Sugar Cookies Are Easy With A Tip From Country Woman

Country Woman—the #1 Country Lifestyle Magazine for women who live in or long for the country—has served up its TopTips for Baking Sugar Cookies. 

So put down that store-bought, break-and-bank batter. These simple steps are all you’ll need to mix up perfectly scrumptious sugar cookies in no time:

1.    Don’t Be Too Touchy: Use a light touch when handling the dough. Over-handling will result in tough cookies.

2.    Stay Cool: Refrigerate the dough before rolling for easier handling.

3.    Avoid Sticky Situations: Prevent sticking by lightly dusting with flour both the rolling pin and work surface. Be careful—working     too much extra flour into the dough will make the cookies tough.

4.    Start Small: Roll out a portion of the dough at a time; keep remaining dough in the fridge so it stays easy to work with.

5.    Create An Even Playing Field: Roll from the center to the edge, keeping a uniform thickness. Check thickness with a ruler. Uneven dough means cookies will bake unevenly, and thinner     cookies may burn before thicker ones are done.

6.    Get a Clean Cut: Dip your cutter in flour or use nonstick cooking spray to keep dough from sticking to the cookie cutter.

7.    Take Out the Tools: Keep cutouts intact before and after baking by transferring them to and from the baking sheet with a large    metal spatula or pancake turner that supports the entire cutout.

8.    Keep it Simple: Limit designs and colors when decorating. Too many colors and shapes can be overwhelming.

9.    Leave Them Out to Dry: Let decorated cookies dry overnight before packaging them for gift giving or freezing.

 

For more holiday cookie ideas from Country Woman, check out: http://www.countrywomanmagazine.com/food-entertaining/entertaining/christmas-cookie-ideas/. You can download the latest digital version of Country Woman on the iPad, Nook, Kindle or Google Play & Android.