Mother's Day and Father's Day cutters and stamps

Flowers are the Mother's Day motif and the most common failure. The culprit is the notch between petals: the deeper and sharper it is, the harder the dough grips inside it and tears as you lift. Five broad, round petals with shallow notches read exactly as a flower and release cleanly. A tulip with three petals and a thick stem is the sturdiest flower shape there is.

For Father's Day the usual motifs are a mug, a tie, tools and a moustache. The mug carries the same trap as a wedding ring: in real life the handle is a loop with a hole through it, and a cutter does not cut holes. Describe the handle as a solid area attached to the body and the silhouette stays both readable and strong. A moustache traditionally tapers to fine points — which is exactly where it breaks. Thick, rounded ends solve it without losing the shape.

Greetings belong on a cookie stamp in both cases. Wording cut as a silhouette is a chain of thin joins and breaks on the first press; the same words embossed into a round or rectangular biscuit are legible immediately. If you want both, cut the shape first and press the text in while the dough is still soft.