Rolled cookie dough cracks when rolling.
Solutions: Try covering the dough with plastic wrap before rolling. If it still doesn’t come together smoothly, spritz it with a little water and knead it together until smooth. Or if the dough is too cold, allow it to sit at room temperature until softened.
The cookie dough sticks to your fingers when pressing it down.
Solution: Wrap the bottom of a flat glass tumbler with plastic wrap and use it to press down the cookies.
The cookie dough sticks to the cookie cutter.
Solutions: If the dough has softened, chill it before cutting. Dip the cutter in flour as needed. For the first cookie, run a small ball of dough along the edges of the cutter before dipping it in flour (see photos), so that the flour will adhere. For plastic cutters or metal cutters with solid backs, it works well to brush the cut edges and the insides with a little oil and remove any excess before dipping the cutter into flour. Knock off any excess flour. It also helps to roll the dough on an unfloured counter or wax paper and then rub the top of the dough lightly with flour before cutting. This causes the dough to stick slightly to the rolling surface and not to the cutter! Then slide a small offset spatula under the cutout to remove it. If it sticks to the rolling surface, either chill the dough or, if rolling on wax paper, set it close to the edge of the counter and slide it toward you, pulling the wax paper down, allowing the cut shape to fall into your hand.
The cookies spread too much while baking and are too flat.
Solutions: Use a lower protein flour and/or less sugar. Flour your hands before shaping, to make a more rounded cookie. It also helps to chill the shaped cookie dough before baking. Make sure the cookie sheets come back to room temperature (or colder) in between batches; avoid placing the cookie dough on hot or warm cookie sheets.
The cookies brown too much on the bottoms.
Solutions: Bake them on a higher rack, or use an insulated sheet or a double layer of two cookie sheets.
Some of the cookies are overbaked while others are still not baked enough.
Solutions: Make sure the cookies are all the same size. Be sure to rotate the cookie sheet 180 degrees halfway through baking. Unless otherwise indicated, bake only one sheet of cookies at a time.
The cookies are not soft enough.
Solutions: Remove them from the oven while they are still a little soft. Remove them from the cookie sheet as soon as they are firm enough to lift without bending.
Crisp cookies soften on storage, and soft ones become dry.
Solution: Store different varieties of cookies separately.