Baking: Homemade Cookie Cutters

Why be limited by pre-imagined shapes for your cookie cutters? Making your own is surprisingly easy, and cheap!

What you’ll need:

disposable aluminum cookie sheet or lasagna pan
scissors
ruler

To start you’ll need some aluminum, preferably something pliable enough to be shaped by hand (though if you prefer some heavier duty cookie cutters, you can look into buying heavier gauge aluminum).

My favorite source of aluminum is disposable cookie sheets. Disposable lasagna pans work just fine as well, but you’ll probably only use the flat bottom portion, so you end up wasting more material.

Cut away the sides of the pan so you’re left with just the flat bottom. Measure out the rectangle into strips.

Cut the strips out. The edges may be a bit sharp. If you’re an adult, you can still work with them as long as you’re a little careful. If you plan to make these with children, I’d recommend filing down any sharp edges with a nail file or sandpaper.

Now decide what shape you want. It helps to sketch an outline on a piece of paper – just remember to keep it simple.

Bend your aluminum strip into the desired shape. For sharper angles, it helps to have a pencil or other narrow object on hand.

To connect the two ends of the strip together, you have a few options. You can simply fold the overlapping ends together a couple times, as pictured below. Or, for a more permanent bond, try stapling or gluing the ends together.