but I have yet to branch out and try ANYTHING different than the way I do things now. Why fix it if it ain't broken, right?!!!!!!! If I make anything different I'll be sure to mention it in my photos! Thanks to everyone for the help.
Again, ditto everything indydebi said - except...
If I have the room, I prefer to freeze my rolled out dough on baking sheets. It chills a lot faster and holds the chill during the 20 step walk from my freezer to my kitchen counter. (Yep. I counted it out. 20 steps, one way *sigh*) I actually keep a glove on top of the freezer to slip on so I don't freeze my hand off carrying a frozen baking sheet.
Anyway, my baking sheets have sides, so I just alternate each sheet a little so it rests diagonally on the edges of the sheet below. If your cookie sheets don't have sides, you may be able to separate the sheets with cooling racks. Otherwise, just do it the way indydebi instructs.
bakingccc-
RE: going through all the parchment...i don't, because it's too expensive for me vs. wax paper. Most of the time when i make lots of cookies, this is what i do:
make batter and chill the whole bowl for a few hours or overnight.
roll and cut all the cookies, placing them on a sheet of wax paper dusted with cornstarch. i do the same thing over and over. one cookie sheet, wax paper, cut out dough, wax paper, cut out dough, wax paper, and so on. then i put the whole cookie sheet with layers of cut out dough in the freezer for about an half hour while i start baking. I don't make NFSC, i use a recipe for thick cut outs, which i also roll to 1/2 thick, and have never had a problem with squishing. i take the first layer, place the cookies on another cookie sheet lined with parchment, bake, cool for a minute before transferring to cooling rack, take out another layer, remove from wax paper and put on the same parchment that's on the pan already, and continue until all cookies are baked.
a few extra steps, but if it's only a hobby and you're very concerned about $$$ lke me, it works great. (also works if you don't have a whol;e day to get them done. dough one night, roll, cut, and stack one night, bake one night, decorate one night... i work a lot of hours at my "real" job, so i often have to do this.
hope that helps!
If you are tired of wasting so much wax paper and parchment paper...get baking mats/Silpats. It's SO much kinder to the environment too, if that's something you'd like to support! You can use them thousands of times and they don't need to be washed each and every time you use them, so no dishsoap all the time...just a light wipe with a wet dishcloth and they are good to go.
And no, you don't "need" to initially chill the dough....I never, ever do. I go right from making it in the mixer to rolling it out on the Silpats, cutting out my shapes, into the freezer for 15-30 minutes and simply sliding my hand under the Silpat and popping out the perfect stiff cookies....right into the oven on another tray with a Silpat. Saves tons of time!!
Ok...To all of you that mix. roll& cutout With out chilling first .( like I do ) Why do you then put the cutout cookies in the freezer Before you bake ? I have never tried that & Just wonder what the difference is ? Why at that point not just bake them ?? What am I missing ??? Please !
All pastries/baked goods that are heavily butter-based benefit from being chilled before they go into the hot oven. It helps to retain the shape while it cooks...just prolonging the original shape because it takes just a little bit longer to come up to baking temp. If you start the item out at room temp, there's just less of that period and the butter can sometimes leach out faster.
(This would be a lot more obvious in a pie dough or a puff pastry than the NFSC, for example.)
It is also great to chill them first because you don't have to cut and then try to move the bendable/pliable soft cookie. After freezing them briefly, they are way easier to pick up and position on the baking trays without warping the shapes.
I use a recipe very similar to NFSC...it's on the box of 100 cutters from Wilton. I never chill the dough, and have never had a problem with spreading. That sounds like just one more step of work to me! You can try a couple cookies and see how they do, and then go from there. Most people seem to chill or freeze. I'm one that doesn't, and have not had a problem.
I am very jealous of all of you who don't chill the dough and are able to get the job done quick! lol
Diane touched on what I do as well.
Before I start making the dough, I put a couple of empty pans into the freezer, that way they are already cold when I roll my dough and slide the parchment onto the pan.
By the time I am done rolling out the dough, the first couple are already cold and ready to cut and bake.
It's very fast, the dough chills from the bottom and the top.
I roll the dough straight out of the bowl between parchment.
I use one cookie on the bottom and stack the dough all on the one cookie sheet. There's so much other stuff in my freezer, I need that one cookie sheet so the dough stays flat.
I like to chill the dough because otherwise, I have problems getting the dough off the parchment and onto the baking sheet without deforming it somehow. The shape gets squished in the transporting.
Thank you everyone helping me get the specific answers on the how-to's of nfsc. I need to take the time to test them and some of these other recipes for myself. I should do that before the holidays get too busy!! You're ALL wonderful!!
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