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Martha by Mail ~ Victorian Ornament Cookie Cutters

Do you decorate your Christmas tree with glass ornaments every single year?  There is nothing quite like these vintage style ornaments to spruce up one's tree with their colorful sparkle and their spherical shapes.  You can mimic a set of ornaments in cookie form if you happen to own the ones that were produced for the Martha by Mail catalog several years ago.  The Victorian Glass Ornament Cutters were introduced after the catalog had transitioned into The Catalog for Living and were produced by the Boston Mountain Copper Company.  Made of solid copper with two rivets that hold each cutter together, these heirloom quality cutters will last you a lifetime.  I've seen them come up for auction every now and then, so it's still possible to purchase a set from a seller.

Pull out these cutters out of storage if you own them and cut out your favorite cookie dough for the holidays.   Ice them according to the decorating card & suggestions below or use your own designs and custom colors if you happen to be crafty.  You can even punch a hole in each cookie before baking so that they can be strung up on the tree or they can be left as is and wrapped up in cellophane bags for gift giving.  Make some merry treats for carolers, friends & family on this joyous holiday using the Victorian Ornament Cookie Cutters.  They make beautiful cookies.


Decorating Card

The Label



Victorian Ornament Cookie Cutters
Decorate your tree or holiday table with cookies shaped like old-fashioned ornaments.  Our set of four handmade copper cutters can be varied with imaginative decorating for an unending variety of Victorian-style ornaments. 

Decorating Techniques
Flooding
The cookies pictured in this booklet have flooded surfaces, meaning that they were coated with a smooth layer of icing before being further embellished.  To flood with a single color, outline a cookie with icing using a pastry bag fitted with a #2 tip.  Let set, about 10 minutes.  Using a #4 tip, zigzag icing across the cookie.  Use a toothpick or a small offset spatula to blend zigzags together until the surface is completely covered within the outline.  Allow to dry.  For two or more colors of icing, outline an area with one color and other areas (such as sections of an ornament) with other colors as desired.  Fill and blend zigzags in each area as described above.

Wet on Wet
Piping icing on top of wet icing results in a smooth, flat design.  First use the flooding method, then immediately pipe another color using the #2 tip onto the wet icing.  This is good for small details such as thin stripes and dots on the ornaments.

Raised Piping
To add smooth, raised lines or dots of icing to a flooded cookie, let the coating of flooded icing dry completely, about 60 minutes, before piping your design.

Flocking 
For glittery cookies, draw icing designs, then sprinkle on sanding sugar or nonpareils while icing is still wet.  Let stand 30 minutes; tap off excess sugar.  To flock with multiple colors or sanding sugar, decorate with icing for one color, and flock; let dry completely, about 60 minutes, before piping and flocking with the second color.

Christmas Tree Ornaments

Victorian Ornament Cookies

The Catalog for Living 2003

Comments

  1. I love these cutters, David - thank you for featuring them!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like them too! At some point I will decorate a tree with these cookies... I keep telling myself that!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful David, this is one set I did not get, darn!!!! Thank you for the post.

    ReplyDelete
  4. They are beautiful cutter and I'm looking forward to seeing your Christmas tree full of them one year! Can only imagine how beautiful it will look and how wonderful it will smell.

    Merry Christmas David.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Joy, keep an eye out for them on ebay! Paula, yes, it would be wonderful to have a room filled with the scent of iced cookies hanging from a tree. One day, believe me!

    Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete

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