A cookie cutter in

North American English North American English (NAmE) encompasses the English language as spoken in both the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures, plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), vocabulary, and grammar ...

, also known as a biscuit cutter outside

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, is a tool to cut out

cookie A cookie is a sweet biscuit with high sugar and fat content. Cookie dough is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of ...

biscuit A biscuit is a flour-based baked food item. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. ...

dough Dough is a malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from flour (which itself is made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops). Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes ...

in a particular shape. Keks ausstechen

They are often used for seasonal occasions when well-known decorative shapes are desired, or for large batches of cookies where simplicity and uniformity are required. Cookie cutters can also be used for shaping, molding, forming and cutting numerous other types of foods, including meat patties, flapjacks,

sandwiches A sandwich is a dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''container'' or ...

and decorative embellishments for platters (for example, fancy-cut

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

Types and variations

;Cutout: Most commonly made of copper, tin, stainless steel, aluminium, or plastic. Cutouts are the simplest of the cookie cutters; the cutter is pressed into cookie dough that has been rolled flat to produce the shape of the cutter's outline. To keep the dough from sticking, they are often dipped in flour or sugar before use. ;Detail imprint: Commonly made of copper, tin, or plastic. Detail imprints are similar to cutout cookie cutters, except that detail imprints also mark the surface of the dough. ;Cookie mould: Usually made of wood, ceramic, or plastic. Springerle moulds are the oldest examples of such, and are popular for Scottish shortbread. A cookie mould typically has an ornate design debossed into the surface; the mould is pressed into the cookie dough to produce an embossed design. These moulds may be flat disks or may be in the shape of a rolling pin. ;Cookie press: An automated or hand-operated cookie press, also called a ''cookie gun'', is used to make large batches of cookies quickly. The cookie dough is extruded onto the baking sheet in ornate shapes that would otherwise be too difficult or time-consuming to create by hand. ;Cookie cutting sheet: Used for larger volumes, a production cookie cutting sheet is a piece of sturdy plastic the size of a full

sheet pan A sheet pan, also referred to as baking tray, baking sheet, or baking pan, is a flat, rectangular metal pan placed in an oven and used for baking pastry, pastries such as bread rolls, cookies, sheet cakes, Swiss rolls, and pizzas. These pans, li ...

that essentially has dozens of cutout cookie cutters mounted on to it.Rinsky, Glenn and Rinsky, Laura Halpin.
The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Baking and Pastry Professional
'. John Wiley & Sons; 4 February 2011. . p. 77. Rather than rolling out the dough and pressing the cutter into the top of the dough, the cutting sheet is placed on the baking sheet, cutting side up. A sheet of cookie dough, already rolled to the correct thickness, is laid on top of the cutting sheet, and a rolling pin is used to press the dough down on to the sharp edges of the cutting sheet. The cut cookies fall through the holes into the sheet, into their properly spaced positions on the baking sheet. The scrap dough and cutting sheet are removed, and the pan is ready for baking. Cookie cutter sheets allow high volume production without the time or risk of moving cut cookies to baking sheets, resulting in rapid production of a more uniformly shaped and spaced product.

Commercial scale

Cookie cutters generally make a single shape at one time, but other options are available for large-scale production. In 1875, Alexander P. Ashbourne patented the first biscuit cutter in the US, useful for cutting multiple cookies, cakes, or baking powder biscuits at once. It consisted of a board to roll the dough out on, which was hinged to a metal plate with various cutting spring-loaded shapes mounted to it.

References

{{Kitchen tools Food preparation utensils

Types and variations

Commercial scale

See also

References