Aang Sugar Cookies (Avatar: The Last Airbender Cookies)
Adorable, not too sweet, soft, & chewy Avatar: The Last Airbender cookies decorated with melted chocolate. They can be made in one bowl with a hand whisk and rubber spatula, making these Aang sugar cookies an easy project for beginner bakers and kids!
**Disclaimer: this post may contain affiliate links.
About these Aang sugar cookies
Avatar: The Last Airbender was my FAVORITE show growing up. I’ve seen it sooo many times growing up, and it’s one of the shows I always reference in convo.
I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and was surprised to see that my last Avatar-themed bake was two years ago in 2021. I made Flameo Hotman macarons for fun, using diluted food coloring in vodka to paint on the details. It was one of my favorite projects and I was honestly impressed with how well they came out! I’d REALLY love to make more ATLA/Korra bakes soon, so if you have any ideas, please let me know!
As for this recipe, it’s very beginner-friendly. Making the cookie dough is simple—you can use one bowl, a hand whisk, and a rubber spatula. In addition, shaping the cookie dough is quick and all the decorations are made with melted chocolate. I opted to make silly ‘lil faces for Aang, but you can get more detailed if you wanted to. Either way, you’ll get beautifully soft and chewy cookies, perfect for any ATLA fan!
If you’re interested in other kawaii cookie recipes I have, check out these recipes!: BlueBEARy cookies, Coconut Ube Bear Cookies, Red Velvet Bear Cookies, Strawberry Kirby Sugar Cookies, StrawBEARy Sugar Cookies, Bunny Sugar Cookies, Teddy Bear Chocolate Chip Cookies, Keroppi Matcha Sugar Cookies, Frog Matcha Sugar Cookies, Soft, Less Sweet Ube Sugar Cookie Bears (Dairy-Free!), Pig-Shaped Snickerdoodles (Vegan), Cat-Shaped Black Cocoa Cookies (Vegan), and Chick-Shaped Lemon Cookies.
FAQ
Can you make these vegan?
Yes, you can!
Instead of regular butter, you can swap in high quality vegan butter made for baking. Make sure to use a good brand—some brands are very high in water content and melt at lower temperatures, yielding very flat cookies. I recommend brands like Miyokos and Country Crock.
You can also omit the egg. First, follow the recipe up until you add the flour, baking powder/soda, and salt. Slowly mix the dry ingredients in. If the dough seems too crumbly, add a tablespoon of alternative milk at a time (2-4 tbsp total), until the dough comes together. The finished dough should be thick, but scoopable.
Lastly, you can replace the chocolate for a vegan brand, like Pascha chocolate. OR, you can try out my easy icing recipe, which is found in my teddy bear cookie recipe.
Can you make these gluten-free?
Absolutely! I recommend using 1:1 gluten-free flour.
Tips for baking and decorating
Properly measure the flour
I always like to measure my ingredients with a kitchen scale for consistent, accurate results. But if you’re measuring with cups, make sure you follow this tip: gently spoon in the flour into the cup until it’s full, then scrape the excess off using the back of a knife or offset spatula.
If you scoop the cup directly into the flour bag or container, the flour may get compacted, and you will be adding in more flour than necessary. On the other hand, if your flour is clumpy, you could be adding in chunks of flour into the cup with gaps in between them, possibly adding less flour than required. These instances can cause tougher or even really flat cookies, since the proper ratio of dry:wet ingredients isn’t met.
So, for best results, use a scale. If you don’t have one, gently spoon and level the flour into your measuring cup!
Chill the dough
After making the dough, cover the top with plastic wrap. Then, leave it in the fridge for about 30 minutes so the dough hardens up a bit. This will make shaping easier and also yield chewier cookies.
Shaping the dough
For each Aang cookie, you’ll want to use a small cookie scoop, or gather about 1 ½ tbsp of dough. Shape it into a ball and place it onto your lined baking tray. Repeat for about 15 more cookies, making sure you have some left over for the ears.
For the ears, take about 1/4 tsp of dough, and split it into two equally sized pieces. Roll into balls and place on the sides of Aangs’ heads.
Decorating with melted chocolate
You can use a piping bag, cookie scribe, or toothpick to add on the details.
First, use the blue white chocolate for the arrows. Then, use dark or milk chocolate to add the eyes and mouths. Lastly, use pink white chocolate for the blush.
