Gingerbread Teddy Bears
Submitted by waytothepark
Adorable gingerbread teddy bear cookies hand-shaped from spiced dough with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. A fun holiday baking project for kids and grown-ups, no cookie cutters required.
YIELD
24 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
30 minREADY
9 hrsForget the cookie cutters. These gingerbread bears are built ball by ball, the way kids used to assemble snowmen: one big body, a smaller head, six tiny limbs, and a nose nub for that grin only a teddy can pull off.
The dough starts on the stovetop, where butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup melt together into a glossy caramel before you stir in the flour and spices. Cooking the sugar first dissolves the grit and gives the cookies a chewier, more tender bite than standard cut-out gingerbread.
Don’t skip the chill. Two hours minimum, overnight ideal. Cold dough holds its shape during sculpting and keeps the bears from sprawling into blobs in the oven.
Watch the bake time closely. Eight to ten minutes is the window. Pull them as soon as the edges firm and a warm gingerbread aroma fills the kitchen.
Pro Tips
- Roll all the body parts before assembling the first bear. It speeds up sculpting once you start.
- Press parts firmly together so they fuse during baking. Loose pieces snap off.
- Decorate with royal icing tinted with food coloring once cookies are completely cool.
- Store undecorated bears in an airtight tin for up to a week. Decorate the day you serve them.
Variations
- Swap molasses for the corn syrup for darker, more old-fashioned gingerbread flavor.
- For Easter, omit the spices, use white sugar instead of brown, add a drop of almond extract, and shape into bunnies with two long ears and cheek puffs.
- Use the same dough to sculpt a single large showpiece bear for a centerpiece.
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup.
Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
Pour into large mixing bowl; cool 5 minutes.
Sift together flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and baking soda.
Add egg and vanilla to butter mixture; mix well.
Add flour mixture; beat til well mixed.
Divide dough in half, cover and chill 2 hours or overnight.
For each bear, shape dough into one 1-inch ball, one ¾ inch ball, six ½-inch balls and one ¼ inch ball.
On ungreased cookie sheet flatten the 1-inch ball to ½ inch thickness for body.
Attach the ¾ inch ball for head and flatten to ½ inch thickness.
Attach the ½-inch balls for arms, legs and ears.
Attach the ¼ inch ball for nose.
Bake at 350℉ (180℃) for 8 to 10 minutes, cool and decorate.
Roll the nose ball to make it more oval in shape and place it on the LOWER half of the bear’s face.
These can be decorated with any icing-- I use tinted Royal icing made from meringue powder to add eyes, nose and bow tie to each bear.
For Easter, make these into bunnies. Use only light corn syrup, no molasses.
Substitute white sugar for the brown sugar.
Omit spices and add a bit of almond extract if desired.
Make them the same way, but make two long ears on the top and two cheek-balls instead of the nose-ball.
Decorate with pastel icings.
Comments
