Fixing Hard to Use Cookie Cutters
One of my biggest cookie let downs are great cutters that for one reason or another, are hard to use. Don’t you hate that?
One of the biggest offenders on my list are push and print cutters. They work well for their intended purpose {printing a design on a plain cookie} but for decorating, not so much.
Luckily, making them more functional is a pretty quick fix. It’s easier than unscrewing a light bulb, really. Twist the the knob at the top of the cutter counter clockwise until it is loosened completely. Next, remove the spring and the press should fall right out. Easy breezy, huh?
The little hole on top is perfect because it keeps the cutter from forming those pesky air pockets, which we’ll talk about more in a sec.
Every once in a while the knobs on top of push and prints are glued rather than threaded. In this case all you need to do is pull hard enough on the handle to separate it from the press. I’m not strong enough to do this myself, but my husband can do it without a problem.
Remember, though, if you do this to a glued cutter it’s pretty much permanent so make certain you’re cool with this before destroying your cutter.
If you think at some point you might want to use your cutters as originally intended, save the springs and presses. If not, don’t throw them away. They make perfect play dough stamps for the kids. Mine use them all the time when they play with gingerbread play dough.
Now that we’ve covered push and prints, lets talk about these mustache cutters from Fred and Friends.
I was was super excited to use them, but immediately I noticed a HUGE flaw. Since the cutters are not vented they form an air pocket when you cut. If you don’t use a ton of flour and press down very slowly at an angle {and most times even then}, the air will actually push through from the bottom of the cutter resulting in a misshapen cookie {if it’s not hopelessly stuck inside}, which is not ideal for a fifteen dollar set.
Once again, husband to the rescue! {Girls are perfectly capable of handling power tools of course, but for personal safety I don’t mess with them.}
Anywho, since the cutters are made of very sturdy plastic, he used a small bit to drill a couple of tiny holes through to top of each cutter.
Problem solved. Perfectly shaped, dishwasher-safe mustache cutters that won’t cause you to have a brain aneurism.
My last little cutter fix is for cutters that have weird little angles and connections that are so thin and fragile that they inevitably break. This tip usually only works for plastic cutters, but it comes in handy from time to time.
Don’t I have a nice husband fixing all these cutters for me?
To fix cutters like this, use tin snips {a remnant of the days when I wanted to make my own cutters}, strong scissors, or maybe a very sharp knife {CAREFULLY} to open up weird little spaces that don’t work well when cutting. See the difference?
The one drawback to this type of fix is that it leaves a small gap, which has to be trimmed. A tiny bit annoying, perhaps, but better than ditching an otherwise great cutter over one little flaw.
PS-I tried melting the ends together once but decided {after a nasty burn} to stick with trimming.
With a little creative of manipulation all of these cutters went from trash to treasure.
If functionality keeps you from using your cutters don’t be afraid to modify them so that they work for your needs. Afterall, an unused cutter does nothing more than waste valuable storage space.
Have a safe and relaxing weekend, cookie friends!
So glad you posted this. I JUST made my ‘staches today and had to hammer the top of the cutter with my rolling pin every time just to get the cookie to pop out. What a beast! I am so not handy and neither is my husband. I guess I’ll be in search of a nice neighbor to drill holes in those cutters for me:)
I can’t believe you just posted this because literally about 5 MINUTES ago, I was about to trash a butterfly cutter with teeny tiny antlers!!! In fact, it is still sitting on my counter awaiting its fate! You are amazing!
Very clever you cookie genius you!
YOU ARE A GENIOUS!!!!! IN EVERYTHING YOU DO!!!!
And thank you sooooooooooooo much for sharing all your GOOD STUFF!!!
I KNOW how HARD it is.
Thank you,
God Bless!
I meant to type “Genius”
sorry, it happens all the time… :o)
Great post!!! Those mustache cutters were a pain!!! Thanks to your cleverness I shall attempt to use them again!!! love me some sugarbelle!!
Thanks for posting, Callye…very helpful, as usual 🙂
Awesome tips as usual and I especially love your power tool safety tips. While I am comfortable around power tools and would tackle these jobs, ever since my husband had a bad accident with the table saw with only my youngest daughter home with him while I was shopping one town over, our new family rule is “no using power tools unless the other adult is home”. (He shattered his thumb, but is otherwise okay. It could have been much, much worse! After receiving the hysterical phone call from my daughter, which left me with the impression he had cut off his thumb, I broke every speeding record ever set to get home!)
Alright girlfriend, you’ve got me slapping myself again. I have a set of twig cutters from Fred (I even bought an extra set as a giveaway I thought they were so cute) that have caused me FITS!!! I never thought to drill holes in the top!!! As soon as I’m done typing I’m going to find them and add them to my husbands worktable…then see if I can find the second set! Thank You, thank you!!
What great tips! Seriously annoying when a cutter won’t work properly. Thanks for the quick fix tips!
