‘Tis The Season! Trim Your Tree Any Way You Like With Wilton’s Christmas Tree Cutter
Written: Dec 02 '03
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Pros: Easy to use, inexpensive, great for kids, almost indestructible.
Cons: Hard to find outside the holiday season.
The Bottom Line: Want to make some of the coolest cookies? This is not only a great shape but it's inexpensive too!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Wilton Christmas Tree Perimeter Cookie Cutter 2303... |
Color me jealous!
I submitted a SAP [suggest a product] form to have this cutter added to the database and received an email from Amy [Mind-Full] with the link along with a small note that she already had one of her trees up. That was all the motivation I needed to get cracking on this review and get the word out about it. If you’ve read any of my other Home & Garden reviews, you might know that I love to bake. Halloween might be my favorite holiday but Christmas also holds a special place in my heart. What better way to kick off the season than to bake up some great butter cookies, frost them with some royal icing and let the brood go crazy decorating them. Granted, most don’t look like masterpieces but they are all made with love … except the one with the skeleton on it. This easy to use cutter has a good bit of detail, is easy to work with, 100% kid friendly and inexpensive – what more could you ask for? And as usual, it is a Wilton product … like you needed me to mention that!
Wilton Christmas Tree Perimeter Cookie Cutter 2303-132
I have a ton of different Christmas tree cookie cutters but this one ranks amongst my favorite. There is a good bit of detail to it but at the same time it is easy to get the dough out of the cutter and transfer it to the baking pan without losing the shape and detail. Like almost all of the Wilton perimeter cutters this one has a cross bar to aid in removing it from dough and allows kids to get a good grip on it when using it. The rolled edges are great for adults to use and it comes out of the dough nicely if properly dusted with a little flour. I have never had any trouble with uneven cuts or the tree stretching out of shape but do recommend that you work with a chilled dough for the best results. You can use any recipe that you want for this but anything with chocolate chips, nuts or add-ins will make it a little hard to get a good cut into the dough and might result in uneven edges. Shortbread and butter recipes work best but this can also be used to cut out brownies, thin layers of semi-cooled fudge or to make mini cakes [cut outs from a large, thin sheet cake].
The size – about four inches high and three inches wide – makes it easy to work with but allows you to have a lot of creative freedom when decorating it. As I mentioned, working with a chilled dough makes it easier to get the cutter in and out of the dough but it also helps to retain the shape of the dough as you are transferring it to the baking sheet. The tree has four layers of branches and a small stump or base, there’s no star on top of it but one can be added to it. The easiest way to accomplish this is to press in a star shaped piece of candy into the top once you remove it from the oven and have allowed it to cool for about two to three minutes – any longer than that and it will have cooled too much to press it in without cracking the cookie. Another option is to use royal icing to hold it in place. Once they are cooled they are pretty stable and easy to decorate but storing them can be tricky if you go a little crazy with icing and toppings. I suggest packaging them in individual plastic baggies to preserve the freshness as well as reducing the contact they have with other cookies.
Cleaning is easy and best accomplished by soaking in warm soapy water then using a finger brush or toothbrush to get into all the edges. The hang tag that is attached to the top of the cutter might get in the way when you are pressing out the cookies, but makes it easy to store them or hang them up to air dry after cleaning. So far this cutter has been great and I know that I have several of them – I think I subconsciously pick one of these up each year because they are inexpensive and great to have multiple of … but chances are it’s because I am a compulsive shopper – something that’s really dangerous when I am let loose in a store like Michaels or the cake decorating section of any store.
Decorating
What fun is it to make Christmas Tree cookies if you aren’t going to decorate them? One of the easiest ways is to make a small batch of royal icing then top it off with anything and everything. My personal favorites are mini M&M’s, miniature gum drops, mini chocolate chips, broken pieces of hard colored candy [also great for making stained glass cookies], Wilton Color Mist and red licorice that looks adorable as garland. Needless to say, once you bake these there is no limit to what you can do with them but if you really want to have some fun, let the kids tack a crack at decorating them! All you need to do is apply the royal icing and allow it to sit for a few minutes and start to harden; they will have about ten minutes of play time before the surface turns completely hard. Just dump the bits and potential decorations into bowls and get out of their way. This is an all ages project and since everything they are working with is edible, taste testing is not only allowed, it’s encouraged!
To cut down on decorating time, try adding some green food dye to the dough, this way all you need to do is add some small decorations to it [use the royal icing as an edible glue] or pipe on some prepackaged icing for the tree base. There’s no limit to what you can do with this cutter and it produces some great looking trees – perfect for making a colorful cookie bouquet, for adding a little color to a cookie tray or to tuck into a stocking [be sure to wrap it in plastic wrap or place inside a plastic bag to keep the crumbs from getting everywhere].
Thing To Know
This isn’t just for cookies; you can also use this to cut out pieces of break for festive sandwiches, brownies, pancakes and more. When the cutter has been used to its abilities, don’t even think about tossing this in the trash! This is a great size for kids to use for crafts, Christmas cards or as mini trees to decorate. Given the size and amount of detail, this is an all around great cutter that had a ton of uses both in and out of the kitchen. The real kicker is the price – usually .50 to .75 cents depending on where you shop. Since this is a seasonal item it might be hard to find off season but it usually always in stock at the Wilton Online Store.
The Bottom Line
You might not think that a simple cookie cutter could be this much fun but this one most definitely is. This is one of several Christmas tree cutters that I use during the holidays and the first choice of the brood when they are in the mood to decorate cookies. This is also a great cutter to purchase in multiples, this will eliminate the fighting and bickering when kids want to get creative. It’s sturdy, easy to use and has just the right amount of detail to make great looking cookies!
As always, thanks for the read!
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
Other Wilton perimeter cutters …
Wilton Fish Perimeter Cookie Cutter
Wilton Heart Perimeter Cookie Cutter
Wilton Dog Bone Cookie Cutter
Wilton Nested Perimeter Heart Cookie Cutters
Thanks to Mind-Full for adding this to the database!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): .50 cents
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