How To Make A Cookie Cutter

I decided to make some special cookies for Valentine's Day.  "Heart of gold ... or heart of darkness?  The cookie with a fickle heart" (love the name) looked interesting, so I thought that I would give it a try.  We have acquired quite a collection of cookie cutters in our house over the years, so I was sure that we would find a heart shaped one.  But, alas, the only heart shaped one I could find was too big for this job.  I did, however find a plain round one that seemed to be the right size so I thought I would make my own.  A little bend here, a little tweak there -- how hard can it be, right?

So, I got out the pliers and started to reshape this little piece of metal.  As I was wishing that I had paid more attention in Shop class, I realized that my new cookie cutter was not flat on the bottom ... hmmmm ... now what?  Because the original cutter had not simply been a round shape (instead, it looks like it may have been a cap off something at some point), my plan of simply reshaping it was not working -- my plans ALWAYS work when they are in my head, I wonder why that is.   In order for it to assume the new heart shape I so desired, I had to find a way to puncture the top.  So, pliers in hand again, I tore away at the metal top, which created some rather pointed and sharp edges.  It looked more like an instrument of torture than a cookie cutter.

Unfortunately, this instrument of destruction was not safe for little hands, so the project quickly became Mama's.  I had some disappointed helpers, but mixing the dough is fun and helpful too!

In an eerie sort of way, I think that I may have transferred some of my frustrations to the cookie cutter.  I realized as I was cutting cookies, that it looks just like my face must have when I was prying and bending this thing and trying to make it look like a heart -- what does it mean when your face and your cookie cutter start to look alike?

Well, check out the cookies and I think that you'll agree, they turned out pretty well (despite me and my cookie cutter being a little grouchy at times).  I think that I would actually call this a success!  So now we have a "new" heart shaped cookie cutter and some darn good cookies too!