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Perfectly Round Cookies

Here's how to get an evenly rolled log of dough for slice-and-bake cookies.

We love refrigerator cookie dough—the kind that is chilled in in a log shape and sliced before baking—because it can be made ahead; plus, we can bake off only as many cookies as we want at a time. But shaping the dough into an even, round cylinder is hard to do just by rolling it back and forth on the counter, as most recipes instruct. Here’s a more effective method.

1.  Place cookie dough in center of large piece of parchment paper and use your hands to shape it into rough log. Fold parchment in half over dough.

2.  Grasp bottom half of parchment. With your other hand, press bench scraper into crease that forms between dough and parchment. Move scraper back and forth along length of dough to even out cylinder.

3.  Roll parchment into cylinder and firmly twist ends together to form tight seal. (Refrigerate cylinder on bed of raw rice to prevent flat bottom from forming.)

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