Cookie Dough: Chilled and Drop vs. Roll-out

Tis the season for christmas cookies! My family has a long history of my grandma in the kitchen baking hundreds of cookies for our family christmas, and then to freeze for year-round goodness. Our family favorites aren't the typical oatmeal raisin, peanut butter blossoms and candy canes. The family favorites include Pineapple Cookies, Carrot Cookies, Sand Tarts (roll out cookies you can decorate, but not sugar cookies) and Grandpa's Cookies. These are all recipes from the Mennonite Community Cookbook that my grandma used heavily. While I never baked cookies with my grandma (that I know of), I love the feeling that we are carrying on her legacy each year and I am proud to be able to bring a piece of her to our family christmas each year.

This year, I wanted to take on the responsibility to make the cookies for our family christmas. I have made all of the cookies before at my mom's house in past years, but this was the first year to do it on my own. In the first and last batch of cookies, I ran into a question and was encouraged to experiment! 

My first question: Do I let chilled dough come to room temperature before baking?
Answer: No, but it's okay if I do for this cookie.

For this experiment, I made Grandpa's Cookies. The dough of my first batch that I chilled was soft enough to scoop right away after being in the refrigerator for over 12 hours. But I wanted to do some research into whether it would make a big difference. 



To make a long story short, it only made a difference in how fast it browned, but this may have been an operator's error (I never said I was a perfect cook!). The only other difference was noticed in the presentation of the flattened vs. not flattened pan where the flattened cookies looked more uniform and smooth. Take a look for yourself:

First batch (cold)- Left side: natural; Right side: flattened

Last batch (room temp)- Left side: natural; Right side: flattened

I also found this explanation (from King Arthur Flour) of why it is a good idea to chill cookie dough in the first place. In the comments section, a viewer asks a vary similar question, and the author notes that it is better to cook the dough right away so the fat stays cold. 
"Chilling cookie dough before baking solidifies the fat in the cookies. As the cookies bake, the fat in the chilled cookie dough takes longer to melt than room-temperature fat. And the longer the fat remains solid, the less cookies spread." 

In other words, if you don't want your cookies to spread, it's best to cook them right out of the fridge or freezer.

My second question: Can I use a roll-out recipe to make drop cookies instead?
My answer: Yes.

For this experiment, I made Sand Tart cookies. While I am a big fan of decorating cookies, I didn't have any decorating items such as sprinkles or icing. I was hesitant to buy some because I don't have any space to store it. I have a great cookie recipe for roll-outs, but would it still work if I didn't want to decorate them and make them a drop cookie instead? So I took a small bit of dough and instead of rolling them out, used an ice cream scoop to make some drop cookies.

Finished drop cookies

They took over double the amount of time to cook than the rolled-out ones. I actually forgot about them so they got more brown than I wanted. Because they aren't a sugar cookie, they did taste a little bland. They also expanded and ended up mega-cookie size! 
Moral of the experiment: Maybe test them by making a few as the recipe calls for first to see how much they expand and how long they truly take to bake. Then adjust by making smaller than usual drop cookies if they expand and prepare for them to cook longer because they are thicker. 

Finished roll-out cookies

I did end up buying some sprinkles and icing. I used up both tubes of icing which was perfect so I don't have to store them. Here are the delicious final product of the rolled-out cookies just for show.

If you are making cookies for the holidays, have fun with it! Let your creativity show. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!