The Dough

• Rolled cookie doughs need to be on the stiff or firm side to retain its shape and stand up to the rolling process. That said, if you want your cookies to be edible as well as firm, you need a dough with just the right proportion of fat to flour. The editors of the book "Baking Illustrated" use 1 1/2 sticks of butter to 3 cups of flour for their gingerbread cookies.

Thickness

• You can roll any dough meant for rolled cookies either thickly, for more chewy cookies, or thinly, for crisper cookies. If you roll the dough too thinly, the strips may fall apart when you try to take them off the cookie sheet. The right thickness for cookies that are crisp but still edible is about 1/4 inch. Roll the dough to an even thickness so baking will also be even, and cut the strips with an oiled knife.

Baking

• While a cookie sheet with sides won't affect the evenness of baking, it will result in a longer cooking time and will make it difficult to remove the cookie strips from the pan. A sheet without sides makes the removal job easier. Let the strips cook a minute longer for cookies you plan on icing but not eating so they will be easier to remove from the pan, and let the cookie sheets cool before baking another batch.

Decorating

• The only hard-and-fast rule of decorating is letting the cookie strips cool completely before decorating. Otherwise, allow your creative impulses free rein. Choose from colored gels and pastes to draw over icing, shiny sprinkles, small candies and fruits such as raisins, cranberries or currents. Use a fork, new toothbrush or any kitchen utensil to etch designs onto the strips.