A Tip for Cleaning Your Tips

When I first started my cookie adventure, I bought one of those teeny, tiny Wilton brush cleaners. I have no idea what happened to it! I never actually used it. I bought it, brought it home, but it in the drawer by the sink and somehow lost it! Seriously. But I refused to buy another one, because I knew I already had one!
Stubborn yes. I mean it only cost a few dollars if that.  I should have bought another one many times.

Eventually I got tired of holding each tip under the running water and hoping it would all wash out and be clean as a whistle. Somewhere along the line I got smart and I have no idea when it happened, I just remember at some point I started doing things a different way and cookie clean-up became much easier!

It was probably the boys idea. He is full of good ideas! Seriously, I don;t give him enough credit for all the good cookie ideas he has! I mean I take him with me whenever I go cookie cutter hunting because he sees things differently than I do. For instance he sees a cute little girl with a short haircut and bangs when he looks at the football helmet cookie cutter! BRILLIANT!! Go ahead, take a look. I would have never thought of that without him :)
So I am just go ahead and give him credit for this one too :)

This little trick is called my "Tip Jar". I wish it was full of money at the end of a long day of cookie-ing, but it's not.  Just dirty, crusty tips.

I leave it next to the sink and as I work I just toss the used tips into the jar. It's convenient for several reasons. Mainly for the reason I am talking about, cleaning is super simplified and way quicker. But it also keeps any of my tips from ending up down the garbage disposal. UGH! If you've ever lost a PME that way, you understand the pain and heartbreak...

You can pretty much use any plastic jar you have around. 

Here is my collection. I usually just have the little peanut butter jar out on the sink. But I also have a large PB jar and a HUGE whey protein jar. The boy and I work out almost everyday, so we go through quite a few of these in our household. But you don;t have to rush out the store and buy it. The PB jars work great for tips.

I keep the big one because I almost exclusively use decorating bottles. I don't use the bags very often. The big jar is great because I just throw everything into it. Tips, couplers, bottles, EVERYTHING!

 I don't know if you can see the bottles in there, but you fit quite a few. 

Once you're done with your cookie decorating, just throw your tips into the jar, add a little dab of soap and fill the jar about 1/3 full of warm water. 

Make sure the lid is on nice and tight.

Next come the fun part :) Just shake the heck out of it!! Seriously! Shake your tail feathers baby!! Or whatever you do... 

Once the water turns all sorts of crazy colors, you know it's working. It only takes about 3- seconds for this.

Your jar will be full of soapy, sudsy water after a few shakes. Just shake, shake, shake it!

Now you can take the top off and run some clean water in. Pull out a few of the tips and make sure their clean, if not give it a few more shakes. If they're clean just rinse them off with clean water and dry them.

Sometimes I stick them on the little prongs in the dishwasher and let them sit over night to dry, If I need them again right away I dry them off with a paper towel. Or if the oven is warm, I stick them on a cookie try and toss them in for a few minutes until they heat up and dry. No rust, no fuss.

This is the best and quickest way to clean tips that I've learned so far. And it keeps them from getting tarnished or eaten by the dreaded garbage disposal. Which just to clarify, I've never actually done. I have however left them in the sink and someone else ran the disposal and I cried. Or maybe I cursed. It's hard to remember now :)

No more icky, sticky, tarnished, rusted tips!

I am sure there are lots of other ways to do this, what works for you?!?

SAP
Flour De Lis