Teddy Bear Chocolate Chip Cookies (with EASY ICING RECIPE!)

About these teddy bear cookies

Wow, it’s been a few months since my last post! Life has been pretty busy for me because I moved to a different neighborhood in Boston, switched jobs, and had my first few pop-ups! But, now I’m back with one of the classics: chocolate chip cookies. Kawaii, of course.

Over the past few days, I was brainstorming what kind of cookie recipe I should share next. Then, I realized I never even posted a basic chocolate chip one! So, here is one of my OG cookie recipes. These bear cookies are soft, a ‘lil ~chewy and gooey~, and just a bit too cute to eat. They’re super easy to decorate, too. I came up with a VERY SIMPLE icing recipe. No royal icing needed or anything fancy. That means no egg whites, aquafaba, glycerin, yadda yadda. Just powdered sugar and a bit of water.. seriously. However, if you don’t want to make icing, you can always use melted dyed white chocolate instead.

How to make basic cookie dough batter

For these cookies, I started off by creaming *mostly* melted butter with brown + granulated white sugar. And by mostly melted butter, I mean I took a stick of butter from the fridge, unwrapped it, plopped it into a bowl, and microwaved for 20-30 seconds. I then handwhisked the butter and sugars together until fully combined.

Afterwards, I added the egg and vanilla, and mixed until very smooth. Then, I added the chocolate chips and dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt) at the same time. And with a rubber spatula, I mixed the dough just until no dry flour remained.

FAQ

Can I make vegan chocolate chip cookies?

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.

And remember to be mindful of what mix-ins you use! Opt for vegan brands.

Can I make them gluten-free?

Yes! To make these pumpkin cookies gluten-free, I recommend using a high quality 1:1 gluten-free flour, like King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill.

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!

Shaping the dough

For each teddy bear 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 14 more cookies, making sure you have some left over for the ears.

For the ears, take about 1/2 tsp of dough, and split it into two equally sized pieces. Roll into balls and place on the sides of the bears’ heads. As the cookies baked in the oven, the ears connected with the head, forming the teddy bear shape. It’s as simple as that!

How to make the bear faces

As the bear cookies cooled after baking, I mixed powdered sugar and water into a bowl until it was a pipeable consistency. I placed more than half of the icing into a piping bag. This was the white color for the snout and ears.

To the rest of the icing in the bowl, I added a little pink food coloring. I mixed it and then added half of it to a new piping bag. This was for the blush.

To the remaining icing in the bowl, I added black food coloring. I mixed it, then added it to a new piping bag. This was for the nose and eyes.

I snipped the very tips of the piping bags and first piped the snouts and ears. Once the snouts were semi-dry, I piped on the noses and eyes, then finished the cookies with blush.

And there you have it! Super easy teddy bear chocolate chip cookies.

I really hope you enjoy this recipe. If you make these bear-shaped chocolate chip cookies, I’d love to see them. You can tag me at #bitesbybianca / @bitesbybianca on Instagram. Enjoy! 

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A post shared by Bianca Fernandez 🇵🇭 (@bitesbybianca)