Cookies!

I recently drove across the country from New York to Colorado.  You can see some pictures of my adventures on my flickr.  

Along the way, I was lucky enough to meet a bunch of tumblr folk that I absolutely adore: Alexwhines, Heatherwis, Korybelle, Tristan and Amanda, and Southtwelfth. I didn’t get to meet Eush, but she got a consolation prize anyway.  My time with each was brief, but they all took the time to introduce me to their city and generally show me a fabulous time.  As a thank you gift, I sent each person a cookie cutter in the shape of their home state and a recipe I thought they’d enjoy.  

Cookie-cutter cookies follow a general pattern: make a dough and then chill it before you roll it out and cut shapes.  The chilling does something to the butter, I think.  It also makes the shapes easier to cut and helps them retain their shape while baking.

Some general tips:

• Keep the dough you aren’t cutting as cold as possible.  You can keep the unused section wrapped in plastic in the fridge until you’re ready to roll it out.
• Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface.  
• You can even dip the cookie cutter in flour between cut-outs.  
• Prepare cookie sheet ahead of time. You can stick the whole cookie sheet in the fridge with the cookies on it for a few minutes before baking.