Traditional Cookie Cutters And Their Role In The History
By: Bimol Bee
Submitted: 2011-12-16 05:54:28 | Word Count: 549
Cookie cutters are rather ancient utensils which have been used by people for hundreds of years, however, they still remain popular even in the modern life. They are excellent for cooking various cookies, especially according to the traditional recipes. Real baking fans always use cookie cutters in their kitchen to create unique and beautiful sugar cookies, as well as gingerbread men and other delicious treats. Nevertheless, the cookie cutters experience their highest popularity in today's highly technological world.
The first cookie cutters were represented by wooden molds which were manufactured in Europe in the Middle Ages. The earliest molds were taken to the United States of America by German settlers somewhere in the 1600's and 1700's which gained popularity among colonial homemakers.
[ advertisement ]
These were probably tinsmiths who created the first true cookie cutters back in the late 1700's. Tinsmiths kept the scraps of leftover tin from bigger projects and created from them beautiful shapes for cookie cutters. These could be just stars, hearts, and crosses which were often used as excellent gifts for relatives and friends. And as they became extremely popular, tinsmiths started producing sets and selling them to other cooks as well as housewives even in other countries.
During the 1800's cookie cutters were produced from tin which was the most popular metal of those times: cheap and to work with. It can be easily bent into different shapes which are not expensive for others. But in the 1920's, tin gave way to another metal - aluminum. The cookie cutters made from aluminum used to keep their looks more shiny tin ones. Besides, this metal is much lighter in weight.
After World War II, people started to use plastic as the preferred material for making cookie cutters. More complex and detailed cookie cutters were produced with the usage of machines. Besides, plastic is easy to mold into any possible shape. However, many bakers have fund out that the plastic cookie cutters were not that practical as it seemed before as the dough stuck more to plastic and this material could even break during the usage.
Nowadays, cookie cutters are mostly produced from aluminum, copper, tin, or plastic. You can choose the most suitable material according to your own preferences and needs. The greater number of cookie cutters are nowadays manufactured at the factory offering a great variety f shapes, sizes and materials. In order to choose the most preferable cookie cutters personally for you, it's recommended to try different styles, sizes, and materials of cookie cutters.
Cookie cutters possess such a great popularity nowadays that you can also meet cookie cutter collectors clubs in your country. These collectors are constantly looking for vintage and rare cookie cutters. And if you wish to purchase vintage cutters as well, you'll need to remember a few important things. If the cookie cutter you've found has a solid back, whose outline is hollow, it was probably produced before World War II. This variant is extremely appreciated among the collectors. Some other valuable vintage cookie cutters include those which were produced to commemorate some special events, as well as promotional "gifts with purchase," or such holiday cookie cutters as the Peanuts line by Hallmark that was manufactured in the 1970's.
