Easy Buttercream Teddy Bear Cookies To Gift Your Valentine

Valentines Day is the perfect excuse to surprise your loved one with a homemade treat that’s sweet and from the heart. Instead of chocolates or store-bought gifts why not bake something special this year? These Easy Buttercream Teddy Bear Cookies are a lovely way to show your love and are just as fun to make as they are to eat.

Baking these cookies together can be a great way to spend quality time with your kids, partner or even make them solo as a thoughtful gesture. The buttercream frosting gives each bite a melt in your mouth creaminess that adds to the fun of the treat.

These are easy to make and a great way to spread the love this Valentines Day whether you’re giving them to a friend, family member or someone special.

A Step-By-Step Guide To Make Buttercream Teddy Bear Cookies

These are so cute and sweet for Valentine’s Day! Soft, buttery and smooth buttercream frosting, perfect for gifting or sharing with loved ones. The teddy bear design is just too cute, for any occasion.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (225g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup (200g) sugar
• 2 cups (240g) flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg

For the buttercream

• ½ cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups (180g) powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Food coloring (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract, mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Add to the butter mixture and mix until just combined.
4. Roll into small balls and shape into teddy bear faces on the baking sheet.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges. Let cool completely.
6. For the buttercream, beat the softened butter until creamy. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk and mix until smooth.
7. Once the cookies are cool, use the buttercream to decorate the teddy bear faces. You can add food coloring to the buttercream to color the bear’s features.
8. Let the frosting set before serving or gifting!

Tips And Tricks To Make Easy Buttercream Teddy Bear Cookies To Gift Your Valentine

Choose Your Cookie Dough

The secret to a great teddy bear cookie is the dough’s texture. A slightly firm dough will hold its shape better while baking and your teddy bear faces will stay cute and neat. Make sure your butter is softened but not melted so the dough doesn’t spread too much.

Chill The Dough Before Baking

After you mix the dough, chill it for about 30 minutes. This step will prevent the cookies from spreading too much while baking and will help them keep their teddy bear shape. Chilling also makes the dough easier to work with when rolling out shapes.

Invest In Cookie Cutters

For a clean design use a high quality teddy bear cookie cutter. This will give you uniform shapes and all your cookies will look cute. If you don’t have a teddy bear cutter, a circle or oval cutter will do and you can always add the features with buttercream.

Add Texture To The Cookies

To make your teddy bears stand out, press a fork or your fingers lightly around the edges of the cookies before baking. This will give them a textured edge like a teddy bear’s fur.

Right Consistency Of Buttercream

Smooth buttercream is key to decorating, it should be thick enough to hold its shape but soft enough to pipe. To get the right consistency start by mixing the butter, sugar and milk. Add powdered sugar to thicken or milk to soften if needed.

Piping Details

For the details on the teddy bear cookies use a fine tip piping bag for the eyes, noses and mouths. Start with the outline of the face then fill in the rest. This will give you a clean look. You can also use the same piping technique for the little ears.

Add Fun Foaod Colorings

For a fun twist, add food coloring to your bears. Go traditional with brown bears or try pastel colors for a creative spin. Adding food coloring to your buttercream will allow you to customize each bear and make them even more Valentine’s Day-ey.

Let The Buttercream Set Before Packaging

After you decorate your teddy bear cookies, be sure to let the buttercream set before you package them. This will prevent the frosting from smudging and the cookies from getting damaged in transit. You can put them in a cool, dry place for about 30 minutes to let the buttercream firm up.

Making Buttercream: Basics And Tips & Tricks

Cakes, cupcakes, and cookies are a dessert lover’s paradise. While they are delightful on their own, a sweet little addition of creamy buttercream makes them even tastier.

As the name suggests, buttercream is best defined as a sweet and creamy frosting made from sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and food coloring (if needed). Being highly versatile in nature, it is ideally used for frosting, filling, and decorating desserts. Be it a simple butter-and-sugar-based American variation or a more complex meringue-based Italian version, buttercream wraps cakes and cookies with creamy comfort.

Pro Tip: To perfect the buttercream recipe, make sure the butter is softened to room temperature. This is key to preventing a lumpy texture. Moreover, it is always recommended to sift the sugar well to ensure smooth consistency.

How To Decorate Teddy Cookies

Using royal icing is the most popular way to decorate these valentine themed cookies. To decorate teddy bear cookies, outline them with thick royal icing and flood the bear's body, muzzle, and ears with a thinner, runnier filling. To create the eyes and nose, use chocolate chips. To give it a signature Valentine’s Day appearance, one may add a pink edible heart and tie it with a ribbon.

Gifting Tips: Messages, Mason Jar And More

• While baking cookies itself is a love language, how about making the gifting part a bit more special on Valentine’s Day? Add a personal touch to the valentine themed cookies gift box with a thoughtful message for that special person.
• To make it look like a perfect Valentine’s Day gift, arrange the cookies in a gift box filled with confetti and tie it with a red silk ribbon.
• Heart-shaped boxes are always a classic choice fr Valentine’s Day gifting. Wrap the cookies using cellophane liners or tissue paper inside and stick a little note outside with a sweet, thoughtful message.
• Mason Jars: Gifting cookies in jars is an ideal way to express love on this very special occasion. Take a mason jar, layer cookies with parchment paper, and tie the jar with colored ribbons.

Conclusion

This Valentine’s Day, make celebrations sweeter with these cute little teddy cookies for your special one. Bake a fresh batch of cookies following the tips and tricks. These Valentine-themed cookies will be an absolute delight to celebrate the true spirit of love.