The Canning Ring Hack That Gives You Perfectly Round Cookies

Whether you're a perfectionist, or just love making photo-friendly food for the aesthetic, perfectly round homemade cookies often seem like little more than a pipe dream. Store-bought cookies are shaped with machines home bakers can't access, and even circular cookie cutters can't prevent uneven spreading in the oven. And, though oddly-shaped coconut chocolate chip cookies have a certain rustic charm, cookies with an even edge often just seem to taste better.

Fortunately, there's a very simple technique that can help you quickly and easily reshape your cookies into flawless rounds in just seconds. All you need is a canning ring from a mason jar and a tray of cookies just out of the oven. Place the ring over each cookie and gently swirl it in a circular motion. Centrifugal force will cause each cookie to roll against the inner surface of the canning ring, reshaping the edges to create a uniform circle.

Though this technique is incredibly simple, there is a slight learning curve to executing it correctly. First, it's crucial that you do this hack when your cookies are fresh and hot, ensuring they're still soft enough to reshape easily. This hack won't work after they've cooled. Second, don't get too enthusiastic when swirling your cookies. Since they're still soft, whipping them around the canning ring too hard could break them. A light swirl for just a few seconds should easily yield your desired results.

While mason jar canning rings will help even out most standard-size cookies, they're not necessarily the right tool for shaping up your stash of extra-large frozen Costco bakery cookies. Most canning rings are smaller in diameter than these bad boys, so you'll need to find a round, food-safe object that's just a little wider than the cookies themselves. A large cereal bowl or clear glass pot lid may do the trick, so long as you have enough space to swirl each cookie without getting it stuck.

It's also important to pay attention to how tall your cookies are. For instance, if you upgraded store-bought cookie dough with delicious add-ins, they'll likely turn out thick and chewy. The swirl trick won't work if your chosen tool compresses them from the top — they need space to slide around. That means an open tool like a biscuit cutter is probably your best bet for reshaping cookies full of goodies like white chocolate chips, pretzels, and dried cranberries.

Once your cookies are the perfect shape, letting them cool is the key to keeping them that way. As mentioned, freshly baked cookies are very soft (that's why this hack works). After swirling each cookie, gently scoop it onto a cooling rack with a spatula. Resist the urge to smooth out imperfections or try to swirl them a second time; you'll likely just end up with broken cookies. However, once cooled, they should easily hold their shape.