Fathers' Day Decorated Cookies - House Husband Cookie Cutter

Because dads are heroes.... and deserve some special cookies this Fathers' Day! These cookies would also be a great gift for a female friend or to make and decorate on a hen night, because which woman doesn't want a hunky fireman, lifeguard, chef...

I was sent this cookie cutter to review. It's called Bake Your Own House Husband - they are made by a company called Niion and there is also a Bake Your Own Boyfriend cookie cutter in the range. They cost £3.60 which is a fair price I think for a large cookie cutter.

There is a recipe on the back of the packet which I decided to follow, to make a basic sugar cookie dough.

To make about 8-10 cookies depending on their thickness, you need:

150g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
300g plain flour
1 egg
Pinch of salt
Dash of Vanilla Extract

Simply cream the butter and sugar, add the flour then the egg and finally the salt and vanilla. Mix until you have a dough; wrap this dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for an hour before using.

Preheat oven to 180C. Roll out the cookie dough on a lightly floured surface and grease and line a baking tray - I used two trays at a time.

The cookie cutter was easy to use; not as sturdy as a metal cutter but I was very happy with it.

The men's legs are a little thin so you have to be careful when you transfer them to the baking sheet - I used a spatula.

Bake for around 15 minutes but keep an eye on them - the cooking time will depend on the thickness of your dough once it is rolled out.

I was also sent a few products by Dr. Oetker to review; I have mentioned before how good their Cake Release spray is. This time they sent me a pack of Regal-Ice ready to roll icing which contains green, red, yellow, blue and black. I find decorating cookies with royal icing quite messy so regal ice is much easier and cleaner, and these colours were perfect for what I had in mind.

Use the cookie cutter to cut out your icing so you have the exact shape. The Dr. Oetker icing offers really vivid, true colours - reds and blacks are very difficult to achieve if you are colouring your own fondant, so this pack is perfect. I also find that ready to roll icing doesn't keep that long so having smaller packs is a really good idea.

I decided to decorate my first man as a footballer, and cut out the shape of his body in red and blue fondant then used a knife to cut off the parts I didn't need, e.g. at the end of the sleeves. I rolled out a thin sausage shape from the blue icing and curled it to form the number six, in honour of Bobby Moore (even though it's the wrong colour).

Next, thinking about dads and Fathers' Day I decided to decorate one as 'office worker dad'. So he has a shirt and tie, black trousers and boots.

Many men like to cook and if you are making this for your girl friends I'm sure they would all like a man who knows his way around the kitchen. So here is 'chef', wearing a black top and trousers with a white apron over the top and a white chef's hat.

What girl doesn't love a hunky fireman... the yellow in the Dr. Oetker pack is perfect for the all-in-one suit the fireman wears, with a red trim. Definitely a hero!

This one is more for a hen night than Fathers' Day... unless your dad is a life guard of course! Here's David Hasselhoff in biscuit form (maybe....)

And finally if you are going to have a superhero, either to tell your dad he is a hero or to sweep a female friend off her feet, it has to be Superman. This one was a little trickier. I made a top with long sleeves in blue and also trousers in blue. Then I added red underpants and a yellow belt and also gave him a red cloak. To make the logo on the front of his costume, I had to check the shape online, and cut out a piece of yellow, which I then edged with red (much easier than doing the other way around). I rolled a thin snake in red and curved it to make the S shape.

Here's all six, ranging from ideal husbands to superheros - how else would you decorate these cookies?

If you're looking for other ideas for what to bake for Fathers' Day, Dr. Oetker has lots of great recipes online, including a Chocolate Layer Cake, Chocolate and Guinness Cake and Homemade Chocolate Bars.

Thanks to Niion for sending me the cookie cutter and Dr. Oetker for sending a pack of goodies including the Regal-Ice.