So, you're making sugar cookies. Awesome. Good for you.
You've got the batter all mixed. At this point, you pretty much have two choices. You either roll out the dough and cut out some cute shapes, or you're going to drop them on the sheet and bake them. Right? WRONG.
Put away your rolling pin, because I've got an easy way to make your sugar cookies cuter: bake them in a mini doughnut pan
If you own a mini doughnut pan, like I do (jealous? I got it at the Wilton tent sale when I visited their headquarters), you simply must employ it to make your sugar cookies more adorable.
Honestly, it couldn't be easier to do (provided you have a mini doughnut pan). Here's how I did it.
First, prepare a batch of sugar cookie dough. I am not going to be bossy about what recipe, but I will tell you that I used the one on page 13 of this e-book. Once mixed, set aside for a little bit.
Preheat your oven to the temperature your recipe says it ought to be.
Next, lightly butter your mini doughnut pan. Or spray it with non-stick spray. Whatever you want.
After it's greased, stuff the dough in the mini doughnut wells. Fill them til they're mostly full. If you think your cookies are going to spread, put less dough in (or put a cookie sheet under the mini doughnut pan while you bake them).
Bake the cookies, but check them about 5 minutes before your recipe would call for, because they're baking in a different vessel.
Once golden brown, remove from the oven. Let them cool for a while (maybe 20 minutes) in the doughnut pan. Then, gently remove. I found that after loosening one edge with a sharp knife, they basically just popped out.
Let the cookies cool, and then apply a dab of pink icing (pink is really best) and be sure to put sprinkles on them too.
Enjoy! They're adorable and sweet. But they're not doughnuts, they just look like them.
