Upgrade Your Holiday Cookie Baking With These Pro Tips

Kristen Fenton, owner of Just-Iced Cookies in Salt Lake City, offers her advice for making and decorating the best sugar cookies for the holidays. Fenton recently represented Utah in Food Network Magazine’s Sugar Cookie USA project, and her entries appear in the December 2015 issue. She recommends that bakers chill the cookie dough in several pre-rolled portions, rather than putting a large mass in the refrigerator. When the cookies are cut, they should be placed on sheet pans lined with parchment paper, and chilled for a few more minutes while the oven is preheating. Oven thermometers can help make sure the temperature is accurate, and the cookie trays should be rotated halfway through baking to keep them evenly cooked. For decorating, Fenton recommends food gel rather than liquid food coloring, and using squeeze bottles with decorating tips of various sizes. After the cookies are frosted, Fenton puts them inside a coffee filter before sprinkling them, to keep the decorations from being wasted. | Read More