Message In a Cookie

One of my "jobs" at my job was to make some gingerbread men for a visual that is in the window. I used the Message in a Cookie cookie cutters and have to say...I loved them. I was a true skeptic when these came in, but now I see the possibilities. I admit however, they are a pain to clean, lots of tiny little letters. Let me explain.

The Christmas cutters are essentially 3 cookie cutters, an ornament, a gingerbread boy and a snowflake. Good size cookies are made from these. You could easily use them as a basic cutter, but they have a couple of "rails" in the center of the cutter that you can slide words and letters onto. The holiday box came with Merry, Christmas, Seasons, Greetings, Happy, Holidays, and From. There is also a huge assortment of extra letters so you can spell out any message that will fit onto the two rails. You will want your cookie dough well chilled. And I rolled it out a chunk at a time. You carefully push the plunger of the cutter and slide your words and letters onto the rails. There is a video on the Williams Sonoma site that shows how. (How do I get THAT job?) Next, the cutter with the letters in place needs to be well floured, I tapped the plunger that controls the letters a number of times into flour and then cut the cookie dough. Once the cutter is positioned on the dough, you push the plunger to stamp the letters/words into the dough. Admittedly, many of my cookies stuck and had to be re-rolled. I like the effect of the full stamp into the dough although the O's were pushed completely through the dough. It isn't a perfect world here, but it works. I think it would be an epic fail with any dough that contained margarine or shortening, puffiness is not your friend. I had a dish towel laid out on the counter and slid the letters and words on and off over the towel. That way no little letters bounced off the counter to the floor, all the flour and dough scraps stayed put and when I finished, I put them all back into the mesh bag they came in and swished it in hot, soapy water, let it soak for about 20 minutes and they were pretty clean. You may have an E or F that holds onto some dough, but once it dries it will easily fall off. Careful not to let the letters fall into the sink, they are small enough to suck right down the drain! They say they are dishwasher safe in the mesh bag, but seriously? What is it with the dang dishwasher? I put plates, glasses and silverware in it. Period. No knives, no appliance parts, no gadgets...did you know that the detergent in there is almost all bleach? With the hot water and the steam and the sheer force of the jets of water...Yikes! Honest, washing by hand is not that awful, you'll be amazed how much longer things last.The box shows cookies with the dough tinted, which I have done, there is a chunk of green chilling now. Of course to keep the integrity of the words, these cookies won't take the full royal icing treatment, which is better particularly for gingerbread. I love that you could make any message in the dough. I of course bought the holiday set, and put the Basic set on my Christmas list. There is a heart, a star and a scalloped rectangle. Perfect for so many cookies. I love that I could put my Sweetie Petitti signature in every batch I make! As usual, I buy all my own stuff, there is no paid advertisement here, I just happen to love these little cookie cutters. I will update with pictures of the new sugar ones ASAP. So, get in there and bake!