Of course!

I use flour and a bare rolling pin. In fact I just did this a couple days ago. I had to use a lot of flour because my dough turned out very soft, but everyone gobbled the cookies up, so I don't think it affected the taste much. HTH

I'm in the process of frosting 5 dozen heart shaped cookies. PLEASE don't ask why I am doing it today :)

Anyways I use a sugar cookie recipe that really keeps it shape very well.

It chills as you roll out the next batch. I am pretty fast so I put the dough in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Because you roll it out between sheets of parchment, you don't need ANY extra flour (which can make your cookies tough).

I have a wooden pin I had custom made from a seller on eBay. It's 2" in diameter and 20" long (which means I can roll out large amounts of dough at a time) and the Wilton Fondant rings (40-% coupon at Joann's or Michaels) fit it perfectly. I use the 3/16" rings but I am sure your pastry frame will work just as well...

No Fail Sugar Cookie (Marigene on cakecentral.com)

2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or desired flavoring (I like almond myself)
1 teaspoon fiori de scillia?
6 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.

Chill for 1 to 2 hours (or see Hint below)

Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe can make up to 5-dozen 3" cookies.

HINT: Rolling Out Dough without the Mess -- Rather than wait for your cookie dough to chill, take the freshly made dough and place a glob between two sheets of parchment paper.

Roll it out to the desired thickness then place the dough and paper on a cookie sheet and pop it into the refrigerator. Continue rolling out your dough between sheets of paper until you have used it all. By the time you are finished, the first batch will be completely chilled and ready to cut. Reroll leftover dough and repeat the process! An added bonus is that you are not adding any additional flour to your cookies.

I think most cookie doughs benefit from chilling for a good period of time--the flour does a better job ob absorbing the liquid, and the cookies brown more evenly, because the fat's chilled better.

The recipe said to chill the dough over night, so I did. I ended up using the rolling pin sock, because without it the dough just wound around the roller.

Loves, I wish I had asked this last night and seen your tips. So now they are baked and I am going to frost them with royal icing, also a first for me.

Your pastry frame might have something built in, but these little guys are the handiest thing for rolling out cookies/pastry. They're like thick rubber bands that go on the ends of the rolling pin so there's no guessing about the thickness. I wish I had them 30 years ago. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Rolling pin rings

(Why I make drop cookies...) ;)

I'm sure yours will be perfection. Photos please!

PFmastin, I actually measured the thickness of the dough with a steel measuring tape. I think the rings would be better.

Okay, the cookies are baked and iced. I sneaked one and they are fabulous, if I do say so myself.

I tried to make red royal icing but the red food coloring just made it pinker and pinker so I have cookies that are bubble gum pink. I did sprinkle a few with red sprinkles instead of icing, but I think it needs the icing to add the right balance of sweet and not so sweet (the cookie).

The icing recipe made about twice as much as I needed unless I was supposed to ice them with a 1 inch layer of icing.

I will post the recipe and a picture later. Thank for your help.

I made some butter cookies the other day and when I went to roll them out, the dough was sticking to my rolling pin so I got out a nice size piece of that Glad Press n Seal, laid that over the dough and then rolled out my dough. Wow how easy was that?

I'd love to see a pic of your cookies.

The only way to get true red icing is NOT to use Wilton's. They are good at a lot of things but not red or black. I use Americolor gel pastes. I buy on eBay, Amazon or specialty sites whichever is cheapest when I need it.

I am done now - going to rest and watch the Olympics, then clean the kitchen, then make dinner.

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friends

hehehe, I ran put of room

Loves, how did you get your icing so smooth? Mine has "spread" marks in it. Yours are adorable. I was not nearly so creative.

Shaun, good idea.

My kitchen is a total mess. Along with all the cookie baking debris there is a snow shovel, various boots and shoes, the morning paper and who knows what else. I will shove as much as I can into the DW (not the shovel or boots) and call it a day.

Ded, I'll look forward to seeing your pictures, although I'm too late for any help.

I've never had anything except a bare rolling pin and a counter, mine is a wooden "dowel" type rolling pin, I gave Grandma's old one with handles to Amanda. My counters are formica, LOL, and I've never used parchment or anything else. I like the parchment idea a lot, BTW.

When I'm using royal icing on cookies I make the icing, take the stuff I want to edge the outside and make it thicker so I can make my "border" with a pastry bag and tip, then put the thinner stuff in a squeeze bottle and "flood" the cookie inside the border. It spreads around pretty well by itself, but you can use a knife or a paintbrush to cover it all, I use a brush. When it sets, you can add writing or polka dots or you can add color when the first layer is just starting to set and swirl it and get a pattern.

I'm just starting to play with royal icing, so mine's still sloppy and I'm working on thick/thin texture, but it's fun to play!

Annie

A little late to the discussion, but perhaps this tip will come in handy another time...

Use sifted powdered sugar, instead of flour, for rolling out cookies. Raw flour left on cookies can over-brown, alter flavor and make cookies tough, but powdered sugar will melt into the cookies.

-Grainlady

I just made heart shaped cookies the other day. I use a marble rolling pin which I love and a Tupperware plastic mat to roll out the dough on (it is very old -- I don't know if they still make it). I like using the mat because I can put it in the sink and make sure it is really clean (I cannot put my granite counters in the sink and rinse them well).

Anyhow, I always use this recipe from Taste of Home and they are THE BEST SUGAR COOKIES EVER! The secret that sets them apart is the 3 oz of cream cheese. You don't taste the cc in the recipe, but it makes them so yummy.

I make the dough the night before and divide it into thirds to roll out. It is quite hard when right out of the refrig, so I let it sit for bit and then smash it down with my hands before rolling. A little flour when rolling out has never hurt these cookies.

My other trick is, after rolling out the dough, use a thin metal spatula to unstick the dough from the mat before using the cookie cutters (metal is better, not plastic).

Also, don't roll cookie dough too thin and only bake until you see a hint of brown on the edges or they will be crumbly.

The end.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sugar Cookies

I do something similar as loves2cookfor6- roll out the dough between wax paper, lay on a cookie sheet, pop in freezer and wait a little while. Then do the cut outs. They will have sharp edges and come off beautifully from the paper.

I'm going to use powdered sugar next time for rolling. Thanks grainlady!

Maybe I will make some President's Day / Family Day cookies so I can try all these new tips. I wonder where I can find cookie cutters that look like George Washington and Abe Lincoln.

How about a log cabin and a cherry tree? Or cherries?

Maybe a stovepipe hat and a set of wooden teeth.

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search and ye shall find....

Here is a link that might be useful: Cookie cutters by mail