The Cookie Project NZ

Kōwhai (Yellow) Cookie

Sale price Price $4.00 Regular price Unit price  per 

Introducing Our 30-40 grms Kuki Reka Kani Cookies!

Order now to enjoy these special treats and bring uniquely shaped cookies into your home. Honour the Māori culture. with these New Zealand made, Kaumātua inspired creations.

For every Kuki Reka Kani Cookie purchase, 20% of the profit will be contributed to Rauawaawa Kaumātua Charitable Trust.

 

Note: We only sell the delicious cookies made from these unique cutters. Want the cutters themselves? Grab your own set here: Kuki Reka Kani Cookie Cutters.

 

Kōwhai (Yellow)

Kōwhai is a Māori word meaning yellow, and the Kōwhai tree, a native of New Zealand is well known for their bright and beautiful yellow flowers that are also regarded as New Zealand’s unofficial national flower. There are several species, some having healing properties such as solutions made from boiling the bark or leaves for applying to cuts, wounds and infections. In Māori folklore the Kōwhai is a Puawānanga tree. Puawānanga was said to be the child of the stars Puanga (Rigel in Orion) and Rehua (Antares in Scorpio). In some traditions, the appearance of Puanga signalled winter and Rehua summer – Puawānanga trees flower in the months between them.

The Kōwhai cookie cutter design showcases the bright yellow of the Kōwhai flowers whilst also capturing the flowers, pods and leaf stem in its shape.

 

Kuki Reka Kani: Kaumātua Inspired Cookie Cutter

The Kuki Reka Kani are unique cookie cutters, inspired, developed and named by our lovely Kaumātua at Rauawaawa Kaumātua Charitable Trust. The cutters were initiated to help Kaumātua  with dementia, to engage in cooking therapy that promoted Te Ao Māori, cultural heritage, and  whakapapa in a social and fun way. Cooking therapy stimulates smell, taste and touch senses in dementia patients which can bring back memories from decades ago.

Several hui were held with groups of Kaumātua to help identify the most appropriate Māori designs for use in kai. The chefs at Rauawaawa helped shape the development of the designs to ensure the cutters worked easily with people from Kaumātua engaged in cooking therapy, tamariki in schools, rangatahi in home economics classes, home cooks and their whānau and professional chefs.

The cutters are designed to cut through the dough and leave a pattern imprinted on the dough in one easy push. This makes them gentle on both elderly hands as well as providing a large grip for children to hold. The patterns reflect the look of a chiseled whakairo rākau (wood carving), an important aspect in Māori culture.