It’s almost the holidays, and now it’s time to start thinking about that Christmas cookie making!
The act of making a picture-perfect cookie to give to loved ones or to bring to cookie swaps is an unforgettable holiday.
All you need is a kitchen tool and a bunch of ingredients to bake Pinterest-worthy, melt-in-your-mouth cookies everyone will raving about.
This article will offer you a guide to success for Christmas cookies, the 10 essential tools and tricks to create perfect Christmas cookies.
Let’s Cook!
1. USE a Heavy-Duty Stand Mixer for Perfect Dough
To begin, we all need an efficient, high quality stand mixer for our Christmas cookie making. It will cream your butter and sugar together in your mixer, and stir in your dry ingredients into your cookie dough.
If you have a stand mixer that has a minimum of 300 watts, such as the KitchenAid Artisan Series, cookie dough and everything else will be a breeze. The powerful motor and multiple attachments, from the paddle to the whisk, are the secret to baking success.
Because the stand mixer has done all the prep work for you, you can spend time measuring and adding ingredients. Give it some time to knead cookie dough, so you don’t feel like chopping your arms and hands.
The robust stand mixer will help you become an accomplished baker for the rest of your life. Don’t risk blowing Christmas cookies up with an inexpensive, underpowered mixer!
2. Scoop Uniform Cookie Dough with an OXO Cookie Scoop
Now that your dough is mixed, scoop it onto baking sheets. Using an OXO Good Grips cookie scoop, make balls easily by scooping the dough into evenly sized pieces.
Your wrists will thank you because the spring-loaded handle pushes the dough out onto the pan at a press of a button. The scoop is available in several sizes, ranging from 1 tablespoon mini cookies to massive 2-tablespoon jumbo cookies. Evenly sized cookies ensure even baking.
The cookies will be looking as perfect as they would in a upscale bakery! You’re left with beautiful results from an OXO scoop.
3. Bake Evenly on Nordic Ware Baking Sheets
You don’t want your Christmas cookies to be crispy on the bottom and stale and undercooked on top. Nordic Ware’s commercial grade aluminized steel baking sheets are nonstick, evenly warming the dough for perfect cookie perfection.
It’s also light in color, meaning it will not brown too much at the bottom. Two big pans means that you can roast multiple sheets in a single go to make a big batch for the local cookie swap.
The abrasive finish easily slides the cookies out once they’re hot. Produce on a larger scale with Nordic Ware!
4. Roll Out Dough with an OXO Rolling Pin
Christmas cookie recipes often require you to roll the chilled dough out before cutting festive shapes. And with an OXO Good Grips rolling pin, you can roll it to the perfect thickness, every time.
The nonstick barrel does not stick to the dough. The ergonomic handles are easy to grip and take less strain on your hands. Curving on the barrel guides you to the thickness that works for shaping. End of streaky broken cookies!
Using an OXO rolling pin will have you becoming a pastry chef in no time.
5. Mix Multiple Batches in OXO Good Grips Mixing Bowls
When you bake Christmas cookies, you typically bake numerous kinds of cookies in a huge quantity over a number of days.
Use OXO Good Grips stainless steel mixing bowls to stay organized and efficient. Nesting bowls have high sides so that messy ingredients can be accommodated and sizes are from 1.5 quarts to 5 quarts.
These bowls feature wide openings on the tops, making ingredients easily accessible, and silicone bottoms that hold the bowls stable. Easy to measure and stir!
By having a set of 3 mixing bowls, you can make sugar cookies in one, chocolate crunch in another, and gingerbread in the third, without ever washing bowls between. And they stack away too, to take up less room in cabinets.
6. Cut Fun Shapes with Wilton Cookie Cutters
NOW the best part – you get to take one of Wilton’s huge range of cookie cutters and make fun patterns with your rolled out dough!
Cookie cutters from snowflakes to trees to reindeer, snowmen and Christmas decorations come from Wilton. Encourage the entire family to press out cute patterns.
