How to make Christmas cookies with an embossed rolling pin

Today, I'm making Christmas cookies with an embossed rolling pin. It's such an easy way to create beautiful Christmas cookies in minutes! I'll also give you my tips and tricks for using, caring for and storing an embossed rolling pin so that it will serve you well for years to come.

This cookie dough and rolling pin are far too good to keep for Christmas though. Apart from my Reindeer patterned rolling pin, I bought a second rolling pin with a vintage pattern so that I can make embossed cookies all year round!

Christmas cookie blog hop

I'm so excited to take part in this Christmas cookie blog hop. Thanks to my friend Jennifer of kitchenserf.com for organising.

You can find the links to view all my talented blogger friends' scrumptious cookie recipes below.

What is an embossed or patterned rolling pin?

An embossed rolling pin is a wooden rolling pin which has a pattern cut into it. When you roll it over the cookie dough, it leaves a beautiful pattern which you can then cut out with regular cookie cutters.

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Where can you buy an embossed rolling Pin?

I bought my rolling pins from the lovely Carolina of 'Pastry Made'. Her embossed rolling pins are so popular that she has sold almost 2,000 of them since she's been on Etsy. She ships them all over the world too! I'm giving you fair warning that once you see her shop, you will want to buy everything in it – don't say I didn't warn you!

You can see the Reindeer embossed rolling pin here. (I bought the large size).

Carolina sends instructions with every rolling pin so that you will know how to get the best out of it.

It must be a very, busy period for Carolina with so many people purchasing Christmas gifts online this year and her embossed rolling pins are perfect for sending through the post. Despite this, my order was dealt with efficiently and quickly and Carolina answered my emails right away.

I knew this Christmas Cookie blog hop was coming up so I couldn't wait for my beautiful patterned rolling pins to arrive!

Here's how you should prepare a patterned rolling pin for use.

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Should you oil a wooden rolling pin?

When you first receive your embossed rolling pin, the first thing you should do is oil it. Carolina recommends olive or vegetable oil. I use my homemade Calendula oil because it has antibacterial properties and besides, I have lots of it!

All you need to do is brush the oil on to the patterned rolling pin with a pastry brush. You will find that you will be able to get the oil into all the nooks and crannies with the brush.

TIP: I would oil your rolling pin at least a couple of hours before you intend to use it to give the oil a chance to soak into the wood. That way, you won't have an oily residue sitting on top of the wood when it comes time to make your Christmas cookies.

That's it! Your beautiful patterned rolling pin is prepared and ready to use!

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Christmas cookies with an embossed rolling pin

Making Christmas cookie dough

You will find the full recipe and instructions in the recipe card below but here are a few tips for getting the best possible dough to use with your embossed rolling pin.

How to keep embossed rolling pins from sticking to the dough?

Chill the dough

Once all the ingredients are well combined, pull your dough together into a ball. Divide the dough in half, wrap each half or place in a covered glass bowl in the fridge for around 30 minutes.

However tempted you are (even if you are in a rush), don't skip this part. The dough must be cold when you start working with it because there is less of a chance that the dough will stick to the embossed rolling pin.

Any pastry left over once you've cut out your cookies should be placed back in the fridge to cool again for another twenty to thirty minutes. Then you can roll it out again to make another batch of cookies.

OK, if you want to cheat, you can put it in the freezer for ten minutes instead!

Flour the pastry, not the rolling pin

Once you've rolled out the dough with your usual rolling pin, give it a good sprinkling of flour and smooth it all over the dough.

I found that adding flour to the embossed rolling pin clogged up the pattern so that it wasn't as clear.

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How to use an embossed rolling pin

Now that the dough is chilled and floured, roll over it once with the embossed rolling pin.

After using my embossed rolling pin on numerous batches of Christmas cookies, I find it works best if I place my hands on the rolling pin and not the handles on either side. I manage to achieve more of a consistent pressure that way. I had to take my hands away in the picture above so that I could take the photograph!

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Embossed rolling pin pattern tips

Use confectioner’s sugar

Use confectioner's sugar/icing sugar instead of granular sugar. I don't usually use confectioner's sugar when baking cookies or biscuits but I find that granular sugar tends to make the cookies expand too much during baking. The more the cookies expand, the less chance there is of the pattern staying clear.

Don't be worried about the cookies turning out too sweet if you use confectioner's sugar, they won't.

Chill the cookies before baking

After cutting out the cookies, place them in the fridge for another thirty minutes. You could also place them in a freezer for around ten minutes instead if you have enough space for the cookies to lay flat. (This is what I did).

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/392F.

Take the cookies straight out of the fridge/freezer and pop them into the oven to bake for around 6-7 minutes.

The aim is to make sure the cookie dough does not lift or spread too much while baking so that the pattern of the embossed rolling pin, can still be seen once the cookies have baked. I think I managed it quite nicely with my Christmas cookie dough recipe but I'll let you be the judge of that.

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How do you clean an embossed rolling pin?

Between you and me, I thought these embossed rolling pins would be a bit of pain to clean afterwards but they aren’t at all.

The trick is to use one of these scrubbing brushes, they work like a charm! Carolina sells these too so you can buy one at the same time as you buy your pin(s).

I find it best to go over the patterned rolling pin with a dry brush first to get as much of the pastry bits out of the pattern. You should find that there is hardly any pastry stuck to the rolling pin. With the Reindeer rolling pin, I found some pastry residue in some of the tiny dots but I managed to remove them with the round scrubbing brush. Then, I wet the scrubbing brush, add some washing up liquid and go over it again.

Lastly, I hold the patterned rolling pin under a running tap to remove the detergent.

You should never immerse a patterned rolling pin in water completely nor should you put it in the dishwasher.

Wipe the rolling pin with a clean, dry tea towel and leave it out of the sun for a few hours to dry completely.

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How to store an embossed rolling pin

Once the rolling pin is clean and dry, use your pastry brush to brush it with oil again.

Store your embossed rolling pin somewhere cool and out of direct sunlight. I wrap each of my rolling pins in a sheet of baking parchment and store them in a bottom drawer in my kitchen.

I hope you liked my tutorial for making Christmas cookies with an embossed rolling pin. Will you give it a try do you think?

If you do, say hi to Carolina from me and tell her I sent you her way. I told her I'm doing this blog hop so she knows you all might be popping over. I can't wait for you to try her beautifully made rolling pins for yourself.

Happy Christmas cookie baking!

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Save this for later!

If you'd like to save this idea for later, be sure to pin it to your most relevant Pinterest board - hover over the top left corner of the image below and the Pinterest 'Save' button will appear 🙂

Follow the blog hop for more Christmas cookie recipes!

Here's where you can view the scrumptious cookie recipes from all the bloggers who are taking part in this Christmas cookie blog hop.

Click on the Links Below to Follow the Tour!

Just Jill– 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

Back Porch Bliss– Wait Until You See These mug Cookies

A Loverly Life– Chocolate Chai Tea Cakes

MTB Home Living– Snow On Plowed Ground Cookies

Everyday Edits– 5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Fudge

My Home And Travels– Chewy Gingersnap Cookies

Bricks ‘N Blooms– Easy Christmas Cookies

Shop At Blu– Holiday Cookie Recipes

Hammers N Hugs– Christmas Pudding Cookies

JDub By Design– Butter Pecan Cookies

Now Choose Life- Fritos Trail Mix

B4 And Afters– Best Cookie Cutter Cookies

Cottage on Bunker Hill– Nana’s Italian Cookies

American School Of Charm– Christmas Recipe For Salt Dough

FIND THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE BLOG HOP ON INLINKZ HERE!

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These posts are good too!

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