Hands, Fingers, Knees & Toes! Scratch That Last Part … Just Hands & Fingers!
Written: Feb 16 '05 (Updated Feb 17 '05)
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Pros: Easy to use, inexpensive, great for kids to use, tons of uses!
Cons: Hard to find in retail stores.
The Bottom Line: It’s a perimeter cookie cutter, it’s made by Wilton and it’s got tons of uses!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Wilton Hand Perimeter Cookie Cutter |
Some people hate to bake, they look at it as a chore that they have to do for birthday parties or for kids to take to school. For me it’s therapy. I get some peace and quiet, get to work out my frustrations on the dough and spend way too much time thinking up cool things to do with cookie cutters. As I mentioned in my review of the Wilton Foot Perimeter Cooker Cutter, my brother and his wife are expecting another baby [this one makes number five for them] so I started dragging out all my baby related cookie cutters to work on some new recipes, try out some new ideas I had for decorating them and make up a care package for someone who just had a baby [a very cute baby girl I might add]. The foot cookie cutter is a great one to use with this one, especially if someone just had twins. You can add some tint to the dough before you press them out and make pink and blue hands and feet. Yeah, I really do have way too much time on my hands.
Wilton Hand Perimeter Cookie Cutter 2303-147
This is a great cutter to work with but there are some things to know about before you start. First off, you want to work with a sheet of raw dough that is rolled out to about a quarter of an inch thick; anything less than that and you are going to end up with rock hard cookie, anything thicker and the fingers will get puffy and look like they have gout. It helps to have a sharp knife on hand too, this way you can make the indents between the fingers a little deeper so when they come out of the oven they look like a hand, not some misshaped glob of dough. The other thing to know about this is that you have to press evenly when cutting out the cookies; if you don’t apply enough pressure then you won’t get a clean cut the whole way around it and you will be able to see that when it comes out of the oven.
The cutter is about four inches long and three inches wide so there is more than enough room to write a baby name on it or to decorate it any way you like. I suggest using a nice sugar cookie dough to work with because it’s easy to prepare, the ingredients are basic and you end up with a nice looking [and great tasting] cookie. Since this is plastic it’s great for kids to work with and like almost all other perimeter cutters, there is a plastic bar that runs across the middle of the cutter so it is easy to pull out of the dough. One suggestion I have is for while the cookies are cooling off; if you want a flat cookie to work with, after you remove the cookie tray from the oven, give it a hard whack on the stovetop. This will cause the cookie to fall a little making it easier to decorate. This will make it a little crunchier so if you are going after a moist cookie, skip this idea.
About the only real negative in regards to this cutter is that it can be hard to find in retail stores. Unless you go to a specialty cake or dessert shop [which charge twice as much as other places] you might not be able to find this locally. The good new is that the Wilton Online Store stocks this year round for .69 cents. You can check out some of the great ideas they have for decorating cookies, making cakes and general baking advice at their website: www.wilton.com. You can access the archives, check out the store and get ideas for baking for holidays. Stores like Michael’s [and larger JoAnne Fabrics] do stock cutters but since this is one that isn’t considered “popular” most of the stores opt to carry the seasonal ones then get rid of them when the holiday is over.
Uses & Decorating
Since there is no limit to how you can decorate the cookies once they have cooled off, you can play around with a lot of different ideas. One of the easiest things to do is to add a little bit of pink or blue tint to the dough after you mix it, add a little bit at a time so you don’t end up with something too dark – you can always add more but it’s tough to lighten the color once you’ve added it. After that you can add colored sugar crystals to the tops, bake and you are done! If you don’t want to go that route you can bake them [with or without the tint] then use royal icing to coat them. You can buy the icing in a tube and tint it to whatever color you want or make your own. If you’ve never worked with royal icing you can try it out on some parchment paper or a piece of plastic, this way you can get a feel of the consistency of it and it is unbelievably easy to work with. As long as the container or tube remains sealed off to air it will stay soft, moist and workable. If you want something simpler to work with check out Wilton’s Food Writer markers or their tubes of Ready-to-Decorate Icing. Once you’ve given them enough time to harden and set up then you can package them in bags, decorated sleeves or designer pouches and be sure to top them off with a bow for a little extra zing.
The Bottom Line
This is for more than just cookies you know! Use this to cut out sandwiches, to cut up Jell-O, to make impressions in toast or when you want to cut out shapes from a sheet of brownies [do this when it’s still warn to get the best results]. I will be making a ton of these [and the foot ones] for friends who are having babies; it might not save me any money in the long run to make my own cookies and god knows it will take a few hours to decorate them all but it’s worth it when someone comments on them or asks "Where did you buy these?" to which you can smile, say you made them yourself and let them eat their heart out.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
Other Wilton perimeter cookie cutter reviews …
• Wilton Christmas Tree Perimeter Cookie Cutter • Wilton Fish Perimeter Cookie Cutter • Wilton Heart Perimeter Cookie Cutter • Wilton Dog Bone Cookie Cutter • Wilton Nested Heart Cookie Cutter Set • Wilton 5 Point Perimeter Cookie Cutter • Wilton Christmas Tree Perimeter Cookie Cutter • Wilton Girl Perimeter Cookie Cutter • Wilton Ice Cream Cone Perimeter Cookie Cutter • Wilton Holiday Cutter Canister Set •
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): .69 cents
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