NEW, 8-Slice Pie Cutter Press, 18/8 Gauge Stainless Steel, Commmercial Grade, Side-Handles

Product Information

While the mold is about 10 inches long and we were only making a 9-inch pie, we noticed that the strips just barely made it from one side of the pie to the other, and we wished the strips were just slightly longer. It required three strips lined up end-to-end to decorate the circumference of a pie's edge. Being careful not to pull too hard or distort the general shape of the strands, we found that you can stretch your pie dough another inch or so if you need to, beginning from the center of the strip and working your way to the ends. All of the strips maintained their decorative shape while baking. It took the strips on top of the pie longer to bake all the way through than the strips on the edge of the pie, which is to be expected.

Pie makers are very easy to use, designed specifically to be super simple and convenient. Many pie makers come with a reversible cutter, so you can measure your pastry perfectly. Why not add a fun design to the top of your pie to make your dinner guests smile before you slice into your masterpiece? Or perhaps a cute animal shape or a fun picture? And why not try some letters and add one of your guests’ names or even a “Happy Birthday” message to the top of your pie to really make it stand out! Planning a themed party? An egg wash—a simple mix of milk (or water) and egg—creates that golden sheen we see on bakery pies, and it even gives the crust a little extra-crisp texture. Without the egg wash, the pie crust will brown but will look extremely dull. For a little sparkle, I always sprinkle pies with coarse sugar prior to baking. Gives the top a lovely sweet crunch and looks pretty, too. All this recipe testing, photographing, and filming video tutorials means that I have made a LOT of pies! From stainless steel to food-safe plastic, browse through the range of cutters to see all your options. Stainless steel cookie cutters are usually sharper and can create a more defined finish, but plastic and rubber options are often great if you’re planning to bake with the kids. Baking a pie? No problemGet a creative flair with your pie crusts by using this nifty tool. From beautifully crimped edges to fancy themed shapes, among other designs and uses, pastry chefs and home bakers enjoy adding a special finishing touch to their delicious pies and pastries. As you can see, this is a great tool to have in the kitchen whether you’re a beginner home cook or a pro. It can replace some of the work done by food processors or electric mixers, which is helpful if the power ever goes out or if more than one person is cooking at the same time. I love making pie. You know this. But I didn’t just wake up one day and know how to make one. My first attempts at homemade pie weren’t exactly cookbook cover-worthy. You want to know the hardest part of making a homemade pie? The hardest part is finding the courage to start. And once you do, you’ll wonder why you didn’t begin sooner.Nothing is more satisfying than making a pie completely from scratch. Until, of course, you eat a slice. The blades or wires of most pastry blenders are made of stainless steel, which prevents rusting, and we recommend steering clear of other materials. The handles are made of wood(s), plastic(s), and rubber—it comes down to your preference. Plastic and rubber will most likely be dishwasher safe if ease of cleaning is important to you. Wooden handles tend to make the pastry blender look more authentic with an heirloom-like feel (making them a nice gift) and have the potential of lasting much longer. From fruit pies like apple pie, cherry pie, peach pie, and blueberry pie; to rich and smooth cream pies like French silk pie, pumpkin pie, banana cream pie, and cheesecake pie…

Less powerful pie makers will take longer to preheat, and your pies may take a little longer to cook. Pie Maker FAQ How to use a pie maker? This pie-decorating method is different from the others because you’re going to add the decorative pie crust topping to a fully baked and cooled pie, such as brownie pie or chocolate chess pie, rather than an unbaked pie. The pictured pie is my favorite pumpkin pie. Here’s what you need to make this pie crust design: Each of the pie crust cutters we selected was sent to our baking expert's home kitchen for extensive testing in a realistic setting at the height of pie-making season in November 2021. We made and baked more than 30 pies with these pie crust cutters, testing how easy or difficult it was to use each cutter and how well they stood up to peak-pie season use. Slicing, punching, and rolling chilled pie dough with each cutter side-by-side gave us a clearer understanding of the different ways each of these tools can be used. Our expert has continued to use many of these cutters since initial testing to give us a more in-depth view of their quality over time. We used these cutters to make an organic-looking top pie crust of layered leaves on top of a 6-inch small pie, as well as decorative elements on top of several larger pie crusts, and we were incredibly impressed with how well they work. The cutters cleanly punch even delicate branches holding the leaves together without tearing. We've used these cutters often since our initial tests, using them on both store-bought and homemade pie dough, and across several different types of pies for decoration. We continue to be impressed with the decorations they make, and how surprisingly well they've held up over time.Karen Resta, the original author of this roundup, is a writer specializing in food culture and history, cooking, pastries, and restaurants. She's also a former pastry chef and has traveled to Budapest, Kyiv, and Paris during their fashion weeks as a photographer and writer, always finding the best authentic pastries along the way. She now spends a lot of her free time baking at home and recommends quality within your given budget. Having the right tools available and knowing how to use them well (it can take practice, like anything else) makes all the difference, and she curated this list with that in mind. If you’re looking for a pie crust cutter that will make your pies stand out, but still cover the majority of your pie, this might be the one. The sunflower design is a unique and beautiful upgrade to a simple vented pie crust. Old-fashioned looking itself, it’s made of silver tin-plate steel, and it wouldn’t look out of place displayed on a kitchen wall. The instructions suggest using this like a large cookie cutter—by pressing it into the rolled-out dough from above. But we found this method didn't cleanly cut through all of the dough without an extreme amount of pressure. Instead, we laid our dough over the cutter and gently rolled it with a flat rolling pin, cleanly pressing the lattice shape into the dough from below and making perfectly clean cuts. Not only was the lattice pattern crisp and elegant, but the resulting pie baked up with a delicate lattice crust that was as beautiful as it was crispy. Not sure what to look for when it comes to the best pie maker? Take a look at this buyer’s guide. Dimensions The Spring Chef Dough Blender earned the top spot on this list thanks to its solid performance, ease of use, and comfortable handle. To perfectly blend together pasta doughs, we recommend the Gorilla Grip Pastry Dough Blender and Butter Cutter.

