How to Roll Out Cookie Dough Like a Boss
Step up your cookie rolling game with the following rolling technique:
Take freshly mixed dough and place a big blob between two sheets of waxed paper.
Roll it out to the desired thickness (usually one-third to one-quarter of an inch) (Figure 11).
Place the “rolled dough and waxed paper sandwich” you’ve just made on an upside down cookie sheet and pop it into the refrigerator (Figure 12).
Continue rolling out your dough between sheets of waxed paper and adding it to the pile on the back of the cookie sheet until you have used up all the dough. By the time you are finished, the first sheet of dough will be completely chilled and ready to cut (Figure 13).
Cut cookies shapes with a cookie cutter or use a printed Geek Sweets template (Figure 14).
Here’s why rolling out your cookies this way rocks – they’re easier to lift and put on the cookie sheet when the dough is chilled through, and you don’t end up incorporating additional flour into your dough, which can make your cookies dry and tough. Not to mention your kitchen won’t look like you were on the losing end of a messy bout with some vengeful spirits.
How to Cut Cookie Shapes Using a Geek Sweets Template
Visit books.geeksweets.net to download the specific template mentioned in the recipe. Print at 100% and cut out cookie shapes along dotted lines. Place template onto cookie dough surface and cut around edge using an X-acto knife or a sharp paring knife (Figure 15). The template will get greasy as you go along, but will hold together. You can store templates
in a ziplock bag for future use if desired.
Use the waxed paper under the dough to help you lift intricate shapes onto a cookie sheet. (Figure 16).
Chill and reroll leftover dough, and repeat the process until you’re all out of dough.
How to Dam and Flood a Cookie
Almost all cookie decorating starts with this one crucial step, which will ensure that your frosting stays where you want it to. Royal icing oozes like lava, slow but unstoppable, but the Dam and Flood technique will keep it in its place.
First, make sure your cookies are completely cooled! No piping onto toasty warm cookies. Fit a piping bag with a #3 Ateco or Wilton tip, and fill with prepared royal icing. Prepare a second bag filled with the same color with a #5 tip. Make sure to cover any remaining icing with a wet paper towel or cloth so it doesn’t dry out.
Pick a spot and begin piping an outline of icing onto the cookie with the #3 tip (Figure 17). Your icing should flow in a solid line from the piping tip and not break. If it’s breaking, it is likely too thick. This creates a border or “dam” so the ‘fill’ icing does not flow over the edges (Figure 18).
After allowing the dam to dry for a minute or two, fill the middle of the cookie with the same color frosting from the bag fitted with the #5 tip (Figure 19). The reason for the larger tip is so it is easier to fill quickly. At this point, I like to pick up the cookie and give it a little wiggle to get it to settle nice and flat (Figure 20).
Keep a toothpick handy to pop any air bubbles or help push frosting into any intricate corners of your cookie shape (Figures 21 and 22).
Allow to dry completely before adding any additional frosting elements. (Or else don’t, if you need to press anything into the wet frosting, as you do with the Melted Snowman Cookies on page 246.)
How to Use Luster Dust
Luster dust can be painted onto just about anything to provide a little drama. It’s completely edible and completely faaaaabulous.
To paint onto chocolate or fondant: Luster dust will stick much better to both chocolate or fondant with a little condensation. Put the chocolate or fondant pieces in the fridge to chill for 5-10 minutes, then bring back to room temperature. Condensation will soon start to form, and when it does, get dusting with a large, soft brush (Figure 23). For even quicker condensation formation, wave your fondant piece or chocolate very quickly over the steam from a kettle (being very careful not to scald yourself)!
To paint small details: For a little gold button or any other equally tiny detail, mix luster dust with a few drops of vodka or other alcohol and paint it on with a tiny details paintbrush (Figure 24). Alcohol will evaporate, leaving the concentrated luster dust behind.
“The basic recipes from which legendary delights are conjured.”
Many of the creations in this book refer back to these tried and true basic recipes as their starting point. The secret behind Geek Sweets’ wide variety of flavors when selling at farmer’s markets was being able to take a single vanilla cupcake recipe and create four or five different varieties of cupcakes using different flavorings, colorings, fillings, and techniques.
These basic recipes will be your greatest ally on your journey toward baking wizardry. Learn them well, adventurer!
I know what you’re thinking: “A cake mix!? That’s cheating! Someone tell the DM!” Settle down, adventurer, and keep reading.
Below is a variation on a recipe very popular in internet baking circles, called ‘White Almond Sour Cream Cake’ (or ‘WASC’ to High Baking Wizards in the know). It bakes a cake that is consistent and sturdy, yet moist and light, making it ideal for stacked