When dying white chocolate, you’ll want to use oil-based food coloring or the chocolate will seize up and become lumpy. However, if you don’t have oil-based food coloring, you can try mixing in a tsp of neutral oil (canola, vegetable) at a time! The chocolate should come back together. Maaagic.
Storing the cookies
Store these ATLA cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week!
I really hope you enjoy this recipe. If you make these cute Avatar cookies, I’d love to see them. You can tag me at #bitesbybianca / @bitesbybianca on Instagram. Enjoy!
If you’re interested in other kawaii cookie recipes I have, check out these recipes!: BlueBEARy cookies, Coconut Ube Bear Cookies, Red Velvet Bear Cookies, Strawberry Kirby Sugar Cookies, StrawBEARy Sugar Cookies, Bunny Sugar Cookies, Teddy Bear Chocolate Chip Cookies, Keroppi Matcha Sugar Cookies, Frog Matcha Sugar Cookies, Soft, Less Sweet Ube Sugar Cookie Bears (Dairy-Free!), Pig-Shaped Snickerdoodles (Vegan), Cat-Shaped Black Cocoa Cookies (Vegan), and Chick-Shaped Lemon Cookies.
Aang Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour (180g)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled (1 stick butter/8 tbsp)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50g)
- ¼ cup light or dark brown sugar, packed (50g)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
Decoration for face:
- 1 tbsp melted milk or dark chocolate
- 3 tbsp melted white chocolate
- oil-based food coloring, see steps (pink, blue)
Instructions
For the cookie dough:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking powder baking soda, and salt.
- In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment (can alternatively use hand mixer or whisk), mix the butter and sugars on medium speed until combined. Scrape bottom of bowl. Add vanilla and egg and mix again.
- Dump in all of the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Cover the dough and let it rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. This will let the flour hydrate and let the butter cool, yielding chewier cookies. The dough will also be easier to work with. 🙂
- Preheat oven to 325°F/163°C and line two baking trays with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Use a small cookie dough scoop to gather dough (about 1 ½ tablespoon each). Shape into a ball and place onto lined baking tray. This will be Aang's head.For the ears, take about ¼ tsp of dough, shape into ball, and equally split it into two. Place on the sides of Aang's head.Place Aang cookies about 3-4 inches apart.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes. For soft cookies, bake them until the edges are set and firm. For chewier ones, bake slightly longer, until the edges are a light golden brown.
- Let cool on pan for about 5-10 minutes, then transfer cookies to wire rack. Let cool completely.
For the faces:
- You can a piping bag, toothpick, or cookie scribe to add on the details. I used a piping bag for the arrow and eyes/mouth, then a scribe for the blush.
- Use melted milk chocolate to create the eyes and mouth.
- Add oil-based blue food coloring to 2.5 tbsp of the melted white chocolate. If you don't have oil-based food coloring, then the chocolate will seize/become lumpy. To counter this, stir in a tsp of neutral oil (canola, vegetable) at a time, until it becomes smooth again. Use the blue chocolate for the arrows.
- Add oil-based pink food coloring to the remaining white chocolate. Use this for the blush.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
- To make it vegan, swap in a high quality vegan butter and vegan chocolate (suggestions listed in this blog post). Omit the egg. Follow the recipe accordingly up until you add in the dries. If the dough seems crumbly, add in a tbsp of alternative milk (2-4 tbsp total) at a time until the dough comes together. It should be thick, but scoopable. In addition, you can use a vegan chocolate brand like Pascha Chocolate. OR, you can try out my easy icing recipe, which is found in my teddy bear cookie recipe.
- To make it gluten-free, sub in 1:1 gluten-free flour!
I made these yesterday to share with friends as we watched the new Avatar show on Netflix. They were all so delighted when I surprised them with these cookies, they just loved how cute they were. Not only were they cute, they were so soft and delicious. The cookies were light, buttery, and melt in your mouth. They were also so easy (and so fun) to make. The measurements were perfect and I ended up with just the right amount to add his ears.
I ended up doing a test with one cookie pan using parchment paper and another using a silicone mat and the one with parchment paper held their shape a bit better, the cookies on silicone flatted out a bit more. Would use parchment the next time because I would definitely bake these again, the one batch went so quickly I was only able to have two cookies hehe!
I didn’t have oil-based food colouring so I ended up making simple cookie icing to decorate them which still turned out great! I look forward to trying your other recipes!~