Are you a cookie cutter nutter?

Sigma Force

Is there anyone else that's a bit of a cookie cutter nut?
If so what ones do you have and have you any unusual ones or found a site or shop that sells a wide range of them?

So far a lot of the more difficult to get ones I've found on E-bay.

Lost track of how many I have, at the moment on the search for a foot shaped one to make 'cheesy feet'.

Anyone come up with a good cookie recipe that works well with cookie cutters, so far there's a butter cookie recipe think it's from one of Nigellas books it's a great recipe for cutting shapes with then you can ice it or fill them.

What's your favourite and most commonly used cookie cutter?
Can't go wrong with a standard round one but I love the seasonal ones as well.

taram

I'm new to the game Got about 10? Fave is a dinosaur one I use to make gingerbread dinos I ice scales and teeth onto

Eviledna

I bought a great dog-bone shape in australia, great for making scoobie-snack cookies!
Would like to have more but I don't usually make cut-out cookies. Can anyone offer a great gingerbread recipe or something for me to try??;)

greeneyedspirit

ah yes, cookie cutters... Love them.
I have a standard set (from Aldi or Lidl) that I use for the annual pre-Christmas baking fest (it's a German tradition, and one that I am keeping up every year!).
I also have one elk-cutter and a crown-cutter that I bought at a Christmas Market over in Germany when I went home for Christmas last year. Going back for a weekend in December to get my Christmas market fix, and I'm sure I'll return with more cookie cutters

Magic Monkey

They sell a variety of individual cookie cutters downstairs in Kitchen Compliments on Chatham St., and also on the top floor of Arnotts in Jervis St. Centre; good selection.

Possum66

I am a bit of an addict, too :-) Have three big hat boxes full of cutters. I source the best ones from Germany or the US.

Try www.tortissimo.de (there is an English version of the site, too) they accept credit cards, and deliver here, too, unlike some of the US stores.

I bought my foot cutter in Kitchen Complement.

My favourite cutter at the moment is a "horse head". Kids love it.

Eviledna, my gingerbread recipe is somewhere here among the topics, try to find it for you...

Possum66

Found it...

I use a freestanding mixer to make this cookie mix

3 oz butter
3 oz light brown sugar (but I find muscovado gives a nicer taste)
2 level tablespoon of treacle
6 oz of golden syrup (or honey)

1 lb plain flour
2 egg yolks
½ oz ground ginger (or ground ginger+mixed spices)
½ oz baking soda

In a pan, over low heat, melt together the butter, sugar, treacle and golden syrup, till the sugar completely dissolves. Do not overheat!

In the meantime mix together the flour, egg yolks, ginger and soda in a bowl.

Start the machine and pour in the buttery mixture into the floury mixture. Let the machine do the work, and beat it till it comes together in a ball.

On a lightly floured surface knead the mixture till smooth. (This mixture dries out rather quickly. Use it asap. If it is not soft anymore, heat it gently for a couple of seconds in the microwave, it will be OK again.)

Preheat your oven to 190º (or 170 ºC fan oven, 375 F). Between two lightly floured baking parchment sheets roll out the gingerbread mixture to 3-4 mm thickness. Dip your cutter in flour, then cut out your men. Put them on baking trays lined with baking parchment or silicone baking sheet. Bake them in the preheated oven for 8-9-10 minutes, till they are firm and lightly browned at the edges. (To test them, lift a gingerbread man gently off the sheet. If it doesn’t stick to the sheet anymore, it is done. The longer you bake them, the crispier they get.) 8 minutes of baking gives me a firm but soft gingerbread.

Let them cool on the tray for 5 minutes then put them on racks to dry. They keep for ages in an airtight tin. They can also go soft very quickly in a humid kitchen!

Eviledna

Oh Yum, thank you so much!!

tscul32

I picked up one of those 101 cookie cutters sets and have probably another 50 or so on top of that. The plastic ones from the big set are great for the kids to use. I also have halloween sets and christmas sets, a set of christmas tree ones, loads of scone ones, round, fluted, square, etc.. I have an upstairs wardrobe nearly full of baking bits. Probably have about 40 tins too, and have used most of them. Not to mention all the decorating equipment - probably have an unreal fortune's worth of that stuff. Just can't stop myself!!

Possum66

tscul32 wrote: »

Just can't stop myself!!

God, I know the feeling... But I just call it "my obsession". Tins/cutters and cookery books.

Maybe you should start a little tin rental business. If you have a large "cupcake" cake tin, and you are in South Dublin/North Wicklow area, I am going to be your first customer next year . A bride ordered a "cupcake" cake, for the top of the cupcake stand, but the tin cost a fortune and I don't want to buy one, as I would probably never use it again...

Sigma Force

"I bought a great dog-bone shape in australia, great for making scoobie-snack cookies!"

Love my dog bone shaped ones, I got a small copper bone shape in Avoca years ago with a recipe book for dog cookies and then a Large bone shape in Homevalue Hardware. They're so cute and the bone shape cuts really well because there's no small little edges or anything. My dogs love the treats although they don't mind the shapes.

Have lots of dog breed shapes they're so cute and a goat shape and horse of course. Think there's a sheep one as well and croc, lion, elephant etc.

That big box from think it was Lidl was great still use it. Tons of shapes in it from a Turkey to Pumpkin to numbers and the alphabet was cheap too if you were to buy them all seperate would cost a fortune.

Have some teeny mini ones as well an apple, pear and few others they're teenchy.

Possum66 wrote: »

I am a bit of an addict, too :-) Have three big hat boxes full of cutters. I source the best ones from Germany or the US.

