Thoughts on cookie cutters? (aluminum, plastic, or copper?)

[L'lee]

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts about the materials that are used to make cookie cutters. It seems like most of them are aluminum or plastic, both of which I am trying to minimize. I saw some today that were copper and very expensive compared to the others. Is copper better for us? Does it matter what material they are since they touch the food for just a second? Has anyone else thought about this much? Thanks for any input!

[artemis33]

In this case I don't worry about it. As you mentioned, they only touch the dough for a few seconds and I only make cut out cookies a couple times a year (if that!).

It would be great to have super nice stainless or copper cookie cutters (I'd scoop them up in a second at a yard sale or thrift store!) but I'd rather spend my money on a high quality stainless or stoneware baking sheet since that is where they will be cooked

[Ellp]

I don't know what kind of metal ones I have but they ALL seem to rust where the joint is. : Its like I almost have to buy new ones every year because they rust out. Whats worse is that the rust stains my formica(sp?) counter!

The plastic ones aren't good either because the edge isn't thin enough to cut through dough so basically you're just using brute force to punch shapes out. The cookies come out warped looking.

Sigh...

[rebirth]

I feel more comfortable with the copper ones, and although they are more expensive- they are an investment. I even thought about handing them to display them- they are so pretty!

[mamadelbosque]

I have aluminum cookie cutters. I can't imagine spending the big bucks for copper to avoid having aluminum touch my cookies for all of, what, 5-10 seconds, tops? Doesn't seem worth it to me. And the plastic ones just don't seem like they'd hold up or be thin enough to really cut...

[allnaturalmom]

I've got lots of cookie cutters made of various materials, but I mostly use (and recommend) stainless steel cookie cutters. You can get round, square, star, heart, and flower-shaped graduated sets that usually come in fluted and straight edge and they are dishwasher safe. For fancier shapes I have a stainless cookie press (although the disks are not stainless - probably aluminum), and for even fancier cookies I have some stoneware moulds and stamps (I usually pull these out around the holidays). I have even seen some glass cookie stamps, but don't know anything about them.

gl
hth

[L'lee]

Thanks for all the input! I may invest in one or two copper or stainless steel cookie cutters that look durable. There were some copper cutters that I saw that are a little thicker than the aluminum ones and don't have solder or rivets (which may contain lead) so I might try those. One of the things I was considering doing was using them to shape pancakes (cook the batter in the cutter) or egg and I'd rather have something safer for that.

allnaturalmom, do you know where you can get stainless steel cookie cutters? I haven't heard of them and that would be a neat alternative!

[L'lee]

Oops, just realized that some of the cutters I thought were aluminum were actually stainless steel! Cool!