Celestial Cookies

Each year for Christmas, I like to bake cookies for friends. I saw some cookies that had been made with cookie molds, and thought I'd like to try them out for my cookie gifts this year. I have always been attracted to the clestial theme, and it fits well with my business, sleep disorders. I found celestial cookie molds on ebay. There are 4 designs that I was able to find. I actually tried to make them last year, but my recipie didn't work out! So, I brought the molds with me to Maine and made them in Mom's kitchen. She is a great cook, and I figured that she'd be able to help me figure what went wrong. I made the same recipie, and the problem turned out to be the temperature of the dough. The dough needs to be fairly cold to be pressed into the molds. In Maine, I put the dough outdoors on the step in 20 degree weather, and it worked fine!

I was able to press the chilled dough into the molds, then peel the cookies out of the molds onto the cookie sheet. They are so big that only 6 cookies fit on each sheet. I love how they looked on the sheet. I floured the molds to try to give some definition to the designs. When they are cooked, they rise up a bit, and some of the definition is lost. I thought the next time I make them, I might use dark Karo syrup, instead of the light. I think the darker cookies might show the design better.