Monkey Cookie Cutter and Stamp

Animal biscuits get a lot easier when the face comes with the shape. Here the monkey outline is paired with a matching detail stamp, so the ears, muzzle and eyes are impressed into the rolled dough rather than left entirely to piped icing afterwards. Monkeys are a fixture of children's birthday tables, safari and zoo parties, jungle-themed baby showers and school bake sales, and a cutter that carries the features does most of the decorating for you — a wash of colour over the impression and the character is already there. Sugar cookies, gingerbread, shortbread and salt dough ornaments all take the shape happily. Three files make up the set. It is a small, cheerful addition to a drawer full of plain rounds and stars, and the kind of thing that gets asked for by name once other parents have seen the results.