Valek Large Embossed Rolling Pin

Just before I left for the Housewares Show, the folk at The Grommet sent me a really cool rolling pin to use.

I set it aside to use for baking some cookies.

Mmmm. Cookies.

The pin has little flowers cut into the pin so when you roll out cookies (or other baked goods that would keep their shape during baking) the flower shapes are raised up from the base of the dough.

Awwww. Isn't that sweet?

So anyway, I got home from the show, whipped up a batch of cookies from a cookbook, and used the Valek Large Embossed Rolling Pin to press the pattern into the cookies. It all went swimmingly well. The little flowers were visible as a pattern on top of the cookies, and they remained after the cookies were baked. I thought about dusting the cookies with some powdered sugar to make the flowers even more prominent.

And then when I started taking the cookies off the baking sheet, they broke. I waited until they were cool, and the situation didn't improve. The cookies fell apart like they were make out of wet sand. Blergh.

NONE of this is the fault of the rolling pin. Either the recipe was flawed, or I did something stupid when I made the recipe. I'm going to say it was me. It took me a while to get back into my groove after the trip, so it's pretty likely I measured something wrong.

But anyway, thanks to the cookie disaster, you aren't going to see finished photos of cookies. Nope, no cookies for you! I'll use the pin again, I'm sure. And you'll see the results over on my recipe blog. But for now, no cookies, just the pin.

As far as the pin, I like it. It's cute. The design is kind of all-purpose, so you it could be fine for spring, summer, fall, winter, birthdays, the demise of a favorite houseplant, anniversaries ... whatever. And it's easy to use. You just roll over the dough before you cut the cookies into shapes with your favorite cutters

I have a few unusual ideas for this, too. We'll see how it goes.

Nice pin. Bad cookies.

Who's it for: People who want fancy cookies.

Pros: Works well. Really easy to use. Solidly made. Packaged nicely in a tube.

Cons: Once you have one pattern, you'll probably want more.

Wishes: I wish my stupid cookies would have worked. *sigh*

Source: I received this from The Grommet for the purpose of a review.