Finally, the look of your pie making machine may also be a consideration. Some have a traditional vintage design, while others are more contemporary. Wattage Always take your time when working with pie dough. It’s not a race! Treat the dough with a little TLC. You are not angry at the pie dough (but maybe you are LOL). Don’t roll it out too forcefully or rush through a decorative topping. Set aside enough time to really concentrate on it. Put on some music or invite some friends or family to join you, and enjoy the process. I promise it’s worth it! Planning an under-the-sea theme? You’ll find fish shapes and even seahorses. Got a more general animal theme? You’ll see cutters in the shape of bees, owls, elephants and everything in between. We’ve even got a crown cookie cutter if you’re opting for a royal theme and want your cookie to match up! Egg is a binding agent. It binds ingredients together and gives them stability. Using egg not only binds the dough ingredients together, it also makes the meat pie to be crispy. Water and Milk Our cookie and pastry cutters are perfect for creating fun culinary delights and can even be used for cutting icing. With a variety of patterns to choose from, from floral and fruits to dinosaurs, insects and unicorns, there’s something for everyone!For a classic tool that will get plenty of use year-round, we suggest the Nordic Ware Lattice & Hearts Pie Top Cutter, a reversible pie-top cutter that performed exceptionally well in testing. If you're looking for a pastry wheel, opt for the Norpro Stainless Steel Ravioli/Pastry Wheel, which is actually two pastry wheels in one. How We Tested If you have any experience molding fondant decorations into silicone molds, you've already got a good idea of how easy it is to produce impressive 3-dimensional shapes this way. Williams Sonoma has created a silicone mold specifically for molding pie crust strips, outfitted with five designs that would otherwise be difficult and time-consuming to create by hand. We liked that the cutter was especially easy to use, on par with a cookie cutter. The crust cutter is constructed in the shape of a flower, but the fluted outer edge is just a decorative way to hold the petal shapes of the cutter together and doesn't actually cut through the dough. The cutouts can be used to decorate the top of the crust in addition to the decorative vents the cutter makes. This sunflower cutter is easy enough to use for little hands, making your next pie-making session a little more fun for everyone.

Once cut, the lattice will expand to cover the width of the pie, but the length will stay the same. Plan accordingly, by making sure your dough is as long as you need it to be to cover the surface of your pie, although it only needs to be about half as wide. We found the lattice easy to stretch over the pie with attractive results, but don't worry if it takes one or two attempts to master.

Pie Maker FAQ

Note Before You Begin: These designs, with the exception of the baked cookie cutter shapes design (step 3 below), all go on top of an unbaked pie. So start with your pie already filled and ready for a pie dough topping. After topping with your designed top crust, bake according to the pie recipe you’re using, such as this apple pie, apple cranberry pie, caramel pear pie, or other pie recipe. We used this fluted pastry wheel to cut strips of dough for a lattice-top pie, and were impressed with the durability of the cutter overall and the stability of the wheel itself. There wasn't any excessive wobbling of the wheel while cutting, and it rolled cleanly through chilled pie dough without needing to push too hard into the dough. It's also easy to control to keep it cutting straight, which is ideal for people who prefer to free-cut their dough instead of using a straight edge as a guide.