I have a new website address.

I will still keep this site up and running so that things can be easily found for those who have pinned things or have links to old blog post.

You can now find me over at:

www.bakinginheelscookies.com

Things have been very busy on my baking schedule but I'm working out some sort of balance between baking and family. As soon as I get a more concrete schedule in the works, I'll be posting tutorials again.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the new site!

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. 

Decorated Corset Cookies

This weekend a friend of mine is having a Lingerie Party and asked me to make some corset cookies.  Since Valentine's day is just around the corner I thought I'd walk you through how I made these so you can make some too.

At first these cookies may look hard and intimidate you, but they really aren't difficult to make. You just need to break it down one step at a time. Let me show you how.

First you will need:

*corset cookie cutter (I got mine here)
*Royal icing in pink and purple
*piping bags
*icing tips #2 and PME 1.5


Bake corset shaped cookies and allow to cool. If you need a good cookie recipe you can get mine here.

I like to start decorating my cookies the day after I bake them. It helps with cookies getting splotchy from the butter in the cookies. Just place the baked cookies in an air tight container until you're ready to decorate.

Step 1

Outline the pink portion of the cookie. I used a #2 tip to outline.  Then fill with 15ish second pink icing.

Step 2 

Outline bottom portion of purple section using a #2 tip then fill with 15ish second icing. I used a scribe to push the icing to the narrow sections. It doesn't have to be perfect, that will be covered with the outlining later.

Step 3

Using a 1.5 PME tip outline a scalloped edge at top of corset. If you don't have one you can get one here. Trust me, you NEED one of these. 

Step 4

Add details

See, it's not so hard when you break it down step by step. Just take your time, don't rush and give it a try. You'll never know what you can do unless you try.