This cookie adventure started with a special cookie cutter that we found in our neighborhood dollar shop. (We love dollar shops!) These cute little animal cookie cutters have extra long arms, long enough to wrap around a wee ‘gift.’ OMgosh so super cute, amirite?
What gifts might a cookie like this hold, you ask? Anything that can be baked with the cookie can be used. It could be a nut like an almond or a cashew, a dried fruit or even an M&M. It could even be a smaller cookie!
You can see in the photo that one of our cookie cutters is a huggy bunny while the other is a huggy bear. Sorry, the li’l bear is upside down in the photo, didn’t notice at the time, lol. Poor huggy bear 🙁
Here is a shot of the dried cranberries we used as the ‘gifts’. Usually these gift bearing sugar cookies hold nuts like almonds and cashews. Which are wonderful and tasty gifts for huggy bears and huggy bunnies to bear.
However we thought that a softer option might be nice, so we opted to have our cookies holding dried cranberries, just the right size for the cookies to hold. A lovely cheerful red as well! Plus we found that the tartness of the cranberry was the perfect complement to the sugar cookie!
Our cutout cookies are placed on a baking tray. Cranberries are placed on each cookie.
The arms of the cookies are now gently wrapped around the ‘gifts’ or cranberries. Omgosh, you feeling the cuteness vibe yet? Sooo adorable, amirite?
I used a small offset spatula to gently lift the arms before wrapping over the fruit. The arms are small and delicate so take care on this part. You will want to make sure that the arms are gently but firmly wrapped or they will might straighten out when baked. You can also just use one arm to hold the ‘gift’ and leave the other flat, then it will look like your gift bearing cookie is waving hello!
The last thing is to do is to give your cookies some eyes. This is optional but dang it all, doesn’t the huggy bunny look that much more cuter with eyes? I made the eyes using my little girl’s dotting tools. These tools used to be for clay work, I believe, but nowadays it seems that it’s mostly used for nail art, lol. Oh how the world changes. If you don’t got one of these handy anything with a rounded point will do.
Your wee cookies go into the oven for a quick bake and, tada!, your Gift Bearing Huggy Bear Cookies are done and ready to bear their merry gifts to all and sundry! Happy Holidays!
(Makes 84 small cookies)
Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 7 mins
Allow butter to soften by leaving out for an hour. Cream softened butter and sugar together.
Add egg and extract and mix. Mix flour with baking powder and salt, then add, little by little to the wet mix until incorporated. The dough should not stick. If sticky add a bit more flour until just not sticky. Allow dough to rest 5 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400°F(204°C).
Lightly flour working surface and roll out the dough to 1/4″ thickness. Cut out cookie shapes and place onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Place one cranberry onto each cookie in between the arms. Use an offset spatula to gently lift and wrap the cookie arms around the cranberry. Use dotting tool to press eyes into the cookies.
Bake at 400°F( 204°C) for 6-7 minutes. Cookies are ready when the edges just touched with brown. Allow to cool completely. Gift bearing huggy cookies are ready! Enjoy!
Storage: Stored in a cool, air tight container, these cookies will be good for 2-3 weeks.
