Sledding Teddies

Desserts

I've been making these special holiday cookies for almost 30 years. They take a while but are worth it, because the teddy bears are so cute and taste delicious.

Average Rating: 4.833333

TOTAL TIME: Prep: 3 hours + chilling Bake: 15 min./batch + standing
YIELD: 8 sledding teddies.

Ingredients

1 cup butter, cubed
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup molasses
1 large egg, room temperature
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
FROSTING:
1/2 cup shortening
2-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
16 candy canes (about 5-1/4 inches)
8 whole graham crackers
16 heart shaped sprinkles
32 black nonpareils
Ivory gel food coloring

Instructions

1. In a small saucepan, cook the butter, brown sugar and molasses over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Pour into a large bowl; let stand for 10 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda and cloves; gradually add to butter mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
2. For big bears, shape dough into eight 1-1/4-in. balls, eight 1-in. balls, sixteen 1/4-in. balls, sixteen 1-3/4x1/2-in. logs and sixteen 1-1/2x1/2-in. logs. Set remaining dough aside.
3. For bodies, place the 1-1/4-in. balls on 3 ungreased baking sheets; flatten to 1/2-in. thickness. Position the 1-in. balls for heads; flatten to 1/2-in. thickness. Attach two 1-3/4-in. logs for arms and 1/4-in. balls for ears. Do not attach 1-1/2-in. logs for legs; place separately on baking sheets.
4. For small bears, shape the remaining dough into eight 1-in. balls, eight 3/4-in. balls, sixteen 1/4-in. balls, sixteen 1-1/4x3/8-in. logs and sixteen 1x3/8-in. logs. Position bears and logs on two ungreased baking sheets as for the big bears.
5. Bake small bears and logs at 325° until set, 11-13 minutes, and big bears and logs until set, 14-16 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before carefully removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
6. For frosting, combine shortening, confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla extract. For sleds, use frosting to attach two candy canes to the bottom of each graham cracker; let stand until set.
7. Trim bear bodies so the bottom edge is flat. Using frosting, attach a big bear to the back end of each sled. Attach small bears in front of big bears. For legs, attach big logs in front of bears and small logs on top. For muzzles and ears, color a small amount of frosting light tan. Pipe muzzles and ears; add hearts to muzzle for noses. Attach nonpareils for eyes with frosting.