How do you pin it down
Tuesday December 15th 2015, 12:13 am
Filed under: Family,Food

I don’t need to eat any cookies. I do need to bake cookies, though, clearly.

I’ve never signed for a package from St. Petersburg, Russia before–there’s some novelty right there. Then it made sense that if we’re going to bake with it, pre-Christmas would be the most likely time so we decided to open the box. (Ed. to add Tuesday, in retrospect it may have been the package for Richard that was the one needing the signing.)

The rolling middle part is 8″ long–it’s not huge, but then, I have one that is nothing but huge and weighs a ton and this is a nice change.

I’m suddenly wondering: some of the vendors offer custom designs of your choice. I’m picturing that moment when you first pick up a lace shawl when it’s done blocking, swing it around your shoulders and feel like it’s the prettiest thing you ever made–could you make cookies embossed to match that lace?

Okay, though, wait, one step at a time here.

I know you have to refrigerate the dough and I know you have to flour the pin and I know you have to try to keep the cookies from being drowned in that flour; I’ve never even seen much less used a laser-engraved rolling pin before so the rest is all a great big unknown. Hopefully not for long and hopefully not with a steep learning curve, and all helpful hints are welcome (please!) Would powdered sugar instead of flour work to keep the dough from sticking to the pin? Cocoa?

It came with its creator’s favorite recipe. They have cream cheese in Russia? Is it anything like ours? If you’ve ever had fresh cream cheese it’s a bit different from our standard Philadelphia-type. (And I don’t have any of either at hand–yet.)

I think we’re going to have fun with this.


6 Comments so far
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My son, who is a dinosaur fanatic, was notified by a number of friends that they even have a dinosaur rolling pin like this. I would love to see how they are made.

Comment by Jody 12.15.15 @ 5:42 am

1) They have cream cheese in Russia. Ever had kugel? Blintzes? Lots of cheese in Eastern Europe. I promise…delicious cheeses, all kinds of fresh ones. (I have never been to Eastern Europe, but this is what Ashkenazic Jews use, so it came from there. 🙂

2) I have hand made rolling pins that make noodles, with grooves in them. One for straight long egg noodles, one for ravioli, etc. First, you roll things out to the right thickness with a regular rolling pin. Use as little flour as possible, and put wax paper on the bottom and top of the dough so you need less. Then, when your dough is perfectly ready, take the top wax paper off. Use that textured rolling pin once across the dough.

-Take your glass or cookie cutter or whatever, and make your round cookies. Peel them carefully off bottom layer of wax paper with a spatula or a knife if necessary..get them onto that cookie sheet and cook as usual.

Enjoy!
Hope this helps. I have never used this kind of rolling pin, but based on my pasta rolling pins, this is the technique I think you need. 🙂 Please tell me if I am wrong or what worked out!

Comment by Joanne 12.15.15 @ 9:53 am

It might be “quark” or Polish “twarog”. Check your nearest Eastern European store — What?! You don’t have one a five minute walk away like I do here in Northern Ireland, ha?

Enjoy your new baking toy! Tasty fun awaits.

Comment by LynnM 12.15.15 @ 10:48 am

Oh that looks like so much fun! What a great wedding present it could be – if they were able to engrave in the proper orientation.

I think Joanne is on the right track – get the cookie dough rolled out to where you want it, then a quick roll with the fancy pin. Might have to experiment a bit with how much pressure to use – when the cookies bakes it might rise up enough to lose the pattern?

May we see the cookies when you’ve made some?
Chris S in Canada

Comment by Chris S 12.15.15 @ 6:17 pm

Here’s my 2-cents… and only because I checked a recipe, never have made any myself. It suggests rolling the dough with a regular rolling pin, then lightly brush flour on the dough and lightly flour the patterned pin. Have fun!

Comment by DebbieR 12.15.15 @ 8:50 pm

You will have fun – and I hope we have fun watching!

Comment by twinsetellen 12.15.15 @ 9:34 pm



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