Puzzle Cookie Edges- HOW?

Welcome, Rock the Whisk! Nice to have you here. I usually reduce the leavening in my dough (by half) so it spreads less; then I prefer to file the pieces with a microplaner if I can. (For more complicated puzzles, using small cookie cutter shapes, I have had to cut after baking). The reason for the shaving preference is because it opens up less (or no) crumb on the cookie. Cutting the cookie after baking will lead to a lot of crumbs falling off the edges, which can get into icing and is just generally not as "clean" a way to present the cookies.

Awesome, thank you so much for your response! That makes sense, and I just decided to buy a mircoplaner yesterday for this exact reason. I've stopped putting baking powder in my cookies altogether and I haven't seen much spreading, but the cookies definitely don't fit together perfectly like I've seen on some cookie photos.

 

Thanks again

I roll mine thinner, then pull my cookies out before they start to brown, but just after the shine in the center is gone. By taking them out while they are still soft, I can usually trim them with a thin blade (no sawing back and forth!), or with the cookie cutter if it is very thin. Thicker cutters tend to squish more than cut the cookie. I leave them on the tray to cool slowly to get a little crunch back.

I love to file down the sides with my fine grater once they cool, and lately I have been wondering if I could mix the cookie "dust" with a touch of icing to make cookie "putty" to fill in any holes and help keep cracks from getting worse. Sort of cookie reconstructive surgery. Yeah, I know I'm a little nuts, lol. Check out Julia's videos online, because she gives invaluable tips on this topic.