Baking perfect cookies for your Bachelorette Party isn't as hard as you might think.  Cut-out cookie dough needs to be stiff enough to be rolled out, durable enough to withstand rolling and re-rolling, yet soft enough to cut into shapes.  Follow our 'Roll Out Perfect Cookie Recipes' and use our 'No Fail Cookie Baking Tricks' - your guests will think you are a professional baker. 

Although the ingredients may vary slightly from recipe to recipe, instructions for mixing and baking will be the same.

1.   Assemble all ingredients.  Mix together dry ingredients and butter until the mixture resembles cornmeal.  Use cold unsalted butter. Room temperature butter becomes greasy when whipped, making the cookies greasy.

2. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients and add to butter mixture.  Stir until well blended.  If your dough seems to be too sticky, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until dough is of a workable consistency. If your dough appears to be too dry and crumbly, add a tablespoon of additional liquid and work it in until the dough holds together and is roll able.  Keep in mind that you should use as little flour as possible; excessive flour causes tough cookies. 

3.  Divide the dough into two equal halves and put into two resealable bags. Smaller amounts of dough are easier to roll out.  Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours. 

4.  Before you begin to roll out dough place cookie sheets in freezer. Also oven should be preheated for at least 30 minutes prior to baking.

5.  The best work surface for rolling out dough is marble.  Whatever surface you are using chill it down with a bag of frozen vegetables or ice before you start rolling being careful not to get the surface wet. 

6.  Use a dough spacer.  It is easy to make - directions are included in this brochure.  It will keep your cookies the same thickness and give you professional looking results.   Starting with the rolling pin in the center of the dough and always roll, with light, even pressure. If the dough is too cold, it will crack and break up during rolling, so let it sit a few minutes more. If the dough is too fragile and tears, you need to refrigerate it for 20 minutes before starting again. 

7.  Press the cutting edge of cookie cutters into a small mound of flour if the cutters are sticking to the dough. 

8.  Place cookie cut-outs at least 2 inches apart.  Place your cookie dough on cold cookie sheets and slightly freeze cookies prior to baking. This keeps cookies from spreading.

9.  Bake only equal sized cookies together to make sure they cook in the same time. If you mix different sizes, the smaller ones are already cooked when the larger ones are still raw in the middle.

10.  Rotate baking sheets halfway through baking to ensure that the cookies bake evenly.  Don't bake cookies for too long. Cookies will continue to cook from the heat of the cookie sheet after you remove them from the oven. Let them be a little underdone when they come out of the oven.

11.Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet until you can lift them with a spatula without breaking. Cool them completely on wire racks, paper towels or waxed paper.

12. Let baking sheets cool before reusing them. Clean if needed and return to freezer to cool before reusing.