AI want to start making nice decorated cookie's, I made a dough today and when I used my cookie cutters to make shapes, the dough was too soft to pick up and place on baking tray without changing the shape of the dough because it was too soft. Is there anyway I can get myself a stiffer dough mix so I can handle shapes better when being picked up etc? Thanks.

It helps if you chill your dough before rolling and cutting.

In addition to chilling, cut your dough on either parchment paper or silpat mats and remove the unwanted dough with an artist spatula.  Leaving the cut out cookie intact and perfectly shaped - bake.

AThanks guys but I found chilling it didn't help. I chilled it for an hour and it was still really soft and I removed the excess dough etc but when it came to lifting the shape it was too soft still

No fail sugar cookie recipe by Jackie:

http://www.cakecentral.com/a/no-fail-sugar-cookies

what kind of fat did you use in the recipe and did you melt it first? what are the basic ingredients in the recipe? 

AI used margarine (stork) lighy brown sugar & plain flour then added whatever flavours I wanted...

freezing cookie dough also helps -- i roll mine out between parchment and freeze it and then cut out like mbalaska says in post # 3 -- but starting with a good recipe is key -- like she said in post #7 --

i'm not familiar with that brand of margarine -- wonder how much water it has in it

Ahttp://www.wilton.com/recipe/Roll-Out-Cookie-Recipe

I use this recipe. ...my family loves them....I dont use the almond falvoring...I dont like it.... Happy Cookie Making....:-D

AKate im not 100% sure but I think that margarine is used overseas...

AI just reread what OP wrote....ive never heard of brown sugar used in roll out cookie recipe....does that make a difference? ? And did you use eggs?? Just wondering

thanks, kazita, about the margarine probably being from overseas -- and i wondered about eggs too -- can't say i've used brown sugar in rolled out cookies but it should not pose a problem

ABrown sugar wont cause any problems? ? Im asking? ? Its got a different texture then white sugar. .

there are recipes for cut out cookies made with brown sugar -- like i said i don't remember using one but apparently they are out there so... but just willy nilly substituting things in there like melted fat would/could ruin a recipe as well as leaving out the eggs ;) idk -- but one hour chill time is not enough either -- serious cookie makers often freeze the dough because it makes a difference same thing with pie crust -- it really crisps up the fat --

AOh the recipe I use (the wilton one) you aren't suppose to put the dough in the frig but I do anyways to do like you say...get a firmer crisper cookie that holds its shape..

right and then we have a nostalgic family favorite that's a soft lofthouse type cut out cookie -- 10,000 times 10,000 different types/ways/recipes huh

and for the record cwr41 mentioned chilling the dough right away on the first page -- didn't mean to overlook that it was already mentioned -- although the hour chill op put on it is not enough