My Favorite Cookies Are Made From Leftover Baked Goods.
One of my first memories of Christmas baking is watching my mom cut shapes out of sugar cookie dough and then roll the scraps into a ball to roll out again. Repeat this process and the clump of waste will become smaller and tougher. I didn’t have much patience as a kid, but now that I bake with my kids, we do things a little differently. We consider the scraps to be cookies themselves and bake them as is.
The resulting cookies are what I call “sticky notes.” They are irregularly shaped and contain the outlines of gingerbread arms and snowman hats. I don’t scrunch them up or roll them out again; I just cut out the shapes I want (or have the kids do it) and place everything on a baking sheet. The beautiful cookies are placed on one tray to be carefully decorated and lovingly cared for until they can be served or gifted; and the scraps are sent to the other side to be smeared with icing and devoured, willy-nilly.
Scrapies solve several small problems at once. First, it’s tedious to roll the scraps onto the cookie canvas smaller and smaller. It may take forever, paradoxical style of Zeno . If the kids have fun cutting them out, great, but usually everyone can’t wait to get to decorating and eating.
Secondly, there is the fact that re-rolling does not produce good cookies. As Ellie Chanthorn Reinmann, our food editor, told me, “Re-rolling the cookie dough can overwork the mixture, causing more gluten development. A stronger gluten network results in a tougher cookie rather than as much rise.” From a flavor and texture standpoint, it’s best to bake the scraps as is.
And then we move on to bigger questions, like how soon the kids and I can eat the cookies we make. Are you just eating the perfect gingerbread man? “Accidentally” broke his head? Wait until you see someone else sneaking a bite and then claim that justice demands that you get the cookie too? Or make the argument that you’re not doing your due diligence as a chef if you don’t taste your creations early and often?
Don’t worry if you have scraps. The “good” cookies and snacks come out of the oven at the same time. You can break the scrappie to check its doneness. You can try one of these to appreciate its taste and crunch. Best of all, you get a free supply of snack material and a test canvas for decorations. Does your 2 year old want to squeeze some frosting out? She can squeeze it into the flap. I’ll do the same thing by applying a squiggle of the excess onto the cookie, which itself looks like a squiggle.