There are so many delightful Christmas cookies and treats to choose from that it’s difficult to decide what to prepare. Making Christmas cookies, sugar cookies, bread, cakes, candies, bars, pies, tarts, and other holiday treats is a great way to spend time with family and friends. During the holiday season, Christmas cookies are among the most popular foods, especially with kids. Nothing makes people smile as much as a sugar cookie with frosting. To make the perfect cookies, you need the right baking supplies, and the most crucial component to a successful baking session is: baking paper.
Baking paper, also known as parchment paper, kitchen parchment, and cooking paper, is a silicone-coated, water-resistant, and oven-safe paper that’s frequently used in restaurants and professional bakeries.
Trying to speed up the baking process? Use the Asahi Kasei Cooking Sheet to line your baking Paper. This cooking sheet is a parchment paper with a silicone coating on both sides that makes baking more consistent by preventing food from sticking. This greaseproof paper will not crumble even at temperatures as high as 250°C for 20 minutes, so your cookies won’t burn or turn black. Even the most delicate cookies will turn out perfectly every time, and best of all, there won’t be any sticky mess to clean up in between batches.
Below are some of the stages in your baking process where parchment paper will come in real handy.
Rolling Out the Cookies
- You don’t need to use additional flour when rolling out the dough using two parchment sheets. The cookies release from the baking paper easier than they do from a floured work surface after they have been rolled and cut out.
- On a sheet of parchment paper, place one of the dough halves. While working with the first half, put the second half in the fridge.
- Over the dough, lay another sheet of baking paper.
- Roll out the dough as you would on a floured surface.
- The dough can be turned while rolling by picking up the two parchment pieces and turning them together.
- Roll the dough until it is 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. The thinner the dough is rolled, the crisper the cookie. But rolling too thin will make the cookie too fragile for decorating and they’ll be soft if they’re too thick. Once you’re done rolling, remove the top parchment paper.
Cutting Cookies into Desired Shapes
- Once you are done rolling out the dough, remove the top sheet of parchment paper from the rolled out dough. Lightly flour the cookie batter.
- Put back the top sheet of parchment and carefully flip the dough over between the sheets of baking paper.
- Take out the top sheet of baking paper. The floured surface is now on the bottom. This will make it simpler to remove the cut-out forms from the parchment.
- Dip the cutting edge of the cookie cutter into flour before starting to cut out the shapes. This will aid in preventing cutters from sticking to the dough.
- Using a cutter, cut the shapes into the dough by pushing them evenly and all the way through. The dough can be cut into a variety of shapes, including stars and Christmas trees.
- Lift the cookie with the cutout off the work surface with a thin metal spatula. Put the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- To allow for cookie spreading during baking, space them apart by roughly 1 inch.
Baking The Cookies
Baking cookies on parchment paper can save time and energy. Instead of greasing the cookie sheet, unbaked cookies are simply placed on top of the baking paper. While the first batch of cookies is baking, divide the remaining cookie batter between two pieces of parchment paper. (If there are only a few crumbs left on the used parchment, wipe them off and use it again for the remaining dough.) When the batch has finished baking, just remove the baking paper containing the finished cookies from the cookie sheet and place them on a wire rack (before moving the cookies off the baking paper directly onto the rack to finish cooling, you might need to give them a little time to cool).
Once the cookies have completely cooled, they are ready to be decorated to be served in the festivities. There are numerous ways to decorate these delicious sugar cookies. They don’t have to be frosted, but it will be a lot more fun if you paint, sprinkle, or frost them with your favorite toppings.