Although cookies are popular all year round, more baking is done especially during the Christmas season. Whether butter cookies, vanilla crescents, or coconut macaroons – when the scent of cloves and cinnamon fills the Christmas bakery, there is no stopping it. I love baking and know that problems can always arise with recipes. Therefore, I have listed the most important tips here to make baking fun:
Dough sticks to the cookie cutter
Soft dough
If the cookie dough is very soft, then dip the Cookie cutters as well as the Rolling pin into flour again and again. This way, nothing sticks. Attention: Just don't use too much flour, otherwise the dough will become crumbly and fall apart. In this case, add a little butter to make it softer again.
Extra tip: Plain flour (Type 405) is best for cookies.
Firm dough
If the dough for the cookies is rather firm, then work with lukewarm water: Moisten the molds again and again with a little lukewarm water, so in this case, no dough will stick either.
Dough sticks to the work mat
Always dust the mat or work surface with flour for this. Again, do not use too much flour, otherwise the dough will become too dry. Such baking mats are very good. They have a very good surface and are simply easy to wash off.
Baking evenly shaped cookies
If you want to make spritz cookies look really nice and even, you can use this trick: Simply draw the desired shape on the baking paper with a pencil. Turn the paper over and now just apply the dough with a Piping bag or spoon.
How to make perfect coconut macaroons?
To get the coconut mixture onto the wafers, it is best to use two teaspoons. Dip these into a little flour, take up a good amount of coconut dough with the teaspoon, place it over the wafer, and scrape it off with the second teaspoon. Now brush the coconut mounds with a little condensed milk – this makes the macaroons wonderfully golden brown.
Baking cookies in the oven
Especially at Christmas, when you want to bake many different cookies, you tend to quickly fill up the baking sheets. But you shouldn't do that, especially with cookies, because it makes the underside brown much faster. Always let the sheet cool down first or work with several baking sheets. If you only have one baking sheet, it is best to rinse it with cold water before use so that the cookies do not stick to the bottom of the sheet so easily.
Or if you have several sheets available, then bake with convection (fan oven), as several sheets can be baked at the same time. However, I recommend baking the cookies one after the other without convection. I therefore bought 2 more baking sheets right away, as I don't get very far with one when baking cookies.
Extra tip: Always line the baking sheet with baking paper or grease it. Or get more environmentally friendly baking mats.
Are cinnamon stars done baking?
Substitute for a baking sheet
If there are not enough baking sheets available for baking the cookies, then simply use the bottom of springform pans. Grease these well or line them with baking paper.
Dental floss to remove cookies from the baking sheet
If the cookies just won't come off the baking sheet, then you should tackle them with dental floss. To do this, pull a piece of unwaxed dental floss taut around the cookie, and you can easily remove them from the baking sheet.
Storing cookies
Storing them in an airtight box or tin is definitely best for cookies. This allows the cookies to develop their aroma perfectly. If you also add a whole apple to the cookies, the pastries will stay fresh longer. The location should be cool, so a cellar or right by the entrance is suitable.
Storing gingerbread
The freshly baked gingerbread is very hard at first and cannot be eaten yet. Therefore, put an apple slice into the cookie tin. This makes the gingerbread nice and soft and delicious.
Extra tip: replace the apple again and again so that nothing can get moldy.
Read also:Â Cookies as a memory game
Photos by Sabine, meinhaushalt.at
