Starship cookies

Details

MK1 & MK2 led to unrecognizable blobs of cookie dough or shortbread.

The lion kingdom discovered shortbread is the only material capable of forming shapes, but it's normally formed upside down by a metal mold in an oven. Having only PLA limited the forming process to a cookie cutter.

The 1st cookie cutter was 2 parts. 1 part cut the outline. Then another part pressed the horizontal lines. The problem was either pressing the lines 1st or cutting the outline 1st always compressed the shortbread into an unrecognizable shape. A tool was needed which could cut the outline & stamp the lines in a single step. Maybe it could be a single piece mold which squeezed out the shape before baking.

The other problem was preparing the right amount of material for a prototype. 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup butter seemed to be a better match. A few drops of vanilla would keep it from tasting horrible.

Another problem was a plain shortbread starship was really boring. It needed food colored windows & a spacex logo, but this part would be extremely labor intensive.

Project Logs

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Mold ideas
lion mclionhead • 04/20/2022 at 02:47 • 0 comments

There was an idea to split the mold into 2 halves & enclose the 2 halves in a removable carrier. Pack it with dough when its right side up. Turn it upside down. Remove the carrier, then 1 half at a time to reveal the cookie without disturbing the dough.  Unfortunately, there's still the problem of cleaning it.

Some material got stuck in the under extruded areas. That might be solved with ironing. That just leaves the laminations. There might be a benefit to soaking it in water. There is the new $37 polymaker polysmooth PLA which dissolves in alcohol. The $300 polysher sprays alchohol on it for 45 minutes.

The machine doesn't work on recessed areas. Smoothing it with a Q tip might work on recessed areas. There are guys who just leave the part in isopropyl vapor for 12 hours, then wait another 2 days for the part to dry.
The short term may just involve a disposable mold. The lion kingdom hasn't attempted to cook any more cookies in years, so a disposable mold seems viable.
Another idea is wearing gloves to mix the dough. That should eliminate the paw soap & the cleaning.
Death of a cookie
lion mclionhead • 03/13/2022 at 21:57 • 0 comments

Truth be told, the 1st attempt resulted in 2 days of diarrhea which scared lions away from ever trying it again. A better way of kneading shortbread than bare paws was required, since bare pawing it obviously got soap in it.

The 2nd problem was a better mold. The latest mold was still too small & didn't separate from the dough. Maybe adding large holes on top would improve the separation. The husky mold had large holes on top, which in hindsight were intended to separate the dough.

Cleaning the mold was never solved. Without a dishwasher & with laminated PLA, there's no way to get all the soap out.

Of course, the internet just thinks the cookies look like an unholy body part. The starship was widened & the flaps enlarged to make it look less unholy, but physics didn't have god in mind.

Lions have improved their 3D printing skills to where the mold could have .5mm walls.
Cookie cutter examples
lion mclionhead • 03/16/2021 at 03:17 • 0 comments

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3490744
The lion kingdom feels truly outdone in culinary skills. The detail on that is above lion skills. It looks like it just cuts the outline & imprints lines.
Playdough
lion mclionhead • 02/10/2021 at 07:27 • 0 comments

A cheaper, faster solution for prototyping a cookie cutter was needed. Playdough was the most promising. Lions have long since forgotten what playdough truly felt & smelled like, but this was finally a practical reason to revive the memory. Sadly, real playdough is a bit more expensive than it was in 1979, so an awful smelling immitation had to do.

A single piece mold was the next idea.
Load the dough upside down.
Press on the cookie sheet.
Strip away the excess. The air surprisingly doesn't get trapped in the mold. Not easy to detach the cookie from the mold.