How to Roll Cookie Dough - Better Your Bake by Nielsen-Massey (2024)

FAQs

What is the best way to roll cookie dough? ›

Place two equal-sized sheets of parchment paper underneath and above the dough, making a kind of dough sandwich. Then roll out with your rolling pin, keeping the dough sandwiched between the two parchment sheets. Once it has been rolled to the thickness you're going for, chill the dough for the requisite time.

Place sugar cookie dough on a floured surface and roll to ½” or ¼” thickness (thicker = softer cookies). Use your favorite cookie cutter shapes and cut out the dough and place them 1” apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Repeat until all the dough is used.

Go Easy on the Flour

Adding too much flour to your counter and rolling pin can make your cookies tough—”that's a big no-no,” according to Catherine. To make sure you have the most tender cookies possible, Catherine recommends rolling out cookie dough between two sheets of very lightly floured waxed paper.

Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you're more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies. Cookies made from chilled dough are also much more flavorful.

Do you want your parchment paper to stay in place while rolling? Here are a few tips: Use a small amount of dough to stick on each corner of the parchment paper. Press it down against your rolling surface so it stays put.

Tough – For rolled cookies, your dough can become “tough” by adding too much flour to your pin or counter before rolling it out. To avoid this, try using as little flour as possible while preparing to roll your dough.

If the recipe says to chill the dough, then chill the dough. Your cookies will turn out better if the dough was chilled first. Can I pre-cut cookie dough before chilling? Yes, you can but the main reason for the chilling is to make it easier to roll and cut the dough.

Rolling cookie dough between parchment eliminates the need to dust the dough with flour to prevent it from sticking to the work surface. The more flour introduced, the higher the chances of tough, dry cookies. Sheeted dough promises tender, buttery cookies, just the way they're meant to be.

How thick should cookie dough be rolled? ›

With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use more flour if the dough seems too sticky. The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly 1/4-inch thick.

Silicone pastry mats are excellent nonstick work surfaces. Dough that would normally require a lot of flour to prevent sticking, suddenly does not. The dough will slide and turn and roll easily. It works for literally everything—cookies, pie dough, babka dough, Danishes.

1️⃣ Don't roll the dough into balls! Press the dough into a cookie scoop and scoop it, flat-side down onto your cookie sheet. The flat portion keeps the dough in place and the rounded top bakes into perfectly circular cookies. 2️⃣ Press some of the filling into the top of the dough before baking.

A more dependable and effective technique is to wet your hands with water. This can be cold or warm water. You may have to add some more water on your hands depending on how long you work the dough, but this technique is far less messy than using flour.