I mentioned a while back how much I hate rolling dough out. It is the bane of my existence.
So when I knew I was going home to Columbus, I decided to ask my mom if she would make roll out cookies with me, so I could see what I am doing wrong and what she does that works, etc. I wasn’t sure if it was my technique, my lousy heat-absorbing counters, or my rolling pin.
Originally I had planned for a more traditional sugar cookie recipe, but of course I assumed my mom kept a similar pantry to me, and she did not have enough confectioners’ sugar. So instead, and in honor of the season, I decided to try King Arthur’s Light Spice Cookies, which they describe as a cross between a sugar cookie and gingerbread cut-outs.
They were perfect for the fall. Really yummy. And we rolled them out thick, so they stayed nice and chewy. Alex in particular found them great fun to decorate–she is a huge fan of sprinkles, like every other 3 year old.
So what did I learn? That I needed a solid piece of wood rolling pin (which I purchased while home), that I don’t use enough flour when rolling, that I should be using powdered sugar anyway to roll out in (and more of it), and yes it would help if John had not broken the marble slab I used to own. So I need to acquire one of those too, especially since we opted for the cheaper laminate counters in our new kitchen, figuring they will be the easiest thing to replace later on down the line, and they really do absorb heat, making the dough stickier. Oh, and use powdered sugar for rolling out sugar cookies–not for anything like pie crust or bread dough of course.
Light Spice Cookies
The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup (3 1/4 ounces) vegetable shortening
3/4 cup (6 oz) light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz) granulated sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 t ginger
1/2 t cloves
3/4 t salt
1 large egg
2 T (1 1/2 oz) molasses
3 cups (12 3/4 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons (3/4 oz) cornstarch
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter, shortening, sugars, baking powder, spices and salt until light and fluffy. Add the egg and molasses and beat well. Mix about half of the flour into the butter mixture. When well combined, add the cornstarch and the remaining flour.
Divide the dough in half, flattening each half slightly, and wrap well. Refrigerate for 1 hour (or longer) for easiest rolling. Roll out dough to 1/8-1/4″ for best results (I think mine were a little thicker) and bake for 10 to 12 minutes in a preheated 350°F oven. They are done when they start to turn golden at the edges if you like them chewy.
These are so adorable, I have this cookbook and need to keep these in mind! I love the hand reaching in there at the end!
I have this cookbook too and will have to check these out. These are the CUTEST cookies!!! I absolutely love them, and yes you are right that they are perfect for fall. I love it!
The cookies look really pretty and the recipe sounds tasty. I’ll have to mark that page in the book. Thanks for all the tips, too.
Wow!! They look so great!! Glad that you’ve conquered your fear of rollout cookies! 🙂 We might have to give these ones a try too, but I’m not sure that we’ll ice them as nicely as you did.
Oooo! I want to eat them but also to just look at them…. They are truly like a bunch of beautiful sunflowers.
Those colors make me miss my East Coast Autumns!
What type of icing did you use? These cookies look great!
i thought i heard something, and i did. it was your cookies screaming “hello fall!” 🙂
congrats on your successful roll-out. 🙂
What pretty cookies! Thanks for the rolling out tips, I don’t like rolling either!
Thanks for all the kind words. 🙂 These were so much fun to make!
Christy–icing is always a pain because of the kids. Traditionally my mom always used the raw egg white. I actually used powdered sugar, milk and corn syrup and it worked great. Mom did not have enough sugar, so it was a little on the runny side, but as you can see they dried fine. I’m not sure if I will ever bother worrying about egg whites again.
Looks like a bunch of colorful mums landed on a plate. Just beautiful!
What a yummy looking cookies! They turned out beautiful!
What a yummy looking cookies! They turned out beautiful!
these are just beautiful! the colors are amazing! i’ll bet they were delicious, too!
Very pretty! I like em chewy too!
That reminds me of making Christmas cookies with your mom – obviously not the same shape or colors, but it’s not a kind I grew up doing and I thought it was so much fun I made some more while visiting my Grandpa in Florida the next week. 🙂
Glad these worked out so well for you, and that is fascinating about using powdered sugar to roll out cookies – why does it work better than flour? I do roll out for hamantaschen every year, and the more flour I use (very necessary, especially the further I get because the dough gets stickier as it warms) the drier the cookies get – perhaps sugar will solve that problem.
the reason you use powdered sugar is because it keeps the dough tender and does not seem to dry it out or make it flavorless the way too much flour does. Amy, i remember that Thanksgiving so well. We had such fun. We would like you to visit again and with your family. Laura, I miss you already. I ate the little piece of chocolate cake you left, and I think it is the best I have had. love, mom
Hi-
These do look AWESOME and I agree on the colors! I have another roll out technique that you may wish to try…I roll out the dough between sheets of wax paper (right after I make the dough-no chilling) and then I place those on a cookie sheet (or some flat surface or another) and put in the freezer…they are ready to use after about 10 minutes or so but of course you can leave them in for days or even weeks if you wrap them well first…anyway-once they are “ready”, I remove one sheet of the wax paper and then set it back down and flip it over. Take the other sheet of wax paper off and cut away! The bonus is that the shapes are usually very easy to transfer to the cookie sheet since the dough is usually still slightly frozen…and you are not using any flour, powdered sugar etc. and there is no mess to clean up!
Sheila in MD
made these, ate these, gave some away and had a blast while doing all of the above. Great recipe, thanks for the wonderful pics.
LaRin