HELPFUL HINTS

There are a few things that you should know about using these cookie cutters and preventing dough from sticking to the cutter.

- The most important is dough thickness. Go ahead and expect the first two or three times you roll out the dough, it will be too thick or too thin. Plan on making it back into a ball, and rolling it out until you get a feel for the correct thickness. If you’re making a lot of cookies, you might want to invest in a set of rolling pin spacers. Walmart sells them on their web site (not in the store) for only a few dollars. Amazon also has them, but are usually more like $10.

- Next is dough stickiness. If you feel your dough is too sticky when you are finished mixing the wet and dry ingredients, add a bit more flour and sugar to the mix. You want the dough to not stick to the sides of the mixing bowl. Even if the recipe calls for 3 cups, it might take 3 and a half or 4 cups of flour/sugar to get it just right - it depends a lot on how big the egg is and how much moisture is in the flour and sugar from the air.

- Another tip is to chill the dough before rolling it out. 10-15 minutes in the refrigerator will do the trick. You want it cool to the touch, but not too hard that it’s difficult to stamp the cookies out.

- Another thing that helps A LOT!!!!!: Grab a small flat bottom dish, and dip the cutter into powered sugar to coat the cutter, moving it around to get some on the sides, then tapping off too much excess.

- If you really want thicker cookies than what the cutter is able to cut, you can roll the dough out thicker and then only cut partially into the dough, then use a small knife (or a tooth pick on it side) to finish the cut of the outline of the cookie.

FOR COMPLEX COOKIE CUTTERS, STICKY DOUGH, AND TWO PART COOKIE CUTTERS

- Grab a fine wire mesh strainer, and place it in a bowl. Add powered sugar to the strainer, and use that to “dust” the top of the dough when you’re rolling it out. This first steps dries out the top layer of the dough a bit to make it easier to cut. Then, before cutting the rolled out dough, dust the dough again with the powered sugar. For very complex cutters, you can cover the dough in powered sugar until you can’t see the dough any longer, then stamp out the cookies. It might seem like a lot of powered sugar, but it’s very light and fluffy. Finally, use a new, small, cheap paint brush to brush away the sugar when you are finished. You don’t have to get every last bit of the sugar off of as it will magically be absorbed into the dough as the cookies bake.

- If you are still having problems, try only cutting part way into the dough, and pull the cutter out and dip it back into the bowl of powered sugar. Use a cheap paint brush or a basting brush to get some powered sugar into the cut lines. Set the cutter back on the dough and realign the cutter into the partially cut outline. Then press the cookie cuter in a bit more. You can keep repeating this step until the cutter is no longer sticking, and you’ve cut all the way through. Also, chilling the cookies on the cookie sheet before baking will help retain their shape while baking. 5 mins in the freezer works.