February 2021

On the SED Developments website, we go to pains, with every single product listing, to point out that the cutters are not dishwasher safe. Sorry about that! But hey! Accidents will happen won’t they? Someone in the household will forget and chuck a cutter in the dishwasher. Or somehow otherwise bend it out of shape. Aargh! But before you toss it in the bin: stop! Because this blog will show you how to rescue a warped cookie cutter.

Because you don’t want to have to buy another one do you? Even less so if it’s a bespoke cookie cutter that’s thrown a wobbly. Why would you when putting it right costs nothing and takes but a minute or two.

So! To throw one of our beloved antediluvian references at you and to reference the great Jimmy Young’s recipe slot on his legendary BBC R2 show:

This is what you do

But before we get to what you have to do to rescue a warped cookie cutter, here’s list what you need:

• Damaged cutter (only plastic, NO METAL IN THE MICROWAVE) #obvs
• Room temperature water
• Microwave-safe bowl
• Microwave – to state the flipping obvious

NB: This does of course only work for 3D printed cookie cutters made from PLA filament. You can’t do it with 100% plastic or metal cutters.

And now, to go all continental on you:

The mode d’emploi

1. Put your wibbly wobbly cookie cutter into your container
2. Add water to the bowl until your cutter is covered – but you don’t have to fill the bowl to the top.
3. Put the bowl in the microwave and heat in 30 seconds increments. Repeat until you see steam rising from the water. This takes 1 to 1.5 minutes. You’ll start to see changes happen in the water when the cutter returns to its original shape.
4. Once you see that the cutter’s shape has changed, take out the cutter out of the bowl and put it on a flat surface. Remember the water is hot!
5. Let the cookie cutter cool for a few minutes then have a good look at.
6. There may be some spots where a corner or edge won’t restore its shape on its own. If that happens you’ll have to manipulate it a bit. You can do that by dipping the damaged part into the water for 5-10 seconds until it’s pliable.
7. Take it out and use your fingers to mould the shape back into place. You might have to do this step again.

And here you can watch the whole thing on video – you lucky people you!

No microwave? No problem!

If you’ve not got a microwave don’t worry. You can achieve the same thing on the hob. Follow the same steps as above, heating the water on medium-high heat until you see steam. But don’t boil water or else you’ll melt the cutter completely. And that would defeat the object of the exercise eh?

Once the water is heated, dip the cookie cutter in the water and let it sit for about 10-15 seconds and use your fingers to manipulate shape you need.

Once the water is heated, dip the cookie cutter in the water and let it sit for about 10-15 seconds and use your fingers to manipulate shape you need.

And that’s it!

Check out more of our cookie-cutter-carrying-on over on Instagram. See you there!