The Holiday Cookie Trick Everyone Needs This Season

Family baking holiday cookies

For some reason, whenever I bake cookies they tend to come out of the oven looking misshapen. They’re more akin to ghost-like blobs than perfectly round circles. It doesn’t matter whether I measure them out with a cookie scoop or chill my dough in advance, I’m never able to achieve the smooth circular shape I’m aiming for.

Usually, it doesn’t matter too much what my cookies look like as long as they taste delicious, but with holiday cookie season upon us, I’m planning to gift an assortment of cookies to friends and family, and I want them to look as good as they taste. Luckily for me, I recently discovered that there's an incredibly simple trick for achieving Instagram-worthy, perfectly round cookies. This food-stylist-approved hack couldn’t be easier (no, really). Here's what you need to know.

Related: The 87-Year Old Cookie Fans Call 'Perfect'

The Easy Trick for Making Perfectly Round Cookies

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Typically, people use a round cookie cutter for this trick, but if you don’t have one, don’t worry about it. In a pinch, you can use a small bowl, a large drinking glass or a mug—they will all help you achieve round cookie perfection. No matter what you use, just be sure that the vessel is a bit larger than the baked cookie.

When the cookies come out of the oven, immediately place the cookie cutter over any misshapen ones and swirl the cookie cutter around in a circular motion, hitting the edges of the cookie gently against the cutter. This gentle readjustment will mold the soft, warm cookies into perfect circles.

Time is of the essence here. The reshaping has to be done as soon as the cookies are removed from the oven, when they're still warm and pliable. Once the cookies begin to cool down it becomes almost impossible to re-shape them without pieces breaking off.

Once you get the hang of this process you can do it very quickly and you'll be surprised by how satisfying it is to transform those lumpy, bumpy treats into something bakery-worthy!

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