Simply Sensational Cookies by Nancy Baggett

Author:Nancy Baggett
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Published: 2012-08-08T04:00:00+00:00

Slice & Bake Cookies

Go With Joe Chocolate Chunk–Espresso Crisps

* Variation: Chocolate Espresso-Cardamom Crisps

Chocolate-Almond Crisps

Toasted Pecan–Brown Sugar Crisps

Chocolate-Hazelnut Sablés

Cranberry (Or Date) Pinwheels

Cranberry-Orange-Spice Shortbread Slices

Not Your Nana’s Spice Thins

Lime Lights

Brown Sugar–Butterscotch Slice-And-Bakes

Toasted Coconut Slices

For the home baker who loves to offer guests a little something fresh from the oven along with that cup of coffee or tea, a log of slice-and-bake cookie dough stashed in the freezer is a wonderful thing!

In fact, the homemade logs offer the same convenience as store-bought refrigerator case doughs—they just taste infinitely better due to the freshness and quality of the ingredients, often including an abundance of butter. Actually, slice-and-bakes often have a higher proportion of butter than even many other homemade cookies; the thorough chilling keeps them easy to handle and prevents excess spreading during baking even when they’re super rich.

The homemade slice-and-bake logs also come in many more interesting flavors than purchased logs: In this chapter you’ll find everything from chocolate and nut to cranberry, spice, coconut, brown sugar, citrus, and more. And their looks and textures are also more varied than you might expect due to different amounts of spreading, browning, and occasionally garnishing details.

One handy technique I recommend for every slice-and-bake recipe is using discarded paper towel, plastic wrap, or even cut-down wrapping paper tubes to keep the logs of dough round during chilling and firming. Simply slit the tubes lengthwise as they’re emptied, then stack them together and save them until needed. If the log is too fat for one tube to enclose it, just slip two tubes around it, one on each side so they overlap.

Not only do the tubes serve as handy shaping sleeves, but they also provide a very convenient place to add a cookie name and date and even the baking temperature and time for the slices. (Trust me, it’s best not to skip the labeling in hopes of remembering; you may end up with logs of both unknown flavor and uncertain freshness!) If a garnish is to be added later, put it in a zip-top plastic bag and tuck it in the tube, too. Finish by closing the tube with tape or rubber bands, slipping the logs into a heavy plastic bag, and refrigerating or freezing them until needed.

Since homemade doughs aren’t loaded with preservatives, hold them in the refrigerator for no more than 3 days. Wrapped airtight, they can be satisfactorily frozen for several months.

Several especially convenient recipes—the Chocolate-Almond Crisps and Toasted Pecan–Brown Sugar Crisps—feature doughs that don’t freeze too hard, so they can pulled directly from the freezer and sliced after only 5 or 10 minutes on the countertop. The best way to thaw other logs is to transfer them back to the refrigerator the day before baking. If you’re not the plan-ahead type or have an unexpected need for fresh cookies, place the log out at room temperature; just keep checking until it’s soft enough to cut through neatly. If it thaws completely it won’t slice attractively, and thawing time can vary greatly depending on how cold your freezer is.

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