Clothespin Cookie Tutorial

Making Clothespin Cookies can seem like a daunting task if you have never seen the process. Here is our tutorial on how to make these cookies from start to finish.

Most people use the premade dough that is sold in our store.

The BRICK of Puff Pastry (Clothespin Cookie Dough) is the best form of the dough to use because it maintains more of the fluffy flaky properties that dough frozen in sheets loses. Each package is cut and weighed at $3.95 per pound. You can make 6-8 dozen from each piece depending on how thin you roll your dough, how long you make your cookies and how wide you make your strips. Store Bricks in the freezer, Place in the refrigerator the night before you plan to use it or leave it on the counter for an hour to thaw when ready. Do not leave dough in the refrigerator for more than 2 days.

Each piece will contain 2 Pieces of Dough; one piece folded in half and one straight.

Unfold and cut in half.

then cut all three in half so that you have 6 small squares.

Roll one square at a time and keep the remaining pieces in the refrigerator, keeping them chilled.

Roll each piece on a lightly floured surface.

Roll the square to 6 inches on one side by however long you can roll it out

The dough should not be thinner than  1/8”.

Usually a small square will roll out to about 6” x 12” - 15”.

Once you have the dough rolled out, with a pizza cutter, cut strips 1” wide across the short side of the dough so that you have strips that are 1” x 6”

Take each strip and wrap on a dowel rod (wooden preferred).

The strip should overlap the previous wrap half way to prevent spaces when baking.

The strip should be wrapped snug, not loose, but DO NOT STRETCH THE DOUGH. Cookies should not be too tight that it would prevent you from spinning the rod while lightly grasping the cookie.

When you get to the end of the strip, dip your finger into some water (have a small margarine bowl full of water sitting beside your work area).

Wet the bottom of the last part of the strip to be wrapped, and seal this end to the wrapped section of the dough.

Always twist the cookie (with a light touch)so that the sealed end of the cookie is under the rod when placed on the cookie sheet. This will prevent the ends from opening up when baking which creates “tails”. If you are using the long dowel rods (12”) skip a space and wrap another strip. Do this till you cannot fit any more on the rod. You should be able to wrap 3 to 4 cookies on each rod.

Place rods on cookie sheets, bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes on the lower shelf in your oven, spin tray and bake for 7-9 minutes on the middle/top shelf until lightly browned. On a normal cookie sheet you should be able to get six to eight rods per sheet.

Let cookies cool for about 5 to 10 minutes before trying to take of the rods. Take the cookies off of the rods while they are still warm not HOT this is easier to release them from the rod. Put your hand around the cookie and gently twist, then pull off of the rod. Do not just pull the cookie or you might have the cookie come apart or break. Let cookies cool completely before filling.

Now that you have your cookie shells all that is left is the fluffy tasty filling. Here is our own recipe made to be more stable than the cooked recipe but taste exactly the same.

Traditional Clothespin Filling

Will fill approx. 12 dozen Clothespins

¾ can (12 oz.) Thank You Brand Vanilla Pudding (15.75 oz.)

1 - 7 oz. jar  Marshmallow Cream

2 tsp.  Flavoring (vanilla, butter, vanilla butter nut, etc.)

1 ½ cup Granulated Sugar

1 ½ Cup Crisco Shortening

In a mixer on high (with the wire whip/whisk attachment) cream together Vanilla Pudding, Flavoring and granulated sugar until sugar has been dissolved. Add shortening and marshmallow cream and whip till completely mixed and very fluffy. This will take several minutes.

Unused filling can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months, in a well sealed container.