Not-So-Tough Cookies

   Posted by Sarah, Editor In Chief

My friend Gigi was visiting from Boston the other weekend and the only thing she wanted to do while in NYC was make the holiday cookies in our November/December issue. OK, I exaggerate. That’s the only thing either of us wanted to do. It was a two-part plan: First we hit up the fabulous New York Cake Supplies store in Chelsea, where we each left with $150 worth of sanding sugar, cookie spritzes, silpat silicone mats, and tiny offset spatulas. Then we headed to my apartment and set up shop.

No, you do not need all of these supplies to make the cookies -- we just went crazy.

Four hours and lots of dough-rolling later, we had dozens of bite-size confections. While not as impeccable as those made by Jodi Levine, the very talented Martha Stewart Living editor who cooked up the ideas for our issue, they were pretty cute. All thanks to Gigi, who is the epitome of Diligence and Determination. (I myself sunk into the role of sous chef.)

Yum!

The sugar-cookie recipe was spot-on and the techniques are truly doable -- especially if you heed the advice of two weekend bakers who had to make a few mistakes before we got them right.

1. Read the cookie-spritz package carefully. We mistakenly bought $30 battery-operated models, and they didn’t work. At all. Old-fashioned manual is the way to go.
2. To prevent the stained-glass cookies from bleeding (you’ll see a few bloody first attempts above), place pebble-size chunks of Jolly Ranchers in the center of the cookie opening. After 90 seconds -- no more! -- they’ll melt and pool outward. (Smaller bits of candy burn too quickly.)

3. Silpat is a lifesaver, because the dough doesn’t stick to it, but the silpat sticks to the countertop. I will never again roll out dough without it.
4. Gel food coloring is intense. You need only one drop to tint a small ball of dough. Otherwise you’ll end up with Play-Doh dough (see above). My fault!

Comments

[kathleen]

hmmm years ago spritz refereed to the cookie and the apparatus was a cookie press it is all well and good -- perhaps pam-ing the inteior of the tube would help perhaps chilling the dough --chilling the cylinder would help certainly there is a method to achieve the result one sees on the box perfectly formed cookies there has to be a trick perhaps a back spin on the handle to use the adhesion factor on the baking sheet vs the deceased force applied to the dough during the extrusion process hope this helps

[Sarah]

Hi hardboiled egg:
A cookie spritz is a caulk-like apparatus that you fill with dough and then squeeze out through a disk. Supposedly, out will pop a pretty-shaped cookie. However, the battery-operated one didn't have enough juice (or perhaps our dough was too stiff). For whatever reason, we couldn't get it to work!
Sarah

[mauri]

Thanks for the tips! I have been thinking of cooking up some of these as part of a home-baked collection to give to my neighbors this year. I've been thinking of getting one of the cookie presses to accomplish my feat. I'll remember to stay away from the battery-operated ones!

[hardboiledegg]

What is a $30 battery operated spritz cookie package please explain

[pillbox]

GREEN cookie dough? Even toned down it's disgusting. You've got to be kidding here... I'm sorry, I find the cookie images to be incredibly unappetizing ... blech!