Many keepers of the hearth (and sometimes their strong halves) love to treat their loved ones with delicious gingerbread cookies - fortunately, their recipes are quite numerous and varied. But first of all, they are usually baked for children. And it’s more important for them not a sophisticated aroma or exquisite taste, but an unusual appearance. Of course, ordinary forms soon become boring and no longer cause past delight. Here the question arises - how to make a mold for gingerbread with your own hands? We will study it in more detail, fortunately, the task is not at all as complicated as it might seem at first glance.
Why is this needed?
Some readers may ask - why bother with this question? After all, forms for baking gingerbread are sold today in any special store, and the choice is quite large.
This is true, but still hardly anyone wants to buy new forms several times a month. And the choice is still limited. It’s not always possible to find exactly the design that the children ask.
Finally, creating your own form, you can show a maximum of ingenuity - with the minimum expenditure of time and effort, not even a very experienced amateur working with his hands can easily make a mold of almost any complexity. So why not make one that allows you to bake gingerbread cookies that will surely delight children? For example, in the form of favorite characters of a fairy tale or a cartoon?
Of course, the easiest way to cope with the task is to make a metal mold with which you can cut out a suitable silhouette from a sheet of dough that fits onto a baking sheet covered with baking paper. We will study the issue in more detail.
We prepare materials
To make a beautiful form for gingerbread cookies with your own hands, you need to prepare the appropriate tools and materials, as well as take care of a certain safety.
It is advisable to stock up on everything you need in advance, so that when you get to work, you don’t have to interrupt it in order to find the missing tools. So, for the manufacture you will need:
- metal tape (steel or tin, mounting tape is also suitable);
- pliers;
- scissors for metal;
- ruler;
- tight gloves.
As you can see, the set is very small - this is available in almost any home. Having all of the above, you can safely get to work.
Where to get the template?
One of the most important stages of making molds for gingerbread cookies is the selection of a suitable template. After all, you want to please your children, which means you need to pay special attention to this moment. For example, bake gingerbread cookies in the form of some kind of cartoon character or fairy tale.
The most obvious and easiest way to cope with the task is to take coloring as a template. This is a really good solution. Typically, in coloring, characters are presented in the most simple poses. In addition, boundaries are clearly drawn here - contours. In ordinary pictures, they do not look so contrasting and noticeable.
You can find the right coloring on the Internet in a matter of minutes - any search engine will help here. Finding the right picture is not difficult. In extreme cases, if you have artistic skills, you can always arm yourself with a pencil or marker and draw a suitable picture yourself - this will only benefit from the form, as it will turn out to be completely unique.
And when the template is found, you can safely start making the mold with which you will get gingerbread cookies that can impress any child.
Getting to work
To get started, take the metal tape. Make sure that it is clean, because the material will be used for cooking. In extreme cases, it will be useful to rinse it thoroughly with ordinary liquid soap. And then wipe dry with a simple towel or disposable paper.
Now you can start making the mold. Measure the distance on the template with a ruler and, after measuring such a portion on the tape, bend it in the right direction at the appropriate angle. Sometimes, to verify accuracy, you can attach a tape to the template to make sure that everything is going as it should.
The work is quite simple, especially if armed with pliers that allow you to bend a rigid metal tape at the right angle. If there is a need for smoother contours, for example, in the manufacture of Smesharikov or Kolobok, it is better to use a rounded object - a glass bottle or can, a rolling pin or any other suitable in diameter and available in each kitchen is suitable.
Of course, do not forget about safety - it is advisable to protect your hands with thick gloves so as not to cut yourself on the sharp edges of the tape or to squeeze it with pliers.
Usually a few minutes is quite enough to more or less accurately recreate the outline of the desired pattern.
Hurry after this is not worth it - you need to carefully cut off the excess tape with scissors for metal. And to do this is not in the place where the two ends converge, but with a slight indentation - about 10-15 millimeters on each side. What for? Now let's talk about it.
Now we turn to one of the most important points - fixing the two ends of the tape. There are several ways to do this.
