We’ve been making a lot of cookies lately. { Insert shameless plug for indigo jones eats here.} Most recipes call for refrigerating the dough before rolling it, which allows the gluten to relax, therefore reducing shrinkage and making for a flakier outcome. With a super sticky dough like gingerbread, chilling makes it just firm enough to be handle. It also makes most doughs really hard to roll out.
I have wasted lots of time letting the dough chill, only to have to let it sit to soften it enough to roll out.
While I was testing recipes for graham crackers to use to make my s’mores, I came across one that called for rolling the dough between 2 sheets of waxed or parchment paper, and then chilling it. While that recipe did not make the final cut, it did change my life. Since then, I have been rolling all of my cookie doughs this way, laying them on a baking sheet, and popping them into the refrigerator. The results have been spectacular.
When you’re ready to roll, just peel off the top sheet, cut the dough into the desired shapes, lift it off of the bottom sheet with a spatula and viola; perfect cookies!
For my hand shaped shortbread spoons, I have been chilling them after they are formed, and before they are baked with great success.
This has been a holiday cookie season public service announcement. You can thank us later.
Check us out at indigojonesnyc on instagram.
Want to see what we have been pinning? Take a look at our Pinterest page!
Tweet along on Twitter.
To keep up with the latest, show us some love by liking our Facebook page
Check out our new site Indigo Jones Eats for handmade foods
Indigo jones 