Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Treats Read Online Free PDF Page A
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nonstick spray or a light sprinkle of water to keep dough from sticking to scoops.
COOLING RACKS are another cookie baking item that’s hard to avoid once you get used to using them. Cooling cookies on these metal wire racks (instead of just leaving them to cool on cookie sheets) insures crisp cookie bottoms without a hint of sogginess. Plus they’re a convenient parking place for freshly baked goods. Well-made cooling racks have extendable fold-out “legs” so that racks can be stacked to save valuable counter space.
A HANDHELD MIXER is what you’ll need for making lots of fluffy frostings and creamy cookie fillings quickly and easily. It doesn’t even have to be an expensive one; a $12 hand mixer will quickly pay for itself after whipping up few batches of frosting or creaming mounds of margarine and shortening. Rubber spatulas are handy tools, too, when working dough with your hand mixer.
FLOUR SIFTERS do the job when it comes to sifting flour, cocoa powder, and other powdery additions like baking soda and baking powder. The most common style available is shaped a like a big beer mug with metal mesh on the bottom and moving parts in the handle that do the sifting work. If you prefer, use a fine-gauge wire mesh strainer instead, balancing the rim and handle on the edge of your mixing bowl. Just give the sides of the sifter a gentle tap to sift the flour into the bowl!
FROSTING SPATULAS look a little like spackling knives and make frosting the tops of cookies fast and easy.
PASTRY BAGS AND DECORATING TIPS help make those pretty frosted holiday cookies happen. If you’re just beginning, look for low-cost kits that include a bag and a few plastic tips. Advanced cookie decorators like to have a wide assortment of high-quality metal tips and reusable canvas pastry bags. We also like very large tips for pressing out soft cookie dough when making specialty cookies like STARRY FUDGE SHORTBREAD (page 167).
DOUBLE BOILERS and MICROWAVE-SAFE BOWLS are your two options when it comes to melting chocolate for dipping, decorating, and brownie making. Double boilers are old-school stovetop setups. They consist of a set of fitted glass pots that safely melt chocolate without the risk of burning it. You can also fake this setup by resting a small pan inside a larger one filled with enough water to cover the bottom of smaller pan, but not so much that it will overflow. An easier, faster way to melt chocolate is in a microwave. Heat chocolate in a microwave-safe glass bowl for 1 to 1½ minutes at 60 percent heat (low power)—just enough to make chips soft and easily form a melted mass when stirred. Because it can burn so easily, never use high microwave power when melting chocolate.
COOKIE CUTTERS are a no-brainer if you’re a dedicated cookie-decorating enthusiast. Metal cutters can last forever but plastic cutters are a cheap and plentiful option. A quick Internet search will reveal a bewildering range of cookie cutter shapes from adorable (squirrels, penguins, hummingbirds) to sassy (mermaids, flamingos, chili peppers) to cryptic (a tooth, toothbrush, pliers ... a cautionary reminder?). There are even “make your own” kits available out there if you look hard enough. In general, we tend to avoid cutters that feature too many thin spindly bits as these parts may brown faster than the main body of the cookie. Simple, scalloped-edge round cutters are good all-purpose cookie cutters that can be used all year round, not just on holidays or National Rocketship-Shaped Cookie day.
COOKIE SPRITZ KITS are unavoidable if you love spritz cookies, the rich little shortbread cookie pressed into cute flower- or star-shaped patterns. The STARRY FUDGE SHORTBREAD (page 167) dough works great in whatever cookie spritz device you like. Better kits will come with plenty of easily switched plates in decorative shapes that you can use for any occasion.
OVEN THERMOMETERS TO THE RESCUE
YOUR OVEN IS YOUR
COOLING RACKS are another cookie baking item that’s hard to avoid once you get used to using them. Cooling cookies on these metal wire racks (instead of just leaving them to cool on cookie sheets) insures crisp cookie bottoms without a hint of sogginess. Plus they’re a convenient parking place for freshly baked goods. Well-made cooling racks have extendable fold-out “legs” so that racks can be stacked to save valuable counter space.
A HANDHELD MIXER is what you’ll need for making lots of fluffy frostings and creamy cookie fillings quickly and easily. It doesn’t even have to be an expensive one; a $12 hand mixer will quickly pay for itself after whipping up few batches of frosting or creaming mounds of margarine and shortening. Rubber spatulas are handy tools, too, when working dough with your hand mixer.
FLOUR SIFTERS do the job when it comes to sifting flour, cocoa powder, and other powdery additions like baking soda and baking powder. The most common style available is shaped a like a big beer mug with metal mesh on the bottom and moving parts in the handle that do the sifting work. If you prefer, use a fine-gauge wire mesh strainer instead, balancing the rim and handle on the edge of your mixing bowl. Just give the sides of the sifter a gentle tap to sift the flour into the bowl!
FROSTING SPATULAS look a little like spackling knives and make frosting the tops of cookies fast and easy.
PASTRY BAGS AND DECORATING TIPS help make those pretty frosted holiday cookies happen. If you’re just beginning, look for low-cost kits that include a bag and a few plastic tips. Advanced cookie decorators like to have a wide assortment of high-quality metal tips and reusable canvas pastry bags. We also like very large tips for pressing out soft cookie dough when making specialty cookies like STARRY FUDGE SHORTBREAD (page 167).
DOUBLE BOILERS and MICROWAVE-SAFE BOWLS are your two options when it comes to melting chocolate for dipping, decorating, and brownie making. Double boilers are old-school stovetop setups. They consist of a set of fitted glass pots that safely melt chocolate without the risk of burning it. You can also fake this setup by resting a small pan inside a larger one filled with enough water to cover the bottom of smaller pan, but not so much that it will overflow. An easier, faster way to melt chocolate is in a microwave. Heat chocolate in a microwave-safe glass bowl for 1 to 1½ minutes at 60 percent heat (low power)—just enough to make chips soft and easily form a melted mass when stirred. Because it can burn so easily, never use high microwave power when melting chocolate.
COOKIE CUTTERS are a no-brainer if you’re a dedicated cookie-decorating enthusiast. Metal cutters can last forever but plastic cutters are a cheap and plentiful option. A quick Internet search will reveal a bewildering range of cookie cutter shapes from adorable (squirrels, penguins, hummingbirds) to sassy (mermaids, flamingos, chili peppers) to cryptic (a tooth, toothbrush, pliers ... a cautionary reminder?). There are even “make your own” kits available out there if you look hard enough. In general, we tend to avoid cutters that feature too many thin spindly bits as these parts may brown faster than the main body of the cookie. Simple, scalloped-edge round cutters are good all-purpose cookie cutters that can be used all year round, not just on holidays or National Rocketship-Shaped Cookie day.
COOKIE SPRITZ KITS are unavoidable if you love spritz cookies, the rich little shortbread cookie pressed into cute flower- or star-shaped patterns. The STARRY FUDGE SHORTBREAD (page 167) dough works great in whatever cookie spritz device you like. Better kits will come with plenty of easily switched plates in decorative shapes that you can use for any occasion.
OVEN THERMOMETERS TO THE RESCUE
YOUR OVEN IS YOUR
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