What is a contour cutter with a hint and how is it used?

Cookie cutters with marking: how they work and why they save you time with decorating

There are many types of cookie cutters on the market. I decided to make not only standard outline cookie cutters, but also cookie cutters with marking.

A classic cookie cutter only gives you an outline – a star, a heart, a snowman. The rest, meaning making the gingerbread look really nice, is then up to decorating with icing, which can be time-consuming and, for more complex patterns, quite demanding on a steady hand. Cookie cutters with marking solve exactly this: the motif is ready as soon as you cut out the shape.

The cookie cutters are suitable for cutting out dough, various types of covering pastes, marzipan, polymer clay (e.g. Fimo), self-hardening clay or ceramics. With my cookie cutters, you can create cookies, jewelry or decorations of consistently identical and precise shapes. You can also use them for making treats for pets or for making decorations for important days or holidays of the year (Valentine's Day, Halloween, Christmas). The advantage of these cookie cutters is their quick and easy handling.

You can use a cookie cutter with marking to create a cookie or gingerbread that you then don't need to decorate further. Or you can use the pre-printed outlines to trace them with icing, for example. You can also use the pre-printed outlines as a stencil and just "color" them with prepared colored icing. The uses are really wide. It is important not to confuse a cookie cutter with marking with a cut-through cookie cutter for Linzer cookies. They look almost the same, but a Linzer cookie cutter cuts the dough all the way to the mat. An outline cookie cutter with marking does not cut all the way to the mat, but imprints into the dough (or other material). This is the main and important difference in my cookie cutters. Most of the cookie cutters in my e-shop are designed as cookie cutters with marking. If they are cut-through cookie cutters suitable for Linzer cookies, I have stated this directly in the name of the cookie cutter.

When using outline cookie cutters with marking, you can try different methods or ask me for advice on how to achieve the best possible impression without deformation. It largely depends on the material you use the cookie cutter with. To achieve the best result, you can proceed in various ways. When working with dough, you can use food wrap, all-purpose flour, or cocoa. When working, just keep a bowl of all-purpose flour next to you and dip the cookie cutter in the flour before each cut. The same applies to cocoa, with the difference that the outline will then be brown, and the cookie cutter can look very effective as a result. When imprinting into fondant or other covering pastes, it is advisable to dust the cookie cutter with powdered sugar. Everything depends on the type of material and its stickiness.



I make cookie cutters large enough to cut into all types of materials. The height of my cookie cutters is 12 mm.

I chose a cutting edge thickness of 0.8 mm based on personal research and years of experience. Some customers might object that, compared to metal cookie cutters, these cookie cutters are wide. However, I pride myself on quality, and thinner edges would risk cracking. Therefore, my cookie cutters are strong and reinforced enough to last and not fall apart after a few uses.

I have prepared how a cookie cutter with marking looks in action.
The marked outlines imprinted beautifully into the dough.
After baking, the outlines remain visible.

How to achieve a sharp, clean impression

  • The dough must be properly chilled — soft dough will rather squash under the pressure of the cookie cutter than precisely copy the motif.
  • Lightly dust the cookie cutter with flour before each use — this ensures the form separates cleanly from the dough and no residue remains, which would smear the detail on subsequent use.
  • Press evenly and hold for a moment, rather than "rocking" the cookie cutter from side to side.
  • Roll to a uniform thickness across the entire surface — an uneven sheet means the relief will imprint less well in thinner areas.

Why it really saves time

Once the motif is already in the dough, most of the work with the decorating bag is eliminated. This is especially useful in three situations:

  • When you don't have time to decorate — the gingerbread is practically ready straight from the oven.
  • When a child bakes with you — they can cut out the shape themselves, and the result still looks professional.
  • When you're not confident with delicate icing work — the relief forgives an unsteady hand.
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