How to Make a Pastry Bag From Improvised Means

Not all of us can boast of having a pastry bag with all the fancy attachments in our kitchens. Still, this is something we sometimes need, like when we want to decorate a cake with cream, make a topping for muffins, or give cookies an unusual shape.

5-Minute Crafts offers several tricks on how to make a simple pastry bag with nozzles from improvised means.

1. Zip-lock plastic bag

Take an ordinary zip-lock plastic bag. Also, prepare a glass that you will put this bag filled with cream into — it will protect your kitchen from stains and prevent the cream from spreading across the bag.

Place the plastic bag over the glass as shown in the photo above. Secure the edges of the bag to the sides of the glass.

Put the cream inside, pushing it to the bottom. Next, take the bag with cream and push the residuals of the cream with a spatula or any other thin object to one of the bottom corners of the bag.

Tighten the bag in the middle so that all the cream gets collected in one of the lower corners. Then cut off the tip with the help of scissors. Next, pressing on the bag, squeeze the cream through the tip.

You may not want to cut off the tip of the bag. Instead, pierce it with a toothpick as it is shown in the picture above so that when squeezing, the cream turns into voluminous stripes, resembling vermicelli.

Using this method, you can make a fluffy rabbit face on a muffin, for example.

If the bag is dense enough, then its end can be cut off in a zigzag pattern — this way, you can beautifully decorate cakes, pastries, and muffins with cream, even without a nozzle.

2. Baking parchment

Take a sheet of parchment paper and fold it diagonally to form an even triangle. Cut it out. If the parchment is too thin, it’s best to cut one large triangle and fold it diagonally to create a 2-layer blank piece.

Fold the triangle in the middle so that you get a fold line the way it is shown in the picture above.

Now fold the left end of the triangle to the right so that its edge overlaps the fold line and connects to the top of the triangle. Then repeat the same action with the right end. As a result, you will get a parchment cone.

Fold its edges inward, the way it’s shown in the picture above. This will help secure the cone. Now it can be used as a pastry bag.

Optionally, you can also make nozzles with holes of different shapes, using an empty soda can.

Wash the can thoroughly. Cut out the middle part. Remove the plastic wrap.

Cut a triangular piece from the thin metal sheet that you get and carefully roll it into a cone. Fold the edges to secure the shape of the cone.

Using adhesive tape, wrap the tip around to secure the shape. Cut off the top edges of the cone. Using scissors and pliers, give the tip of the nozzle the shape that you need.

Cut off the tip of the bag made of baking parchment. Place the metal nozzle made from the can over it and secure it with adhesive tape.

Now place cream inside the cone made of parchment, push it through to the nozzle, tightly close the bag from the other side, and use as directed.

3. Plastic bottle and bag

Get a plastic bottle. With the help of a stationery knife, make a star-shaped hole on its lid. Cut off the top part of the bottle. Place the plastic bag in the bottleneck the way it’s shown in the picture above. Cut off the protruding corner of the bag to pull the bag over the neck of the bottle.

Now close it with the lid that has the star-shaped hole in it. Fill the bag with cream and use it instead of a pastry bag with nozzles.

Try using lids with holes of different shapes to give the cream or dough the texture you want.