Martha Stewart's Sushi Mat Hack For Perfectly Round Cookies

Let's get one thing straight: There's no such thing as an imperfect cookie. However, some cookies look a bit more aesthetically pleasing than others. As in, so aesthetically pleasing that you can't help but snap a picture of it to show off to your friends. These are the cookies home bakers dream of being able to produce every single time they pop a tray of dough into the oven. With Martha Stewart's handy trick, there is a good chance your dreams can come true.

In a video shared on her YouTube page in 2021, the homemaking queen revealed that she enlists the help of a bamboo sushi rolling mat to get a perfectly round log of cookie dough, which is the key to making baked goods satisfyingly circular. The clip originally aired in 2015 as part of Stewart's PBS show, "Martha Bakes," and shows the cookbook author using her hands to roll a batch of cookie dough into a long, cylindrical shape on top of a piece of parchment paper.

Then, Stewart wraps the paper around the dough log to keep it smooth and prevent the dough from sticking to the mat. Finally, she slides the bamboo tool underneath and rolls it around the log while squeezing and molding it like you would if making homemade sushi rolls. "This should help you get a perfect round," said Stewart.

It's natural to want to go right in with a knife and cut up your cookie dough log after using Martha Stewart's clever sushi mat hack to make it perfectly round — but don't start slicing yet. This trick is specifically meant for icebox cookies, meaning the dough must chill in the refrigerator before heading for the oven. By the way, chilling the dough has a few bonuses, like helping to prevent your cookies from spreading as they bake.

Think about those long tubes of slice-and-bake, store-bought cookie dough. After sitting in your cart while you do the rest of your shopping, going through the checkout process, and driving home, the once-firm log of dough starts to get soft and malleable. If you were to start slicing it immediately after getting home, it would squish down and lose its shape, leaving you with cookies that look like anything but a perfect circle. 

The same would be true of the cookie dough log you formed into a cylindrical shape with the sushi mat. Therefore, after you've got a perfectly round dough log, throw it in the fridge for at least an hour. This allows it to harden and hold its shape as you prep it for its final destination on your baking tray. Use a sharp knife to make the job easier and ensure you can cleanly cut your dough slices.