Simple Pumpkin Carving Using Cookie Cutters

Pumpkin Season has definitely arrived. Rejoice friends! Let's carve a pumpkin or two to celebrate. This year, instead of hacking away at the pumpkin with a knife, I decided to try something a little more simple - cookie cutters. What? For real. I used a cute 1 inch tall star-shaped metal cookie cutter to make nice, uniform shapes around my pumpkin. So fun and pretty easy. Plus, it's a great way to get your kids involved in the pumpkin carving process, as opposed to the alternative - carving away as your child watches you (because you don't trust them with a knife).

Interested in trying it out? Here's how I did it:

Supplies needed:
- Pumpkin (with top removed and the insides cleaned out)
- Metal cookie cutter
- block of wood
- hammer
- knife (I recommend a pairing knife)

Place cookie cutter on top of the pumpkin, and the block of wood over the cookie cutter. Using the hammer, pound on the wood block until the cookie cutter has been pressed about half way down into the wall of the pumpkin. (Since pumpkins are round, it won't be able to be pressed in flush.) Be sure to leave about 1/8 of an inch of the cookie cutter sticking out.

Pull the cookie cutter out. You'll probably have to wiggle it out.

Finish cutting through the wall of the pumpkin using a knife by following the outline made from the cookie cutter. Once the cookie cutter shape has been cut all the way through, push the shape out, pushing from the inside to the outside. Repeat this process as much as you like around the rest of the pumpkin.

 

By the way, if you cut too many shapes into the pumpkin, it will end up weakening your pumpkin, which may result in the pumpkin breaking apart. I would recommend leaving a minimum of 2 inches between each cutout. Keep an eye on the pumpkin as each shape is cut and watch for cracks on the opposite side.

By the way, as I was working on my star shaped pumpkin, my husband and Mac were working on a Mac's pumpkin. After searching through numerous photos of pumpkin carvings online, Mac was absolutely certain that he wanted a Mickey Mouse pumpkin. My husband was less than thrilled. Lots of cutting. (super amusing to watch though.) But just in case you interested in trying Mickey Mouse, you can find the template here.

Have you guys decorated your pumpkins yet? How did you decorate them?

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