The King Arthur Cookie Companion describes Decorator's Dream cookies as thin, light, crisp, sturdy enough to decorate, yet tender rather than hard. They also recommend using a flavoring called Fiori di Sicilia which is an orange-vanilla flavoring. We didn't have the Fiori di Sicilia, so we just used vanilla paste. I will definitely be making these again.
Easy to Work With Dough
This dough was really easy to work with and made great tasting, very thin cookies. The cookies did puff up a bit, but the taste made up for the puffiness and they were still thin (as you can see). I don't know if they would have puffed up so much had I not used the baker's ammonia.
If you've never tried baker's ammonia, it's worth ordering from King Arthur Flour.
Dream Cookies with Baker's Ammonia
1 cup unsalted butter (8 oz)
2 cups confectioners' sugar (8 oz)
2 tablespoon light corn syrup
¼ teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baker's ammonia (optional)
1 large egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons water
3 ½ cups (14 ¾ ounce) all purpose flour
Cream butter, sugar, and syrup with an electric mixer. Beat in flavorings and salt.
Dissolve baker's ammonia in egg/water mixture and stir into batter. Stir in flour.
Shape dough into two balls and put each ball in a large zipper bag. Press balls flat, seal bag and chill dough until ready to use.
Roll dough to about ⅛ of an inch thick (can roll thinner if desired). Cut shapes and bake at 350 degrees F. for 8-12 minutes (depending on size of cookie).
Makes about 4 dozen 2 inch cookies
Anna
I've had my share of frustration with dough as well. I usually end up rolling it out and freezing it before cutting. There are doughs that have more flour, but they never taste as good as the harder-to-work-with less flour doughs.
Amy
I shouldn't be allowed to make cut-out cookies, I really shouldn't. I know better. The second half of the dough has been a little better. I think the first time I was afraid of sprinkling too much flour (thinking it would make them too tough) and I didn't get them thin enough either. I don't know if I'm going to be brave enough to post pictures.
Anna
Oh no, Amy!You might have to roll it out and chill it. You could even roll out circles, put the rolled out circles in the freezer, and punch out from the chilled/firmed dough circles.
Amy
Waaaa!!!I'm not finding it easy to work with at all. My Christmas trees look like...?... I don't know, not Christmas trees. I'm about to scream or cry, not sure which.
Jen
I will soon be on the look out for a good cut out sugar cookie so it's good to know this is a good one. Course, I've yet to make a dud from this book so it probably would have been the first place I looked.