AMy mom scored a bag of cookie cutters from an estate sale for about $3. Some of them are vintage with the wooden knobs. Haven't seen those in years!

I'm not an awesome cookie decorator like some of you, but would like to use some this Christmas.

What kind of dough would I use for these cookie presses? I'm assuming that's what they are. I'm guessing I press into rolled dough then cut???

[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3152083/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

Then I have these that have the shape in the cutter.

[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3152086/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

I'm guessing a standard sugar cookie dough, but want to make sure the patterns show after they are baked. Thanks for your help!!

Ohhhh I wish I lived near you.  The top are cookie stamps, cute ones.  You can either press down a ball of dough, which gives cracked edges.   or press them into a sheet of cookie dough or fondant, and cut a clean circle around them. Painting them with the colored egg wash is one way to decorate them.

the bottom looks like the vintage Hallmark ones. They are collectors items now.  they create a vacuum and the dough doesn't come out so well.  You can put a hole in the top to let some of the air out, but why bother.

ahhh lucky you.

AHaha! Thanks so much! Glad to know what they are and how to use them! I'll report back with how they turn out! I'll let my mom know what a great find they were.

The Hallmark ones I have a ton of! Monkeys, elephant, bears, pumpkins, turkey, Christmas ones, etc...

Thanks so much for your help! And if you lived near me, you'd be more than welcome to them!!

Hmm. I'd recommend using a dough that (1) releases easily from nooks and crannies in the cutter, and (2) produces a cookie that isn't especially friable. Which rules out anything I regularly bake.

james you made me laugh --

the santa one--spray it with oil spray and the key is to roll the dough out the correct depth--not too thick not too thin--the goldilocks effect-- not thicker than the cutter is of course --

i usually gotta roll a few before i get the right balance and it starts working --

Well, friable cookies should be cut fairly small; otherwise, those eating them will likely get more on the floor than in their mouths.

My mother's famous shortbreads, though not especially hard or brittle, are quite friable, and I use a cutter I had custom-made by CopperGifts.com, reproducing an integral-sign-shaped cutter that my mom had found, decades ago, and that we'd worn out (because it was so perfect for shortbreads). And the dough tends to stick to cookie cutters that have complex shapes, or that press internal lines into the cookies.

The mock-Scandinavian-gingersnap recipe I came up with, as a by-product of developing my "Innsbruck Dream Bars" (themselves a reimagining of the old Betty Crocker "Vienna Dream Bar" mix), is (like any Scandinavian gingersnap) hard, brittle, and rather friable. And the dough sticks to EVERYTHING; I have to roll between two sheets of floured parchment paper, and flip, rather than slide, the cookies onto the cookie sheet.

BTW, when I bake cookies (cut or drop), I use a trick I picked up from my mother: I turn the cookie sheet upside down. That way, I can continue to cut cookies and line them up on aluminum foil liners while the cookie sheet is in the oven, and as soon as one sheet-load of cookies have been transferred to cooling racks, I can throw out that liner, and slide on the next pre-loaded liner, without the sides of the sheet getting in the way.

I'm too lazy for that James H.

I have 6 cookie sheets....... well 6 flat ones, 6 rimmed ones, 2 quarter ones, so actually a round dozen or so.

AThat's more cookie sheets to wash. Whereas with foil liners, it's just one sheet, with a quick dunk-wipe-and-rinse in the dishwater, wipe it dry, and that part of the cleanup, at least, is done.

{what else would I do with my time}

only one cookie sheet will never do, more in the oven.........he he

Wow! Lots of great info! Thanks for all the replies! Sorry this is so late! Have been in Williamsburg shopping and went to Christmastown Busch Gardens! BEAUTIFUL!!!

I wish I really LOVED making cookies all the time. Christmas is enough for me! Otherwise, I grab the already made chocolate chip cookie dough at the grocery store! hahaha! 

The cookies will commence tonight. I'll report back to let you know if I hate the cutters and want to throw them through the window or if I love them. :) 

Hmm. Shopping in Williamsburg. Anywhere near the Historic District? Was just there for a few days on my Fall vacation (at least my third visit), around the end of September.

And the foil liner trick I picked up from my mother makes one or two cookie sheets do the work of half a dozen.

And if you ever need custom cookie cutters, I recommend CopperGifts. (This is not a paid endorsement, and I have no connection with them, other than being a satisfied customer who first heard of them on an episode of Unwrapped, on Food Network.)