DIY Cookie Cutter

You know when you have those cookie ideas that you want to do but don’t have a suitable cutter?

Then you go out on a hunt to find the perfect cutter, just for that particular project?

Well fear not, I have a solution! Why not just make your own cutter?

What? Yes!! Make your own cutter! I’ve made cookies in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but have always used a real cutter for all the projects. It never dawned on me to try making my own cutter, but its actually quite handy, not to mention…  super easy! Its the perfect solution for those special projects where you need a particular or custom shape that might be difficult to find at your local craft or baking store. I know what you’re thinking… right.. how easy is it? Well, all you’ll need is a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil!

Once you have a fairly large rectangle of aluminum foil, approximately 15 inches long and however wide the foil roll is, you’ll want to fold it in half, then continue to fold the sides in towards the centre-fold longitudinally, until you make a 1-inch wide strip. Make sure that one side of the strip has a nice and crisp fold, as this will be the side you’ll use to cut the cookie dough. Once you have this strip of aluminum foil, you’ll notice that it’ll feel fairly thick and sturdy. Carefully mould and fold the strip into the desired shape – I found that using the flat side of a butter knife worked well to make crisp creases when I was trying to shape the strip into a house. Once you’re happy with the shape, trim the excess foil if necessary, then carefully staple the end of the strip to secure everything (flat/ top side of the staple facing in).

And voila, you now have yourself a fully functional, custom-made cookie cutter! I made this house cutter for a friend of mine who had asked me to make house-shaped cookies for an open house event that he was holding. When he mentioned house, I was thinking… okay… I have a pentagon which can kind of be shaped into a house… or I can combine a square and triangle, but then I remembered reading about how you could make your own cutter somewhere, a while back (don’t remember exactly where). I was actually very skeptical that the cutter would hold its shape to cut 60 cookies, but it surprisingly did! One thing I did a little differently to ensure that the cutter didn’t get too warped was that I warmed my chilled dough a little more than usual – this made the dough a little softer and easier for the cutter to cut through.

Stay tuned till next week to see the final house cookie project!

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