Short On Time But Want Spook-tacular Looking Treats? Wilton’s Halloween Mini Stencils To The Rescue!
Written: Aug 08 '03
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Pros: Easy to use plastic stencils, five spooky and creepy designs, 100% kid safe.
Cons: Easy to lose, you need more than one set for family projects.
The Bottom Line: Don’t consider yourself a "first class" cake or cookie decorator? These make topping off treats a complete breeze.
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| Freak369's Full Review: Wilton Halloween Mini Stencils 417-1203 |
As much as we all love Halloween in this house, there are some instances when we are pressed for time. I always try to have cookies on hand during the holidays in case I need to pack them up and take them somewhere for a last minute gathering. But honestly, who wants to show up with plain cookies or cupcakes? One of the things I started doing a few seasons ago was to make basic cookies like shortbread or oatmeal and frost them with a royal icing when they cool. From there you have a lot of decorating options open to you but the simplest involves using the Wilton Halloween Mini Stencils and food safe markers. You can easily decorate a few dozen cookies in under a half hour and have them packed up and ready to go in no time.
Wilton Halloween Mini Stencils 417-1203
These easy to use plastic stencils make decorating cakes, cookies, cupcakes or any baked treat a complete breeze. Even if you consider yourself “decorating challenged”, there is literally no way to goof up when using these. Well, I take that back, you can mess up a cake or desert – but it takes a lot of “goof power” to accomplish that task. The discs are about four inches wide and have a punched out design in the middle. They resemble the discs that come with cookie presses, only larger and thicker. These are 100% safe for kids of all ages to use in the kitchen and allow them to create their own unique designs. Because of the simple designs, they don’t require a lot of attention when adding sprinkles or colored sugars so kids don’t have to worry about staying between the lines or being 100% perfect with their decorating adventure.
There are five designs to choose from in this set; bat, spider, pumpkin, cat and a ghost. All of the designs are simple and basic and don’t require a lot of work when using them. Simply take the design you want to use, place gently on to of the cake or cookie, sprinkle with colored sugar or sprinkles and remove. The only real necessity is that you tap the disc when you are done to remove any sprinkles or decorations so they don’t get transferred to the next item. You can use anything from colored sugars to decorative sprinkles to top off the treats. If you are using a hard icing on cookies, you can also use these stencils with food safe markers – just like drawing on paper only you want to use a little less pressure and make sure you wipe off the bottom and inside of the stencil before using it again to avoid color transfer. Other things that I use with these stencils; shaved or chopped chocolate bits, specialty Halloween sprinkles [like the bat and ghost mix], powered hot chocolate mix and around the edges – chopped nuts or dyed, shaved coconut. You can also use Kool-Aid mix [sweetened] for a finer design or when you need a variety of colors you don’t have on hand or can’t find.
I like using these on sheet cakes to create a cute border around the edges, if this sounds like something that you would be interested in doing, invest in a pair of long tweezers or a pair of small tongs to remove the stencil from the cake. This way you won’t have to pick at it and possibly ruin the design. You get the best results from using frosting that has been allowed to set up for about five minutes. It will still be moist enough to hold the sprinkles or sugar in place but won’t be too ‘wet’ that the design slides around or the stencil sinks into the frosting.
Care & Cleaning
These do clean up easily but given their size, I highly suggest hand washing them and allowing them to aid dry. If you have a storage compartment in your dishwasher, you can toss them in there and clean them that way but you will want to check them to make sure that they are completely clean before you store them. Frosting and sprinkles can accumulate along the inside of the stencil and distort the image so wiping them off from time to time is a great idea. These are thick and sturdy but they are no match for the garbage disposal, I lost one of them that way and it wasn’t a pretty site when I retrieved it.
Things To Know
These are also great for kid’s crafts. If you have several sets or ones that need to be retired from active kitchen duty, kids can use these as stencils for their own Halloween decorations. My sons loved using these when they were younger and created their won greeting cards and decorations. If you are an artist, these can also be used when airbrushing providing that you use them solely for this purpose. You can find these at most craft stores that sell cake decorating supplies or order them directly from the Wilton Online Store. If you like these, there are also stencils for Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, Hanukah and other holidays.
The Bottom Line
These have a suggested retail price of $2.49 and I consider them a true Halloween essential, especially if you are running short on time or want to have something on hand that the kids can use. These are extremely strong and clean up easily, the five designs that you get with this assortment are fun and festive but not complex and don’t require a steady hand or exact placement for great results. If you are thinking about picking these up, check out the food safe markers that can be used with them. Most sets have the basic colors [red, green, blue, black and brown] and cost about $2.50. Some of the big names include “Food Doodler”, “Gourmet Writer” and “Right On-Write On Food”.
As always, thanks for the visit …
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
Other Halloween baking and decorating reviews..
~^V^~ Wilton Spooky Cookie Cutter Set ~^V^~ Wilton Dancing Skeleton Baking Cups ~^V^~ Wilton Halloween Mix ~^V^~ Wilton Black Colored Sugars ~^V^~ Wilton Mini Pumpkin Pan ~^V^~ Wilton Singles - Ghost Mini Pan ~^V^~ Wilton Copper Halloween Cutters – Set of 6 ~^V^~ Wilton Mini Ghost & Pumpkin Candy Mold ~^V^~ Wilton Tombstone Candy Mold ~^V^~ Wilton Mini Ghost & Pumpkin Candy Mold ~^V^~ Wilton Jack O Lantern Canister Cookie Cutter Set ~^V^~ Wilton Singles Bat Mini Pan
Thanks to Mind-full for adding yet another Wilton Halloween product to the database for me!
Recommended:
Yes
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