I love that I have almost all of the “difficult” cutters you show – and coincidentally those mustaches haven’t seen the light of day since the first time I tried to use them. Thanks for the ideas!
I was about to throw away a couple of heart cutters, but now I’m going to drill tiny holes in them instead. Perfect! Thanks for sharing this tip!
What a great post! I HATE those plunger cutters. My husband loves Star Wars but I never want to make him cookies with those cutters because they are a pain in the butt! I’m definitely going to remove the presses. Thanks for the tutorial!
I’m so glad you posted this! I have wanted to buy so many cutters and passed them up because of these reasons. Great tutorial!
I avoid buying plunger cutters for this very reason. Super tips – thanks!!
Once again: BRILLIANT!
VERY interesting. Thank you so much .
Of all the cookie blogs, books, classes & message boards, YOU CONSISTENTLY POST TIPS & TRICKS THAT ARE REVOLUTIONARY & SIMPLE!! Can’t ever thank you enough. Think of all the cutters, time and money you have rescued with this post! We should have a moment of silence for all of the poor cutters that died before you discovered these amazing cures! Followed by a standing ovation for YOU!
I work at that amazing store that sells all those character plunger cutters, so I am always making them for work and holding kid cookie events. Who ever designed them really is not an avid cookie baker, or has no kids kids to tackle them with! I agree pulling that plunger out is the best idea! I’m getting my snips out today and cleaning up some some Greek Letters…
I can’t believe you WORK THERE :-). Dream come true!!!
Damn, I wish I could think of soeihtmng smart like that!
You must be an angel to share such wonderful information, rather than keep it to yourself!
I just have to say… I love you!! And, why didn’t I think of that? These are such helpful tips that I will put into action immediately. Thanks yet again. 🙂
Love a lady with a drill! One of my favorite gifts was my tool kit only it doesn’t have a drill. May have to add that to my wish list!
Great ideas, I wanted those mustache cutters but thought it would be a pain, now I hope I can find them again
These are great! I love the idea of rolling into a log and frezeing so they are on hand!!! Great tips and photos! I saw this post at Tidy Mom Friday!
I love when you get all bad ass with the power tools. Can I say bad ass here? lol
From where did you get these Star Wars cutters? *.*
Great ideas. I got the mustache cookie cutters as a Christmas gift. Can wait to try them, after Hubby drills the air holes. I love the details in the cutters so I thought I would use modeling chocolate (The kind you make with candy melts and corn syrup) and imprint them, cut them out and put on a lightly frosted cookie. I love using modeling chocolate with the detailed cookie cutters because they add so much depth. Thanks for sharing your wonderful ideas!
Janet
What a smart idea! I love this.
wow..awesome ideas…I super love your cutters…they’re too cute 🙂
once again, another great tip from you. thanks for sharing 🙂
This is a full time job !!
thats so funny! I had that same problem with my mustache cutters too and had my hubby drill a hole in the middle too! it works now 😉 great post.
I have the gingerdead cookies from Fred&Fred…had a PITA time of trying to cut and stamp them. Will have to get the husband to drill a hole to see if it helps the cutting issue. Then I just have to nail the stamping and icing parts…
Thank you for these suggestions! I just bought the same Easter cookies from Walmart last week and tried making cookies which turned out disastrous! I’m so glad that I will be able to use them again and not feel like they were a waste.
Thank you so much for this idea. I have the Star Wars cutters too but they never looked quite right. This was really helpful idea and I love that my boys can use them as stamps for their play dough.
Wow, this article was very helpful! I have all the cutters you mention (but have yet to use the), and will definitely do all your suggested “improvements.” THANKS!!!
I stumbled across this randomly and you totally saved my desire for easter cutters. I kept eying a set at walmart (including the butterfly and carrot pictured here) but kept not buying them because i just knew the antenna and carrot greens would break easily. I wouldn’t have ever though to cut the bad pieces off. So now I have the perfect cutters to make easter cookies with
Well I pulled up a chair sat down took the cutters to trim off something on the cutter and then fear struck and I could not move.
I could not disfigure my beautiful cookie cutter,decision oh my,oh!!! Okay i removed the piece of dough.
I love my cookie cutters and cannot change them….I can’t even buy 2 and think I am going to just have one untouched and one changed.
I love my cookie cutters.
The End 🙂
Lol! And that’s okay too!
Haha I got those mustache cutters for Christmas. I never understood why they didn’t work that well until now 🙂
How do you use the impression from the Fred mustache cookies with royal icing?
You are soooooooooooo clever. Thank you for the great tips
Hello, Can anyone help me find the ornament cookie cutter to make the princess head. I have been looking and either to fancy to make the cuts in the dough or not right at all to make the cuts.
I truly appreciate your help!
Thank you,
Sandra
I got a set of polyhedral dice cookie cutters from Think Geek and haven’t used them since my Christmas baking because they didn’t want to release the cut cookies, and the pattern side would get stuck in the dough.
Thanks to your revelation with the mustaches I can salvage them!