Back in the day, 100 years or more, mom’s didn’t head to Target to shop for cookie cutters or tart tins for making sweet treats with their little ones for Valentine’s Day. Instead, they went to their local tinsmith who made all types of utilitarian tin pieces for the kitchen or home - like punched lanterns, sugar scoops and the like.
If the tinsmith wasn’t nearby, the local mercantile store provided the wares - which they had purchased from the tinsmith. They were always handmade of tin - no plastic back then.
Over the years these special pieces have survived, not just because they were of the highest quality, but because they hold so many memories and were often passed down from generation to generation. I have fond memories of making cookies with my grandmother and I’m sure you do too.
It seems that I've always been drawn to cookie cutters. Maybe it's because I can imagine all the little flour coated hands marking the dough and the stories that could be told over the old dough board. Over the years I have accumualted a group of handmade hearts of various sizes and forms but one really stands out. The double heart is a rarity in cookie cutters. It was crafted in the 1800s in Pennsylvania - likely by the Mennonites, Dutch, Shakers, or Amish because the craftsmanship is exquisite with simple, yet stylized lines, and a hint of sophistication.
Perhaps this one was made for someone special (a sweetheart, child, a gift?) - or the tinsmith was branding his goods even way back then - because it is has the name K. Claggett inscribed into it. Something we don’t usually find on small tin pieces.
In the spirit of the upcoming season of love, we decided to style these old tin pieces to give you a little inspiration and to take you back for a moment - back to the day when you baked cookies with grandma - and to encourage you to do the same with your little ones this Valentine’s Day.
Hope your Valentine's Day baking brings back fond memories, and writes a new story too!
- xo Kim
