Cookie Cutter Designs

With the idea being to simple wrap a long piece of paper around my self shaped cookie cutter I assumed coming up with an aesthetic would be easy. However I was quite wrong. Because of the unusual canvas shape I had to come with a pattern that held its own when repeated along a thin strip. I used Illustrator to come up with a few ideas, which can be found below. At this stage in time I'm still not sure which colour scheme I am going to use so there are a range of colours found below.

I printed off my favourite two pieces and decided to mock up a cutter. Previously I had made skull shapes that weren't as successful, but rather than throwing them away I kept them for times like these. Below are what my final cutter will look like, but obviously with better patterns and a neater skull shape.

Cookie Cutter Designs

Just like my other creations I started off with designing my cookie cutter aesthetics by hand. I tried to think of as many different approaches as I could. I kept the typeface the same, but ultimately changed the text, the alignment and the direction in which it flowed. I think it is important that I get these right as the cutter is something that will probably be kept by the consumer long after the baking kit has served its purpose. Obviously the other items contain a foodstuff and therefore will eventually need to be thrown away, but the cutter will not. Below are images of my experimentation.

Skull Cookie Cutters

I decided that the cutters I had made previously would have to actually be used and I should therefore have a 'trial run' and gage the success. Before I could even begin I had to find a recipe for cookies that would be at an appropriate difficulty level for the age group of children I am aiming my product at; 4-10 year olds. I looked through the recipe books that I had and decided on a recipe for 'sugar cookies' that seemed simple enough. That recipe can be found below:

Sugar Cookies: Makes about 20
Ingredients

• 200 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 280 g caster sugar
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 400 g plain flour
• a pinch of salt

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3.
• Put the butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl and cream until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well, scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
• Add the flour and salt and mix well, but don’t overmix. The dough should be light, soft and easy to handle.
• Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Cut out shapes with your choice of biscuit cutters.
• Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking trays and bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Check them regularly to make sure they are not burning. The cookies should be very light golden on the outer edges and paler in the centre.
• When you are happy that they are cooked through, remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly on the trays before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

So I followed the recipe to the best of my ability and once I had finished following the necessary steps I had created 9 skull shaped sugar cookies, pictured below. However I was not happy with one as it was slightly burned in the corner so I decided to discard this particular cookie.

I laid out my final eight skull cookies on a wire cooling rack and waited patiently for them to cool down. I was quite proud of my attempt and this practical exercise had helped reinforce my conviction that a child from the age of 4-10 could carry out the task, perhaps with a little assistance from an adult. 

Once the cookies where completely cooled I brought out the decorating tools I had purchased previously. I could have considered the design I was going to create with the icing and chocolate beans, but I decided that a child probably wouldn't, so neither would I. This did make me realise however that it would be a good idea to include a range of visuals of decoration so that the child has a certain amount of inspiration. This is definitely something to consider.

I began with the red icing and went around the shape, almost like an outline, which I then decorated with chocolate beans. This was then followed by the addition of a mouth, a nose and eyes. I decided something was missing so I then added a little more decoration, just to make the cookie as bright and engaging as possible. Below are images showing my process.

Now I have created a batch of 'Sugar Skull Cookies' I am more confident with my idea and know for definite that it works. I also now have a recipe appropriate enough for kids and will start to work on aesthetics for the cutters and the packaging itself.

Skull Cookie Cutters

Today I decided to start working on my skulls shaped cookie cutters. I was able to get my hands on a few strips of thin aluminium. They where roughly an inch wide and due to such a small thickness they were particularly malleable. I initially started by drawing out a few templates on a piece of paper that I would use for reference. However it quickly became apparent that I had ideas above my station and would have to make the cookie cutters much simpler. I began by drawing light pencil lines on the metal coloured side of the strips, this was then followed by 'scoring' the lines with a chisel and hammer. Once this was done they were already starting to take shape. I soon realised that the lengths of metal where too long and would therefore have to trimmed down, so for the time being I secured my prototypes with black tape. Below are images of the process.

Although I initially had three pieces of metal one of the cutters was not really that successful so I decided to scrap that particular model, opting for two differing prototypes. Below are images of these two cutters photographed in a kitchen environment. I'm not sure which one I prefer as the top one has more detail but the bottom one was probably my neatest attempt. In order to make a final decision I will have to actually use the cutters to make some cookies and see which is the best.