Christmas Deer Cc

Reindeer in profile, head up and antlers spread, is the silhouette that says Christmas long before anything is iced. This is a single-shape cutter drawn as a clean outline for pressing through rolled dough, and it lives in the same drawer as the trees, stars and stockings that come out every December. Deer are a workhorse of a festive baking session. The shape reads clearly whether you print it small for a tray of gingerbread or larger for iced sugar biscuits handed round at a school fair. The antlers do most of the work: they are what people recognise first, and what stops a plain biscuit looking accidental. Bakers also press cutters like this into fondant for cake plaques and marzipan decorations, and it doubles as a shape-maker for salt dough ornaments made with children in the run-up to Christmas.