I am attempting my mother’s icebox cookie recipe. It is a chilled cookie dough and to live up to my imaginary standard, the cookies need to be sliced almost paper thin. What type of knife would be best (I have NO objection to spending money on a good knife), and any tips, hints would be appreciated.
How about a mandoline?
StG
A good-quality 12" non-serrated knife, I should think, with the blade kept very sharp. You can pick one up at Wal-Mart for maybe $15 (I don’t recall right offhand exactly how much I paid for mine, but it was well worth it).
You should also try using a cleaver, Chinese-style, to slice things thinly. I have one, and it’s great!
You don’t have to spend a lot to get a good wire slicer. You can even chill it before slicing so the dough doesn’t stick.
I was going to suggest that you partially freeze the dough and then just use a sharp knife, much the same way that you do when you’re trying to slice meat thinly.
But a wire slicer would probably work best, unless there are nuts or other hard things like chocolate chips in the dough.
There are thinly sliced almonds in the dough but those shouldn’t present a slicing problem. I do like the wire slicer and look! It’s on Amazon Prime, which I just signed up for! StG, I do have a mandolin and never thought of that.
I can’t imagine a mandoline would work for this. You need to draw the knife through the dough as you slice. Trying to just push a blade straight down will mash the dough into a flattish lump.
Wiping the blade clean between every couple of slices is also useful - as dough starts to stick to the blade, it will get harder to slice the dough cleanly.
Well, I make a couple of refrigerator cookies every year for christmas and invariably, they end up slightly smooshed. I bought both a mandoline and a wire slicer and if people don’t mind waiting until around december 20th, I’ll report back with results.
Or just use a loop of dental floss – yes, unwaxed and unflavored, of course.
I don’t see how a mandoline would work. You would over-heat the dough by holding it while you sliced - assuming the goal is to hold the roll of dough like you would a cucumber on a mandoline.
I will be making the cookies before Dec. 17, so I can report. I plan on getting the wire slicer and will try that and the dental floss (might need to go to Montana for that).
Hey! I must be somewhat of a chef because I was coming in to say the same thing! Cool.
This is what I came in to post. I use dental floss for refrigerator cookies and cinnamon rolls. Works like a charm without distorting the goodies.
I use a cheese slicer like this one. I like it because you can adjust the thickness of the slice. I also freeze the dough, pre-shaped, and then pop it out, slice off one batch, and pop the rest of the log back in the freezer while the oven batch bakes.