Friday, March 14, 2014

How to Make Your Own Custom Cookie Cutters (and Where to Find Food Safe Tin)



We've all been there.  We need a special cookie cutter and we don't feel like hand cutting.  It's time consuming and let's face it, the edges are never really smooth.

You decide you'll just make your own. Great idea.....UNTIL....You start searching for aluminum that's food safe. Then your task becomes a bit more difficult.

Now you realize the only way to really get that special cutter is to pay out the wazoo for a custom cutter or make one out of a throw away aluminum pan.

Those will work fine, but I really wanted something a little bit sturdier that would hold up longer. I may or may not be a little rough on cutters....just saying.

So after much brainstorming I came up with a solution.  Make them out of large circle cutters! There's not really anything to get smooth. You can just cut them and begin. 

By the way Karen's Cookies has the 4 1/2 inch cutter on sale way cheap! I bought about thirty! 
Here's a step by step on how to make your own just like I did.

Materials:
  • Tin snips or other tool for cutting metal
  • needle nose pliers or Gerber tool
  • Rivets (not shown)
  • Crimping tool for punching hole and crimping rivets
  • 4 1/2" Circle cutter 
  • Something for a template (plastic, print out of desired shape, etc)
  • gloves for keeping hands free of injury if desired. (I didn't use gloves, but I tend to take a walk on the wild side.) 


1. Gather tools

2. Take tin snips and cut off riveted/soldered section of cookie cutter

3. Cut template out of a piece of paper or plastic. ( I used a plastic binder divider I had on hand)

4. Starting at a straight edge, begin bending the cutter, using the template as a guide. 
This does take a little practice, especially at the little bends (like at the toe of the shoe).

5. After you have finished shaping your cutter, snip off the excess. Leave about 1" overlap.

6. Using the crimping tool, punch holes and secure and crimp rivets. 

7. Wash your new cutter to remove any debris from cutting and start baking!

Not terribly difficult and you have your own custom cookie cutter. I've made a few cutters already and I love it. There are times that a few choice words come out, but the end result is my own custom cutter. The shoe is my favorite because stiletto cutters are hard to come by. I hadn't found one I loved.....not for shipping cookies anyway. The tiny heels are so fragile. 

Here are the cookies I made with my new cutter. 



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