Making Cookie Dough

Do your homemade cookies turn into rocks before they can be eaten? You can slow this down from happening by using honey. Replace the sugar in your recipe with an equal amount of honey, and your cookies will stay moist for longer. Note, however, that you will need to decrease other liquids in the recipe by 1/4 cup for every full cup of honey you use.

Make sure your cookies always have a golden yellow glow. Just add a teaspoon of sugar to your dry ingredients. The sugar crystals caramelize on the crust to give the cookies a lovely tan.

Very rich cookie dough, the kind made with a lot of butter or margarine (such as shortbread cookie dough), and soft creamed dough (such as sugar cookie dough) are easier to handle if they are chilled for 30 minutes or more before being rolled out.

To get perfectly shaped cookies you can use the empty cardboard roll from your paper towels. When it's time for slicing, you'll have a perfectly shaped roll and nice, little, round cookies.

1. Cut the cardboard roll length­wise so you can open the tube.
2. Line the inside with a piece of wax paper.
3. Pack your cookie dough tightly inside.
4. Close up the roll, securing it with tight rubber bands.
5. Chill the dough according to your recipe.
6. Take the roll out, remove the rubber bands, cardboard, and wax paper, and cut perfect round slices.

Use a cheese slicer to cut uniform pieces from the roll. This works on pre-made dough rolls and homemade dough rolled with the method above.

You can also use a warm knife or metal spatula. The warmth will help you make slices without squishing your circle cookies into ovals.

How often do you make cookies that involve rolling the mixture into balls and then placing them on a baking sheet for cooking, only to see the dough spread out like a pancake as it bakes? Try greasing your cookie sheet and adding a thin sprinkling of flour (like you would a cake pan). The flour will keep the cookies from spreading out too much, and it will also keep chocolate chips and candy pieces from sticking and burning.