The Cookie Project NZ

Kawakawa (Pepper Tree) 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.

 

Kawakawa (Pepper Tree)

The Kawakawa for Māori is a source of rongoa, used for medicinal purposes in matters ranging from stomach ailments, bladder problems and even toothache. Wāhine Māori in certain areas will also wear a wreath of Kawakawa on their head during a tangi/funeral ceremony as a sign of mourning.

Also known as the pepper tree, the Kawakawa is a small, densely-branched shrub/tree with gorgeous heart-shaped leaves. The Kawakawa cookie cutter represents the beautifully shaped leaf in a striking deep green.

 

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.