Try www.tortissimo.de (there is an English version of the site, too) they accept credit cards, and deliver here, too, unlike some of the US stores.

I bought my foot cutter in Kitchen Complement.

My favourite cutter at the moment is a "horse head". Kids love it.

Eviledna, my gingerbread recipe is somewhere here among the topics, try to find it for you...

Toll!! They have a wee little devil on it, very cute.
Don't have a wheelbarrow, witches hat or squirrel yet ah cripes they've tons on it I want them all! Flippin heck even moutains, no idea why I'd use a mountain one but I want it. hedgehog!! Ok I'll stop now, now I know what to ask Santa for.

tscul32

Sorry possum, don't have the cupcake tin. The ones I really want to get are the mini cake pans, round/square but they cost an absolute fortune so it'll be some day... or I'll get my hub to get one for my birthday some year.

Possum66

> My dogs love the treats although they don't mind the shapes.

You mean you make proper doggie treats? Wow... I only use the bone shaped cutter for Halloween.

What do you think about plastic cutters? Bought a lovely heart shaped one, perfect sizea and all, but the plastic started to "flake" after a couple of years, and I stopped using it. It was a hassle to pick the little green flakes off the biscuits...

I have the devil :-) I think it is a perfect shape for a hen night :-) Very cute, but also rather small, and it is rather hard to cut the shape with it. Have to use lots of flour to make it work properly. Also, the biscuit is very fragile, so I usually stick the biscuit on larger gingerbread biscuit - then it works well.

It's a great site, but when you order, keep an eye of the size of the cutter. The size they mention beside the picture can be misleading. Sometimes they give you the width, sometimes they give you the hight of the cutter... I have several of them which turned out to be too tiny to use it for biscuits, but they are still fine for cutting out roll-our icing shapes...

Possum66

tscul32 wrote: »

Sorry possum, don't have the cupcake tin. The ones I really want to get are the mini cake pans, round/square but they cost an absolute fortune so it'll be some day... or I'll get my hub to get one for my birthday some year.

Oh, what a pity...:-(

Just checked Kitchen Complement again... 57 euro for a "cupcake" tin... Grrrr.

Is this the one you have in mind?

http://www.kitchencomplements.ie/kc/Main/Product.asp?iProductID=564

tscul32

yep, that's one of them - but I'll pick it up in England sometime for about £30.

Cleansheets

Love this thread, and anything else that makes me feel a little less mad!
Word of warning: if you make your own playdough for kids, it has a lot of salt so it makes the metal cutters rust. I only let them use my plastic ones now.
I think the dishwasher makes the plastic ones dry out, I think they may last a little longer if hand washed?

tscul32

are you the same cleansheets who's a regular on rollercoaster recipes??

Magic Monkey

Possum66 wrote: »

> My dogs love the treats although they don't mind the shapes.

You mean you make proper doggie treats? Wow... I only use the bone shaped cutter for Halloween.

Here's a recipe for dog biscuits. Don't try eating them if you value your teeth:

Makes 30

340g whole-wheat flour
340g bread flour
55g wheat germ
1 tsp salt
30g brown sugar
3 eggs
240ml vegetable oil
85g powdered dry milk
240ml water

1. Combine whole-wheat flour, bread flour, wheat germ, salt and brown sugar. Stir in the eggs and vegetable oil.
2. Dissolve the dry milk in the water, add to dough. Mix dough until firm and smooth. Add water if it's too dry, or flour if it's too wet, to achieve the correct consistency.
3. Cover; rest 15-20mins.
4. Roll out to the desired thickness, cut out shapes, place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
5. Bake biscuits @ 190c for 40mins, or until brown and very hard. Cool, store, give to dog.

Cleansheets

tscul32 wrote: »

are you the same cleansheets who's a regular on rollercoaster recipes??

Yep that's me - combining my cooking and internet addictions!

tscul32

I like your blog!

Possum66

Magic Monkey wrote: »

Here's a recipe for dog biscuits. Don't try eating them if you value your teeth:

Thank you! Unfortunately I don't have any pets (cannot, live in an apartment), but might try to make them to indulge a friend's dog... Hm... packaged in a little Christmassy bag...

Mary-Ellen

Although not a cookie cutter nutter the phrase is stuck in my head

amazon.co.uk has lots at the moment even a foot one.

There might be cheesy feet in the near future

Sigma Force

I make the dog cookies with rice flour I find it a bit dryer but the mixture is very easy to cut with a cookie cutter. I use sunflower oil instead as veggie oil wouldn't add sugar to it but do add honey as a natural sweetener.
Only shapes I find hard to cut are those ones with little small fiddley narrow corners.

I've been using the dishwasher but I do find the metal ones rust easily if you don't take them out and dry them straigt away probably the salt in the dishwasher doesn't help so have started to wash them by hand. I find anything plastic tends to get ruined over the years in the dishwasher and it sometimes doesn't clean the nooks and crannies.

Anyone know if there's such a thing as a cookie cutter that cuts multiple cookies in one go? I have one but it's very fiddley you have to push out each individual one.

taram

Guineapigrescue wrote: »

Anyone know if there's such a thing as a cookie cutter that cuts multiple cookies in one go? I have one but it's very fiddley you have to push out each individual one.

My mother has one for scones, got it in Roches like 15 years ago It's got a sort of hard frame around it and through the middle so you push, slap the frame, and can pull straight up, very handy. Never seen one like it around though since starting my own culinary adventures, but ebay might be your saviour