Rolling pin misunderstanding

My grandson had his first birthday party today. I was so excited. I 3D printed 'J' and '1' cookie cutters, and a tiny heart cookie cutter so I could try Linzer cookies. I used a King Arthur recipe because they're so reliable, right? I even used the blue elastic rings around my rolling pin to make sure I rolled the dough to the right thickness. Oh My Goodness. That dough was so soft and fragile, even after chilling, that it was almost impossible to get a nicely shaped cookie onto the baking tray, let alone cut a cute little heart out of it. The air turned as blue as my rolling pin elastic ring and I swore Never To Use this recipe again. I baked some of the pitiful failures in desperation. Then I tasted them. Wow. Those cookies sure tasted good! So I rolled them out more thickly than recommended and it worked so much better.

This morning I found DD looking at my little bag of rolling pin rings, and she asked me which colour I'd used, then held it up for me to see. By golly, it was much thicker than yesterday. She kindly explained that I had a much bigger rolling pin than the rings were designed for, so by the time I'd wrestled the rings onto mine, they were very much thinner than they were supposed to be.

I suppose I had better apologise to King Arthur. The party was lovely, and the other grandparents really liked the cookies. I might still try a different recipe one day.

That was a good catch. I had those rings, but now I prefer to use square wooden dowels for any cookies I roll. Works perfectly even for the large gingerbread sheets. I buy them at Lowes...1/16", 1/8", 3/16", 1/4", 3/4" etc.

I even use 1" pieces to cut cake layers evenly. But you need a long knife for that...which, of course, I have.

And ALWAYS chill the cut-outs again before baking. But don't bake with the chilled cookie sheet that was in the refrigerator...it will throw off the timing. Put punched cookies on parchment, slide parchment on cookie sheet, refrigerate, then slide parchment to room temperature cookie sheet to bake.

Swearing, which is just SEARING with a little more heat, is a necessary tool in my kitchen.

I did chill the cutouts again, but didn't think of putting them on an unchilled baking sheet. What a good idea, thanks very much. I have never noticed square wooden dowels, but will go and look for them.

Back when I was making sugar cookies weekly (I think I haven't made any in at least 2 years) I settled on using the ring attachments for my rolling pin.

I also dislike rolling pins with handles. I feel like it's applying uneven pressure because your arms are pressing down on the edges while the center of the rolling pin doesn't have the same stress.

Here's an image of the square dowel when I'm rolling out the sheets of gingerbread. These are 1/4", I think.

I love the dowel idea. It’s funny, I prefer a roller with handles. Maybe because it’s just what I grew up using. I feel like I never get the dough even when I use my one without handles. Not a fan of mom’s though, it’s very mcm coppertone w chrome handles. My sister gave me my aunt’s wood one w red handles, circa 1930-40s. Love it. I still remember mom getting that copper
Jetson’s looking one in the early 60s for Christmas.