The easiest castle
Perhaps the easiest lock is a slot. For him, he will have to leave a small supply of tape on each side - about one centimeter. After that, gently bend the tape so that the end almost touches the rest of the surface. Moreover, on the one hand, it is necessary to bend inward, and on the other, outward.
After that, bring one lock into another, make sure that they fit evenly into each other. It remains only to tightly clamp them with pliers - now you can only separate them by applying a very big effort.
The only drawback of this castle is its considerable thickness. However, this will not create any problems with further work. Unless the aesthetic side of the form itself will suffer a little. But this can hardly be called a serious minus.
The most reliable lock
Now let's talk about another do-it-yourself gingerbread mold lock. It is also very important to leave stock on a metal tape. Moreover, its length should be maximum - about 15-20 millimeters. It is necessary to carefully fold the ends of the overlap and, holding them in this position with the help of pliers, carefully make an incision with a depth of 3-5 millimeters, and in 10-20 millimeters - another one parallel to the first. In this case, it is very important that the ends of the tape do not move, but retain their original position - that is why pliers must be used as a clamp.
Now you need to carefully pliers (and if at hand, it is better with round-nose pliers) to take the incised area and bend it, tightly pressing it to the main surface of the tape. After that, using pliers, firmly press it so that it does not protrude. It is practically impossible to separate such a lock - rather, the metal of the tape itself will simply tear.
But there is a serious drawback - you can use the form on one side only. Turning it over to get a gingerbread with a mirror image will no longer work. In addition, sharp edges remain here - it is advisable to process them with a small file so as not to get hurt.
The highest quality lock
Now we pass to the last type of locks. It is only a little more complicated than the ones described above, but at the same time it boasts a high grip quality and lack of flaws.
Here, as in the previous case, you need to leave a margin of about 10-15 millimeters. After that, it is necessary to cut a corner at one end - half the length of the stock and the width of the tape. At the other end, make a vertical slot — about 1-2 millimeters deeper than the width of the tape remaining after trimming. It is necessary to step back from the edge by 4-6 millimeters.
It remains only to insert the remaining “tail” into the slot made, bend it in the opposite direction and firmly clamp it with pliers. Such a castle has really many advantages. On the one hand, there are no bulges in the form of four layers of metal. On the other hand, the form can be used to prepare mirror images. In this case, there are no sharp protrusions and edges that can be cut or scratched during operation.
Avoiding small details
Now it’s worth giving one simple but useful advice that you should not forget about when making your own molds for gingerbread cookies. When choosing a template, try to avoid patterns with long and thin details that protrude much beyond the bulk. Otherwise, you will have to face a number of small but unpleasant surprises.
They will begin even in the process of creating a workpiece - transferring a piece of raw dough with thin and long elements will be very problematic - they will tear and fall off. During baking, such areas dry out most quickly, and then begin to burn - even baking cookies like this will not work.
Finally, when removing from paper, delicate parts often crumble. As a result, having spent a lot of time and effort on making a complex shape, you still can’t get the right cookie. Therefore, it is better to immediately abandon such an undertaking.
We use a beer can
Some resourceful people, deciding to make a mold for baking gingerbread with their own hands, use beer cans. The decision is really not bad. You only need scissors (even ordinary ones, not necessarily metal scissors, will do) to cut the jar into rings about 2-3 centimeters high. Now you can bend the resulting ring, giving it almost any shape. And there will be no need to rack their brains over the lock - a strip of metal is already looped around, which means there will be no problems.
True, such forms are usually obtained not too strong - you need to work with them carefully so as not to mash.
Can glue be used?
Sometimes experts recommend not to puzzle over the choice of the lock for the mold, but simply use glue. However, this is actually not the best idea. To begin with, not all types of glue are water resistant. But the form will have to be washed - if water gets in, the glue can simply get wet.
In addition, there are very few adhesives that are completely safe from an environmental point of view. It is unlikely that anyone would want to treat their children with cookies that came in contact with toxic substances. Therefore, the mechanical connection of the forms is still the safest and most reliable.
Conclusion
On this our article comes to an end. Now the reader knows everything necessary to make a beautiful, durable and completely unique form for gingerbread cookies with his own hands.