They break right through cooled dough, the aluminum cutters are sturdy and can be hand-washed or even machine washed.
Your Cookies will be so festive! — Use the letter and number cutouts of Wilton’s alphabet letters and numbers to spell out messages and names. Or with the special stained glass pattern cutters. Cookie decorating isn’t just for kids – go crazy!
7. Store Leftovers in Ziploc Containers
When your cookies are finished to the pinnacle, you want to store them to share, give, or enjoy. Store them in Ziplock storage containers for days of fresh cookies. The plastic lids lock shut to retain moisture, sealing them up tightly.
They also help you stack, pack and ship cookies. You can compartmentalize the cookie flavors, or bring a group of them to a party in sizes you can customize. Make sure to label each jar so guests know what is in it.
Their containers are freezer, microwave and dishwasher safe so they are versatility. Buy a lot and then put them to good use for your holiday baking year after year!
8. Keep Flour Fresh in an OXO Pop Container
For delicious cut-out cookies, good ingredients, most notably flour, are the first step to making great cut-out cookies.
An OXO POP flour container is a baker’s ultimate must-have to store five pounds of flour for longer. The sealing is air tight, which prevents it from absorbing moisture and this keeps flour strong. The jar is flat so it will take up minimal room in your pantry.
The pop open button allows you to squeeze flour out with one hand, saving time measuring into recipes. No need to stress about stale flour ruining your Christmas cookies.
A flour keeper from OXO is an investment worth making this Christmas season for any baker.
9. Melt Chocolate Perfectly with a Double Boiler
Every holiday, cookies demand melted chocolate, from chocolate crinkle to peppermint bark. Rather than microwaving chocolate, which can unevenly cook, double-boil it like the Farberware Stainless Steel Double Boiler.
There is water in the bottom pot, which heats the chocolate in the top container, making indirect heat so the chocolate melts gently. So no more burning!
The stainless steel is nonstick so the chocolate will just clean up easily once you’re done. The pour spout perfectly swirls chocolate over the cookies to decorate.
10. Make Crumbs and Dough in a Food Processor
A food processor such as the Cuisinart Prep 11 Plus is a kitchen gadget to use all around the holiday baking season.
It rapidly turns graham crackers and cookies into fine crumbs for cheesecake crusts and pie bottoms. The stainless steel cutting blade makes quick work of it. The food processor can also incorporate dough ingredients that can’t easily be mixed in with a hand mixer or standing mixer.
Final Thoughts
The holiday season is the most magical time of year to offer home-cooked goodness as a gift. As long as you use the right equipment, your Christmas cookies will look and taste great.
Follow this advice and buy a high-quality baking machine. Make it easy and painless to create holiday foods by investing in software that makes the work effortless and the end product delicious.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Can I make Christmas cookie dough with a hand mixer instead of a stand mixer?
Hand mixers are fine for small portion, but stand mixers with large motors (at least 300 watts) are better suited for mixing, kneading, and creaming thick cookie dough.
You are free to concentrate on adding ingredients with care due to the silent operation. Stand mixers have a paddle, whisk and other attachments for all your baking needs.
What if I don’t have cookie scoops? Is it OK to just put in the spoons for portioning?
You can spoon, but cookie scoops produce better-sized cookie dough balls for uniform baking. Thanks to the spring-loaded handles, you can dump dough directly onto the baking sheet with a one-two press, saving time and wrist strain. Scoops also comes in various shapes to bake little or big cookies.
Do I need two baking sheets to make Christmas cookies?
Having at least 2 large sheets allows you to make more cookies on them and is more productive. And when you only have one sheet, you can only bake a single piece at a time before you have to wash and cool the sheet. If you’ve got more sheets, you can continue baking batch after batch.
What if my dough sticks to the rolling pin when I try to roll it out?
With a nonstick rolling pin such as OXO Good Grips Rolling Pin, the dough won’t adhere to the barrel. Don’t use a nonstick pin and just dust the pin and the work surface with flour first. You can also chill the dough before rolling to avoid sticking.