No One Can Work Out What These Cookie Cutter Shapes Are Meant To Be

As the festive aroma of cookies begins to fill kitchens as families tuck into their Thanksgiving turkeys, a peculiar phenomenon is taking the baking community by storm.

Gone are the days of the classic star and heart shapes, as elaborate cookie cutter designs have left thousands scratching their heads, and turning to the internet for answers.

A popular subreddit, aptly named r/whatismycookiecutter, sprang up last December—as people were no doubt gearing up for their festive feast—which has once more soared in popularity.

In the run-up to November 23, keen bakers have been posting their mysterious shapes in the hope of identifying the outline, with the section already boasting 180,000 members.

We’ve rounded up a weird and wonderful selection, but can you decipher the baking designs?

1. Dancing ghost?

“I’m not sure I can really know what it used to be,” said the Redditor who shared the first head-scratching kitchen mystery.

A bizarre shape, the poster who found the cookie cutter in a Las Vegas thrift store turned to the subreddit asking: “What do y’all think it is?”

Guesses in the comments ranged from: “It’s clearly sexy Patrick Star,” to a parrot and even a ghost dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

There is still no definitive answer on this one, but the poster thinks they might have cracked it: “I’m finally persuaded that it used to be in the shape of a club from a set of play card suit cookies,” they told Newsweek. “Either way, it’s fun to see how creatively everyone is interpreting whatever this strange shape is.”

2. Chubby bird?

With more than 15,000 upvotes on the subreddit, the next cookie mystery has gained some serious attention.

“My mum sent me this,” wrote the poster. “Do you know what shape it is please?”

In thousands of comments people tried to guess what the strange shape was. The most popular answer? A chubby bird.

While other suggestions included: “A sideways snail, possibly?” and “Turning it 90 degrees, I see a king cobra.”

“I have absolutely no idea what it might be,” Eva, who shared the picture, told Newsweek. “I believe it was used for Pernicky—central European gingerbread—and there is a possibility it might be something from Czech or German TV. It does look like a chunky bird, though.”

3. Christmas telescope?

While going through their holiday cookie cutter collection, this Reddit user was left stumped by the strange shape.

“It’s a Christmas cracker,” said one commenter. “The bit in the middle is the BANG when you pop it.”

While another suggested: “Christmas telescope,” and another suggested a bald eagle giving a thumbs up.

In the end though, an answer did prevail—thanks to lots of suggestions, the Redditor told Newsweek they’d figured out it was “A Santa list with a ribbon,” realizing that the cookie cutter was designed to look like a rolled-up piece of paper with a ribbon around the middle.

4. Snowman with a top hat?

While browsing a shop one Redditor stumbled on a cookie cutter that they just couldn’t figure out.

Mixing sharp edges with round, the long and thin shape doesn’t seem to resemble anything easy to figure out.

“Snowman with a top hat,” suggested one commenter. While another Reddit user said it looked like a “bazooka.”

On the slightly more rational side, people thought it might be from a map, with some suggesting it was the shape of Finland.

5. A whale with a goatee?

For the next cookie mystery, the poster knew exactly what the shape was representing—but interested to see what others would think, they shared it on Reddit all the same.

As ideas flooded in, suggestions opted from a laid-back polar bear to “a whale with a goatee.”

“Flying buffalo,” said another commenter, while one thought it might be Star Wars character Jabba the Hutt.

It turns out though, the real answer was a little more rational: “It’s the state of New Hampshire,” the poster told Newsweek. “My partner and I are both originally from New Hampshire, but now live in a different state. Every year my in-laws gift us a New Hampshire-themed gift.”