When I am doing cutout cookies, I roll out my dough between two pieces of parchment, put them on a cookie sheet, still between the parchment, cover with plastic wrap and/or aluminum foil, and pop them into the freezer ready for when I am ready to cut out and bake. The freezing makes for a much sharper clean cut of the dough. You can just brush away the frozen crumbs that always seem to stick to the cutter. That's what gives the clean lines to the cookies. When I am ready to use the dough I peel off the back first, lay that piece of parchment back down on the counter, flip the dough over and remove the top parchment. I now have the dough on one piece of parchment and can cut out the cookies and bake them. Sometimes I do all the cutting out one batch at a time quickly and pop the cookies back in the freezer ready for baking at another time.
It may seem like a tedious process, but I have R.A. and breaking down the process has enabled me to continue to bake up some fancy iced cookies for many occasions.
The parchment gets two uses, one for rolling out and freezing, and use the same parchment for the baking process.
November 5, 2013 at 3:41pm