These peanut butter T-rexes are underwhelming.

March 10, 2013 6:00 PM

I like cookie cutters way more than I like sugar cookies. Do you have recipe for delicious cookies that are cut out?

Cookie cutters are great! Sugar cookies are boring. I tried the peanut butter cutout cookies recipe here and was disappointed. Mediocre peanut butter flavor, mostly just flat and sweet. I would love to make cookies that are rich and awesome and also shaped like stars and dinosaurs. Got any suggestions?
Alternately, what makes cutout type recipes different from drop cookie recipes? How far from the base sugar cookie recipe can one go before losing shape definition?

posted by Adridne to food & drink (15 answers total)

These are fantastic. Deep, dark chocolatey flavor. I made them for a friend recently using these moustache cutters, and they were a definite hit.
posted by spinturtle at 6:05 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]

Shortbread, of course!
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 6:05 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]

Gingerbread!
Cut-out cookie recipes that aren't sugar or gingerbread on thekitchn.
posted by phunniemee at 6:08 PM on March 10

my personal trick: Mix together your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Next, instead of making a lot of round blobs that turn into cookies, you just make one huge flat cookie-sheet-shaped blob, bake it, then cut into shapes with cookie cutters while still warm.

(Okay, you get a lot of little extra pieces since you only get one go-round, but those can just go in your tummy and no one has to know any better.)
posted by Mchelly at 6:09 PM on March 10 [6 favorites]

Matcha green tea shortbread!

Recipe: matcha green tea shortbread cookies from the blog userealbutter.com

I love love love these. They have a wonderful matcha flavor to them and the dough is much easier to handle than a lot of other shortbread recipes.
posted by lyra4 at 6:20 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]

Good shortbread cookies have a really specific butter-to-dry-stuff ratio that I can't remember right now. I think it's equal parts butter and flour based on the recipes I have on hand. (Mine also include cornstarch which gives them an extra special chewiness that is just divine.) I'd wager that sugar cookies have a similar setup (minus some flour, though). I think you'll need to find recipes that have similar ratios in order to have shapes hold up properly.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 6:24 PM on March 10

I just made this shortbread and it makes everyone freak out. The good thing about it is that you can see the ratios pretty well. This particular recipe is amazing, but you can also do something simple like halve it and experiment along these lines

- 1 stick butter at room temp
- 1/2 c brown sugar
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 cup flavory something dry (coconut, wheat germ, lavender flowers, dried fruit, chocochips)
- 1 T other flavory something dry (sesame seeds, chopped walnuts, cocoa powder)

Cream butter/sugar, mix all dry ingredients together, mush it all together, chill for at least an hour (form into loaf or just roll out later) cook at 325 for 10-14 min or until lightly browned.
posted by jessamyn at 6:44 PM on March 10 [13 favorites]

These chocolate cookies from Smitten Kitchen are delicious! Was thinking about them earlier today, time to make another batch.
posted by dorey_oh at 8:46 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]

Was going to suggest shortbread but jessamyn beat me to it. I had good luck with adding lemon peel (candied is awesome, but the usual rind is also nice) and candied ginger.

You could also take unexciting sugar cookies and liven them up by making sandwich cookies instead. Who could resist any cookie shaped like T-rex with nutella inside it?
posted by maryr at 8:46 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]

Cookie cutters also work great on foods other than cookies like pancakes, sandwiches, eggs, and jello.
posted by obol at 9:45 PM on March 10 [2 favorites]

I'm not a great fan of sugar cookies (or plain sugar frosting) either. This recipe for lemon cut-out cookies is my go-to.
posted by dlugoczaj at 7:46 AM on March 11

thin mints!! thin mints... THIN MINTS!!!

yes they are a little messy to dip/coat, but that's half the fun. And when you're done you can ice them all pretty too :)
posted by lonefrontranger at 7:52 AM on March 11

If you want to do thin mints, this is a delicious recipe (though I'm sure the ones lonefrontranger linked are all great). You probably want to triple the amount of peppermint, though.
posted by phunniemee at 8:09 AM on March 11

It looks like you have cookies covered, so may I suggest:

Biscuits, but you want to avoid too many small protrusions as they will crisp up sooner.
Pie crust (for a topper) can be pattern-cut, just try to keep all the pieces the same size.

Phyllo can be cut out and topped (savory with cheeses or sweet with jam/conserves) for hors d'oevres. You could also make non-crescent croissant-like pastries.

Playdoh. Just putting that out there.

Weave bacon and cut out shapes before baking. (Yes, I did just watch Epic Meal Time.)

Crackers are easy to bake at home.

Metal cookie cutters plus pancake batter = T-rex-flapjacks. Spray-oil the cookie cutters for easy release.
posted by Sunburnt at 10:12 AM on March 11 [1 favorite]

Moravian Ginger Cookies. Yum!
posted by jrobin276 at 6:31 PM on March 11