After you roll out your well chilled cookie dough, cut out the shapes you want with your cookie cutters.

(Note:) Bake same size and same shapes of cookies together on a baking sheet.  This will insure even baking of all cookies.

Once you have placed your cut out cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet, place the whole tray of un-baked cookies in the freezerfor 20 minutes.  Remove the tray from the freezer and place in a preheated oven.  Bake as usual.  This will do two things.  1.) It will re-freeze the butter in the cookie and  2.) It will help keep the cookie shape during baking.  What happens:  The butter, if not frozen or well chilled, it will start to melt as soon as the baking sheet is placed in the  hot oven.  If the cookie is frozen before baked, the cookie will start to bake before the butter starts to melt.  It’s that simple!  Once I discovered this simple tip I was amazed at how well my cookies kept their shape during baking.

Also, be sure you let your baking sheets cool between batches of cookies.  Never place chilled cut out cookies on a hot baking sheet.  This is why I recommend buying several heavy duty baking sheets.

Try it this week end!

Happy Baking!