Last weekend I went to my grandmother's house to visit for the afternoon. One of my favorite parts about visiting grandma when I was little (and now) was going to the basement to explore. There are so many fun things down there. Antique toys, a pool table, old books and photos…. This past weekend was no different. This time during my exploration of the basement, I came across an old high chair that was decorated with a picture of a teddy bear and a duck. As soon as I saw these images I knew I had to make a cookie! The final product came out far different than what I had originally planned, but that's usually the case when I make cookies.
These images were the inspiration.

As you can see, the teddy bear cookie idea evolved into something a little different.
For a list of decorating products used here and in other tutorials, visit the recommended products page.
I started out with a heart cutter for the head and a 6 petal flower cutter for the body. I used my Orange Vanilla Spice recipe for these cookies, which is available in my tutorial shop.

I was worried that the pieces would break apart after baking, but they melded together in the oven.

Every step of this process is done in flood consistency royal icing. I like to make my flood icing at 14 -16 count. That means it will take 14 -16 seconds for it to smooth itself out. You can learn all about flooding in my flooding with royal icing video tutorial, which is available in my shop.
Once the cookies are baked and cooled, ice them in flood consistency royal icing and a round tip 3. Allow the body to dry for about 30 minutes in front of a fan before piping the teddy bear's head and the ears.
The color shown here is a mixture of brown with a touch of green to neutralize it.
Let the icing dry for about an hour, then add a snout using the same flood consistency icing.
Repeat this process on the ears and paws.
Use a scribe tool to help shape the icing.
Allow the icing to dry for another 30 minutes, then pipe a nose using black icing and a tip 1.
Use the scribe tool to help shape the nose and then use the icing from the nose to "draw" the mouth.
Pipe brown eyes using a tip 1.
Immediately add pupils with the black icing.
Allow the icing to dry 8-12 hours. I let mine sit overnight. Once it's dry, use the scribe tool to scratch the surface to create seams in the bear. This is similar to how I did the cracked glaze technique.
To add "fur" to the teddy bear, apply some of the same light brown icing that you used to flood the bear. Then, dab the icing using a dry brush. The longer you dab, the more defined the texture will be.
Before the icing has a chance to dry, use the scribe tool to go over the seams again.
Let the icing dry for about 20 minutes in front of a fan, then apply dry bronze pearl dust on the edges and in the seams.
Use a mixture of gold pearl dust with alcohol or flavored extract to paint the inner ears and paws to give a satiny look. You can read more about painting with gold luster dust in this post.
To make the eyes look like they're made of glass, take a drop of corn syrup and apply it with a small brush.
Apply it to the nose, too.
Make a bow using a tip 1.
Let each section of the bow dry before you move on to the next one.
Once the first layer of the bow is dry, you can add a second layer to add dimension.
Pipe a dot in the center and use the scribe tool to shape it.
Pipe tails.
Let the icing dry for another 4 hours before handling the cookie.
You can see the whole teddy bear cookie tutorial in action in this video: