The last two Tuesdays, I've posted 10 Things to Make with a Bundt Pan and 10 Things to Make with a Muffin Pan. The response has been resounding.
It sounds like a lot of you have baking dishes sitting around that you aren't sure how to use.
The unintended consequence of these posts has been that readers have emailed and Tweeted to ask me to write a 10 Things to Do with [insert each person's unused kitchen gadget here]. I'm here to serve, my Dear Reader.
The first request I received was
What can I do with my cookie cutters, besides making sugar cookies?
Since it was the first request, that's where I'm going to start. This week, I'm going to give you suggestions for using the cookie cutters to make food. Next week, I'll share suggestions for using cookie cutters for crafts and other non-food projects.
10 Foods to Prepare with Cookie Cutters
You already knew I wasn't going to put cookies on the list, right? We all know that you can use cookie cutters to cut out all kinds of cookies.
- Cut out dessert. Any food that's firm enough to hold its shape can be cut. Fudge, Rice Krispies treats, brownies. What if you made a cheesecake-like batter in a bar pan and cut that with cookie cutters? Your only limit is your imagination.
- Make shaped omelets and pancakes. Make sure to use metal cookie cutters! These have always come out really well in our experience.
- Decorate a pie. I love to put cute little designs in the top crust of a pie. Sometimes, I'll take the shapes I've cut and put them on top of another pie, like a pumpkin. The little designs give the pie something extra.
- Cake decorating. You can use the cookie cutters to make impressions in a cake's frosting or to make a stencil for sprinkling colored sugar or sprinkles. We also used a tiny cookie cutter to cut fondant flowers for Grace's princess birthday cake.
- Make mini cakes. Use a cookie cutter to make shapes out of a shallow cake. Or, even better, tightly wrap the sides and bottom of a metal cookie cutter with foil and fill it with cake batter. Bake according to the recipe or package instructions, but check it frequently. The very small cake will cook very quickly. Frost as usual, or smooth a layer of icing, peanut butter, jelly, or chocolate ganache in between two cakes for a shaped whoopie pie.
- Ice cream shapes. Fill cookie cutters with slightly softened ice cream and refreeze until it's hard. You could cut out cookies or cake shapes and make ice cream sandwiches this way, too.
- Dress up a tray of appetizers, a plate of pasta, a pizza, potato salad, or any meal. Cheese, meats, vegetables like bell peppers, and fruit like apples and pears can all be cut and displayed on a tray, with other finger foods, or as a garnish on a meal. Wouldn't it be a crowd-pleaser if all of the pepperoni on your pizza were shapes?
- Sandwich shapes. Whether you're feeding a crowd of preschoolers or dinner party guests, everyone loves shaped food, right? Have you ever considered packing sandwiches shapes in school lunches?
- Salads. Use your cookie cutters to make the veggies in a garden salad fun shapes. It's even better if you use a theme, like a Zoo Salad. You could cut all of the veggies in the salad into animal shapes. I think even a picky kiddo would try that. You can do the same thing with a fruit salad. How about a flower fruit salad? Each of the fruits could be cut into a flower shape.
- Toast and butter. Use large cookie cutters to imprint buttered toast. If you're so inclined, you can dust inside (or outside) the cookie cutter with powdered sugar, cinnamon, or even colored sugar or sprinkles. Slice pats of butter a little thinner than usual, and use mini cookie cutters to cut them into shapes.
Or! Make an Egg in the Hole by using a shape to cut out the center of a piece of toast, lay the toast in a hot skillet, then fry an egg inside.
This topic might show up again; it was really hard to limit myself to 10 suggestions.
Trina Oboyle says
I don't have many cookie cutters but I use my round one for dumplings, homemade ravioli, egg cut outs for sandwiches and more that I can't think of at the moment 🙂 I need to break out my train shapes for sandwiches for the boys...great ideas!
Jennelsonlane says
I love this post!! The only way my son will eat breakfast sausage is if we use the star cookie cutter. He calls it "Star Meat," which is kind of gross, but at least he's eating it, right? I may have to try the zoo salad this week. That's too, too cute!
Living in Dar says
I make our own chicken nuggets, and use the cutters to make them into shapes. So we have dinosaur shaped nuggets, stars, whatever the little one asks for.
Sarah says
I know it's not cooking, but we use our cookie cutters for play-doh, washing them before we use them with food. They get A LOT of use that way!
Heather says
You are so brilliant! I like making homemade graham crackers and using cookie cutters to make animal shapes. I know, they are still sort of cookies. But it's not quite the same, right? 🙂
FeelsLikeHomeBlog says
Not at all like cookies! I actually thought about putting homemade crackers on the list, but I thought, "I wonder how many people would really make them." I decided to save them for the next time, if it ever comes. I'm glad you mentioned them! 🙂
gograhamgo says
Great ideas! I never would've thought of the salad idea! I generally just use them to cut out sandwiches for Graham!
Jeni says
I make Egg in the Hole all the time, and I never thought about using a shaped cookie cutter! I'll definitely give that a try!
FeelsLikeHomeBlog says
I love that idea! How do you make your own nuggets?
I lamented at the price of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets at our grocery store - $3.99 for 12 nuggets. That's ridiculous, but Grace loves them.
FeelsLikeHomeBlog says
Yes! We do that, too. Actually, I got a set of 101 plastic cookie cutters at the craft store (super cheap) that Grace keeps in her play kitchen. Those are the ones we use for the Play-Doh and painting, and the metal ones for food stay in the kitchen.
Next Tuesday's post is about crafts to do with cookie cutters, and I mentioned play-doh and painting in that one. 🙂
AngieB says
I use them to make dumplings. I have a roll-out dumplings recipe for Thanksgiving and when we need comfort food, and the tiny cookie cutters from Pampered Chef work beautifully for this!
ohamanda says
I do quesadillas, too. Oh, yum! You are a genius!
Julie Bagamary says
Very clever! I've made heart shaped rice crispie treats.
Jennifer says
We use our cookie cutters with pla-doh and for stamping wrapping paper patterns.
Pat Cook says
I have my grand daughter in the mornings and take her to school. Often I make her sandwich. She was so delighted when I started pressing a heart in the center of her sandwich. She is a very picky eater and I discovered she would always eat the heart cut from her sandwich. So I started using larger shaped cutters & began surprising her with different shapes. She caught on fast to holiday shapes and when spring came she asked one morning what shape was for spring. I had a large circle with scalloped edges, a flower of course. Not only did she start eating more, but we grew a special bond around this lunchtime activity. Now that it is summer she still wants to have her sandwich cut into a special shape, only now she is choosing the shape herself.