Things I'm Digging: Message-in-a-Cookie Cutters

I received the Christmas version of these Williams Sonoma cookie cutters from my mom, and I LURRRRRRRRVE them. They combine two of my passions: baking and typesetting. (Okay, so I may have exaggerated the part about my passion for typesetting - but, in this age of digital media, there is something quaint about sliding the little character blocks into the little tracks. I might, over time, develop a passion for it. It could happen.)

Just before New Year's, I took them for a test drive. Since we were having the family over for a New Year's Eve brunch, I opted to make turquoise ornaments (to match the pattern of my tablecloth and the centerpiece) and purple gingerbread boys (in honor of the hometown Horned Frogs). The word "Happy" came pre-formed, but I had to spell out "New Year" and (obviously) "Rah Rah TCU" with individual letters. I used the sugar cookie recipe that came in the package, and it was the bomb. My number one complaint about shaped sugar cookies is their tendency to lose their shape while baking (hence, my gingerbread fetish - gingerbread, or my recipe for gingerbread, at least, puffs up, but not out). These kept their shape, and the letters remained distinct. I give 90% of the credit for that to the recipe, and 10% to the fact that I put the cookies in the freezer (on a baking sheet) for ten minutes prior to baking.

Just call me Betty Crocker . . . Gutenberg.

The flavor was delish, too - like a moist shortbread (and, come to think of it, the dough was really more of a shortbread concept than a sugar cookie concept, which I guess explains its shape-retaining properties).

I most definitely will be investing in the "everyday" cookie cutters shown here pre-Valentine's Day, so that I can make cookies like these: