Has anyone taken a sliced cookie dough and hand formed it instead?

Thanks everyone for your responses. I tried it yesterday and here are the results. Since I used one of our tried and true favorites, I scooped and formed 3 cookies, flattened them into a similar shape as the sliced and baked them off. I then formed the rest of the dough into the log, refrigerated it overnight, sliced and baked it off. The consistency of the finished product was very different. Where the original was compact and snapped, the scooped, formed and baked were more crumbly in texture and lacked the depth of flavor. So what I've discovered for at least this dough is that the resting allows flavors to develop and the compacting of the dough makes a difference. Now to be fair, we make this cookie all the time and it is a family favorite so we have some emotion invested in the outcome; "how they are supposed to taste". But in a side by side comparison, the rolled, rested, sliced and baked cookie was superior in taste and texture.

I have done it, but it really depends on the dough. The crumblier the dough, the more difficult it will be...

i have done this by rolling a ball in my hands, then pressing with a glass or bowl bottom (dusted in flour or sugar) to flatten. i just put 5 on my cookie sheet so they could spread-and baked a little longer-check on the browning and do a test batch!

I think a lot is going to depend on the type of dough and how long your new cookie shape needs to spend in the oven. I remember people spreading chocolate chip cookie dough and in a sheet pan (classic Nestle's recipe) and ending up with something pretty firm.

If you're working with a dough that needs long t refrigeration and has a short baking time I'd try a test cookie before committing to baking the full batch. If you just want increased size you can probably make the rolls about 25% larger without affecting the baking time too much. If you want to make really large cookies check out gingerbread or sugar cookie recipes.

My friend does this with the sugar cookie roll: she lets the dough come to room temp, mixes in pecans, then yes, forms her own cookies. They are large - about 3 inches across - and thin, but very tasty.