Have you ever tried to roll out cookie dough only to run into problems? We’ve cut out cookies that tore when we tried to move them to the cookie sheet. Gingerbread men lost arms, snowflakes lost edges; a sad state of affairs.
With the holiday season soon upon us and many cookies to be baked, pastry chef Gail Dosik of One Tough Cookie has some advice when it comes to working with cookie dough. Says Gail:
“Many’s the sugar cookie recipe that instructs you to collect the dough, pat it into a disc wrapped in plastic and refrigerate for an hour or so until firm. You are then instructed to roll the dough out. These recipes tell you that now is the time to sink your cookie cutters in and cut desired shapes.
“What they don’t tell you is that the dough is so soft that it can’t hold any shape, regardless of how many spatulas, shovels or other kitchen accoutrements you’ve purchased to carefully transfer that dough to a cookie sheet. And no matter how careful you are, that gingerbread man is starting to look like Salvadore Dali made him.
Frustrated with rolling out cookie dough?
We have the solution. Frankenstein
cookie cutter available from Wilton.com.
“AAARRRGGGHHH: daunted before you even get to the fun part of decorating. You feel like it’s been a waste of time and ingredients and you don’t know how those cookies are going to get into the oven.”
1. Take a scoop or two of the dough and place it on a piece of parchment paper. Top with another sheet. Roll dough to desired thickness. Repeat until all dough is rolled out. Use rolling pin bands if you’re not good at judging desired thickness.
2. Place the sheets of dough in the freezer—not in the refrigerator—for at least 30 minutes. The resting dough relaxes the glutens that have been have stirred up while preparing the dough.
3. Preheat the oven. Prepare cookie cutters and cookie sheets.
4. Put a tablespoon of flour onto a small plate and dip the cookie cutter into the flour to coat the edges. This will give your cookies a very sharp, clean edge.
5. Take a piece of dough from the freezer and remove both sheets of parchment paper. Cut the cookies, dipping the cutter in flour. Move cookies to the prepared cookie sheet: no more “shape shifters.”
6. If the dough gets too warm to work with, simply re-cover it with parchment paper, return it to the freezer and take out the next ball of dough. Fill the cookie sheet and bake.
Taste the whole line. Photo courtesy Cabot Cheese.
Say cheese! Two winners will definitely be smiling when they find out that they’ve won a Cabot Creamery Cheddar Cheese gift pack filled with cheese and related goodies.
With fall in the air, many of us have comfort food on the mind. Boston chef Stephanie Sokolove specializes in sophisticated comfort food. Between her two restaurants, Stephanie’s on Newbury and Stephi’s on Tremont—she uses nearly 200 pounds of Cabot Cheddar cheese each week!
This week is your chance to win a selection of Cabot Cheese (a NIBBLE favorite) along with an Cabot apron. You’ll also receive Chef Stephanie’s recipe brochure so you can cook up your own versions of her Cabot-inspired recipes.
To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Gourmet Cheese Section and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing. This contest closes on Monday, September 20th at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck!
In the U.S., peanuts are the winner by a long shot when it comes to volume sold: They claim 67% of all nut consumption. The numbers aren’t broken out for whole peanuts vs. peanut butter, but we bet the PB has a large piece of the pie.
Peanuts, which originated in South America, actually came to the U.S. with African slaves. They were first brought to West Africa by Portuguese and Spanish traders, where they became a staple crop.
Use a bowl or basket of heirloom tomatoes as an edible centerpiece.
Heirloom tomatoes are grown from seeds of older tomato cultivars—tomatoes that tasted great. The taste disappeared from most markets in the 1950s, after seeds were developed for mass production.
The tomatoes can be found in a wide variety of colors, shapes, flavors and sizes. Some are beautiful in their irregularity—considered a “defect” in the 1950s, but highly desired in the reborn farm-to-table era. The flavors can be so rich and surprising that people who don’t like tomatoes can be converted to fans.
Wash the tomatoes and dry thoroughly. Although the tomatoes are delicious plain, a pinch of sea salt perks up the flavor. We particularly like a sea salt and herb blend.
Heirloom tomatoes taste as good as they
look. Photo courtesy GreenAccessAtSuncadia.com.
School has never been so tasty. Photo
courtesy OneToughCookie.com.
Need a treat to celebrate the beginning of the school year?
One Tough Cookie, which actually makes very tender cookies, has a solution for your favorite back-to-schooler or teacher. The hand-decorated, buttery shortbread cookies are sure to please. (“I feel like my freezer is empty if I have less than 15 pounds of butter,” says Gail.)
Gail Dosik, founder of the New York City-based boutique bakery, departed Seventh Avenue for a professional baking career, switching from designer dresses to designer cookies and cakes. She attended the French Culinary Institute, traded in Manolos for kitchen clogs and opened the doors to her bakery at age 50.
The set of three cookies is $14, plus shipping. For more information or to purchase, contact TheToughCookie@OneToughCookieNYC.com or phone 1.212.691.4997.
Tomorrow, we’ll feature a cookie-making secret from Gail.
