Does anyone use these and have any tips for getting the best design impression?
I bought several on ebay and my sister and I tried them tonight. We used the recipes from the Brown Bag site, and tried the Sugar Cookie, Chocolate and Ginger cookie recipes. They smelled and tasted great. Not too much difficulty getting them to release from the mold. The Chocolate and Ginger recipes held the design better than the Sugar Cookie. I made a thinned out Glace' that we brushed over the top. For the first attempt, they are decent, but just like all my cookies, I'd like them to be better next time!
I used to use these all the time and even taught a class on them at one point. There are two main factors - you have to have molds with very good definition. I used to pick through all in the store to find the best. Secondly, don't get too much air or 'fluff' when doing your dough. Lastly, after you form the cookies, chill the whole sheet and make sure your oven is well pre-heated. Hope that helps a tad! I never decorated the front, but I did put chocolate on the back and dipped in bits of toffee. Yum!
Thanks for the reply, TracyLH! I'd really like to get these to work.
Did you use the Brown Bag recipes? I did use the mixer to cream the ingredients, but the recipe did say "by hand" or with a mixer on low speed. I probably had the oven on for 30 minutes before I put some in, and they were chilled in the freezer for a bit before baking. I noticed a definite difference between the recipes -- the sugar cookie one puffed more than the Chocolate or Ginger. I wondered if trying just an egg yolk rather than a whole egg might help. Do you think parchment or not on the cookie sheet makes a difference? (I know the instructions said not to use Airbake sheets.)
Also, I didn't like the flour from the mold that showed on the chocolate cookies. I did tap it out pretty well before putting the dough in the mold. Do you have any experience with using either powdered sugar or cocoa (or a mix of these) instead of flour to dust the mold?
Since a single recipe doesn't make a load of cookies, I'm game to try a few things until I get it right.
They are stoneware cookie molds. They also have some very nice shortbread molds. Here's their home page:
http://www.brownbagcookiemolds.com/
A cookie mold gallery:
http://www.brownbagcookiemolds.com/gallery/CookieMolds
I don't know that it shows all of the designs. There are some really attractive designs -- if I can get them to imprint well on the cookie! The shortbread pans work well for me, I think I just need some practice with the cookie molds.
Hi Cindy - I knew I forgot something! I meant to mention that it is imperative that you mix by hand only You are trying to to keep from getting too much air in the dough. Also, I use Airbake. I haven't done them for a while, but I never used parchment, but you can try that. I know it helps with spreading on my regular cutouts. Also, you could experiment and try just a yolk.
I remember I did do something a bit different. I don't recall the instructions, but to keep the dough from sticking, I took a small amount of dough and pushed it in the mold instead of however they said to 'oil' it. I then put a small amount of flour in, moved it around and really tapped it out. I refloured each time (sometimes every other time). I never had a problem with flour showing on the light cookies. As for the darker, I would use cocoa powder.
Hope that helps! 
Hi Cindy - I knew I forgot something! I meant to mention that it is imperative that you mix by hand only You are trying to to keep from getting too much air in the dough. Also, I use Airbake. I haven't done them for a while, but I never used parchment, but you can try that. I know it helps with spreading on my regular cutouts. Also, you could experiment and try just a yolk.
I remember I did do something a bit different. I don't recall the instructions, but to keep the dough from sticking, I took a small amount of dough and pushed it in the mold instead of however they said to 'oil' it. I then put a small amount of flour in, moved it around and really tapped it out. I refloured each time (sometimes every other time). I never had a problem with flour showing on the light cookies. As for the darker, I would use cocoa powder.
Hope that helps!
Thanks! I'm going to try with just a yolk + hand mixing. Some of my best chocolate chip cookies were hand mixed too. Funny how that works!
I did use parchment -- maybe I'll try a few without.
Some of my metal cutters with backs said to do the "dough rubbing" thing to condition them prior to dusting with flour. I just pushed them into the dough blob a couple of times to accomplish that before I rolled it out. That was pretty easy.
I have tons of them and use them all the time. I'm not crazy about the shortbread pans (bad definition) but the cookie molds are AWESOME!! And quite frankly her recipes are the best I've ever eaten. And the nice thing is that you can use the molds with fondant, chocolate and other things. Very cool!!
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