How to Make Refrigerator Cookies

By Dennis Weaver

Baking cookies seem to fill the house with a sense of well being. Perhaps it is the smell of butter, vanilla, and spices emanating from the hot oven. Maybe it is the love and caring attention that is evident in cookies.

Consider refrigerator, or icebox, cookies. Drop cookies are quick cookies; refrigerator cookies are convenient cookies.

Refrigerator cookie dough can be made up ahead of time--even months ahead--and stored until ready to bake. Baking that stored refrigerator cookie dough is mess free, takes little time, and you only need to bake what you need for the moment.

To store your refrigerator cookie dough until you are ready to bake, roll the refrigerator cookies into logs (or blocks) as directed in the instructions then wrap them in waxed paper and aluminum foil. The logs can be refrigerated for a week or frozen for months. When you are ready to bake, remove the logs from the refrigerator to unthaw. It's easier to slice a log that is not completely thawed and the cookies bake fine-though you may need to add another minute or so.

Refrigerator cookies are also attractive cookies. Nothing beats the uniform slices and consistent shape of refrigerator cookies. They can also be quickly and easily embossed, as were the cookies shown here, using dies from your cookie press.

To illustrate how to make refrigerator cookies, we have included a recipe for chocolate yoyo cookies. Yoyos are sandwich cookies, a pair of uniform cookies sandwiched with frosting or filling. These are rich, shortbread-type chocolate cookies with a vanilla cream filling.

Chocolate Yoyo Sandwich Cookies

For a frosted cookie, this recipe goes together quickly. It is a refrigerator cookie that you will probably not need to refrigerate if the butter is firm before mixing.

1 1/2 cups butter
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 2/3 cups pastry flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder

For the filling:
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg white or 1/4 cup meringue powder
water

With the paddle attachment of your mixer, cream together the butter, 1 1/3 cups powdered sugar, and salt until light. Add the vanilla.

Whisk the pastry flour, cocoa, and baking powder together in another bowl.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until combined (you may wish to remove the dough to a clean counter and work the last of the flour in with your hands). The dough should have a clay-like consistency.

As you mix the dough, it will first be very crumbly. As the butter softens, the dough moistens and comes together into a firm dough that can be molded with your hands.

Form the dough into a long round log 1 1/2 by 20-inches by rolling it on the counter with your hands. To make neat, uniform cookies, make the logs uniform and round. If the dough is too soft to form and cut, chill the dough in the refrigerator.

Slice the dough while it is still cold and firm into 1/4 inch slices. Turn the log after every few cookies to keep the log round. If the cookies have a flat edge, mold them back to shape with the curl of your finger before baking.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place slices on a lightly buttered baking sheet and bake for 12 to 13 minutes or until they are puffed and no longer glossy. Cool on a wire rack.
For uniform thickness, use a ruler. So that the pressure of the knife does not flatten the log, roll it a quarter turn after several cuts. A serrated knife works best for slicing cookies. Use your fingers to round any flat sides before placing them on the pan.

If you would like to emboss the cookies, use a coin, medallion, or die to press a pattern into the dough, as shown. Lightly dust the counter with flour and, occasionally, the die or coin to keep the cookie dough from sticking. The top picture shows finished, embossed cookies. Traces of flour will disappear while baking.

Dough logs can be kept in the refrigerator, well wrapped, for a couple weeks or frozen for several months. With refrigerator cookies, you can always bake only what you need.

Beat the butter in a small bowl until soft and smooth. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and egg white or meringue powder. (The egg white or meringue powder makes the frosting firmer.) Beat until smooth. Place a small amount of frosting on the back of a cookie. Press another cookie to the frosting, back to back, to form a sandwich. Repeat with the remaining cookies. Allow the frosting to set before serving. Store where cool.

Why it Works- Understanding Baking
This is a very tender, melt-in-your-mouth cookie. Three factors make it so. First, it uses soft, unbleached pastry flour. This is a low protein flour. (It is the combining of proteins that creates the gluten and the chewiness that we enjoy in bread.) Second, it has a lot of butter. Butter acts as a shortening, lubricating and relaxing the gluten strands. Third, the powdered sugar contains cornstarch. Cornstarch, with no gluten, acts as a tenderizer.

The frosting firms up better than you might expect from an uncooked frosting. The secret ingredient is the egg white or meringue powder which is made of egg whites. The egg whites set up to make firmer frosting. Frostings used in decorating, such as royal icing, are usually high in egg whites. You can do the same thing with meringue powder available on our web site.

Tips for success
Because the dough is dry, it will take some effort on the part of your mixer to work the dry ingredients into the butter. Be patient. As the dough works, the movement will create friction that will soften the butter. If the resulting dough is too soft, refrigerate it until it is firm enough to slice cleanly.

Don’t over bake. As with most cookies, a slightly under-baked cookie is a better cookie.

Don’t add too much water to the frosting. You can always add more if it is too stiff. If you add too much water, add powdered sugar to thicken it up again.

This article was excerpted from “A Baker’s Cookie Guide” which is free at The Prepared Pantry. Dennis Weaver is the author of “How to Bake”, a free 250-page e-book. The Prepared Pantry sells cookie mixes and other baking mixes and offers a free “Cookie Information Center” with recipes and techniques.