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Generally rich in butter, hand-formed cookies
tend to be fancy, simply because there is so much you can do to the pliable
doughs they are made from. They can be formed into assorted shapes, as opposed
to those that are rolled and cut out
with a cookie cutter or molded with a
cookie mold or stamp.
Small portions of dough can be hand- formed into
balls (like Mexican wedding cookies), crescents, braids, logs, rings, pretzels,
etc. and then rolled in sugar or nuts before baking, filled with jam (like
thumbprint cookies), dropped and flattened
with fork tines in a crisscross pattern (like
peanut butter
cookies), etc. They are often time-consuming to shape, since each morsel
of dough must be individually crafted. Some hand-formed cookies are shaped after
baking, while they are still warm, such as pirouettes or fortune cookies.
Refrigerator cookies are also considered
to be hand-formed.
The cookie dough can be refrigerated in a covered
bowl, then shaped and baked a day or two later. Or the cookies can be shaped
right away on foil-lined baking sheets and frozen, securely wrapped, for up to a
week.
The last step is to bake them. Some cookies
 When
making biscotti or other hand-shaped cookies, dampen your hands with water
to keep the dough from sticking to them. |
retain their shape during baking, while
others flatten slightly and become crinkly on top.
There are different ways to
shape cookie dough:
1.
Drop cookies are so easy to make and bake. A soft cookie dough is mixed
and then a cookie dough dropper, scoop, or spoon is used to drop them from.
Leave room between the cookies as drop cookies tend to spread out during baking.
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Biscotti
is cut into individual cookies when the baked dough is still warm. It's
easier to cut it into individual cookies with an electric knife rather than
with a sharp, serrated one. You'll have less crumbling if you do. |
2.
Biscotti, the delicate, flavorful Italian cookie is perfect for dipping
into a steaming cappuccino or as an accompaniment to ice cream or a glass of
wine, biscotti are endlessly versatile. They can be covered with chocolate,
embellished with spices or nuts or kept in their simple, sophisticated original
form. Light and healthy, they adapt easily to both casual and formal occasions.
3. A
Lace Cookie
is a familiar hand shaped cookie. But what makes them even better than just the
run-of-the-mill ones, is that they can be
shaped
into bow ties, cones, or cannoli. The cookies can then dipped in
melted chocolate or filled,
changing from cookies to fancy finger desserts or a tasty garnish.
More about
Lace
Cookies: Nuts are the heart of lace
cookies. You can use any nut you want. Pecans make delicate lacy cookies while
almonds make them strong--good for shaping. And they’re forgiving. If they
harden, pop ‘em in the oven for a minute.
Most Lace Cookie Recipes ask you to add the flour
to the melted butter
(my recipes here do not). The problem is that the flour clumps
up when mixed with a hot fat (just like when making gravy). If you have a recipe
like this, to fix it, place 3 tablespoons of flour in a bowl. Start by adding 1
teaspoon of fat to it to make a paste. You may need more fat. Then, whisk the
paste into the hot fat in the pan (removed from heat). Continue until all of the
flour has been blended into the hot fat. Proceed with recipe.
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