LOVE BUG COOKIES -- easy decorated cookies for Valentine's Day

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Today I’m making love bug cookies for Kids’ Cancer. Read on to help!

love bug cookies

Why love bug cookies?

Julie of The Little Kitchen is organizing a virtual cookie-making event for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.

The non-profit was founded by Larry and Gretchen Witt, who lost their son, Liam, to childhood cancer. For their first fundraiser, Gretchen, with the help of 250 volunteers, baked and sold 96,000 cookies, raising $400,000.

Now, the non-profit is dedicated to raising funds for research to develop new treatments for pediatric cancer. Read the whole story and more about this fabulous organization here.

Cancer is the #1 cause of death of children by disease in the U.S. There are 40,000 U.S. children actively battling cancer right now.

With less than 4% of the National Cancer Institute’s budget going to all childhood cancer combined, it’s so important for the rest of us to get involved.

So I’m joining my fellow bloggers in baking some virtual cookies for children and families affected by pediatric cancer. My love bug chocolate bark was a hit, so I’ve turned the idea into cookies. For every cutie pie out there and for all of those who love them…

how to make love bug cookies for Valentine’s Day

you will need:*

cut-out cookie dough
royal icing
circle cookie cutter (1 1/2-inch used here)
pink food coloring (or any preferred color)
disposable decorating bag
pink candy melts
black food writer
candy eyes
toothpick
light corn syrup

cookie decorating resources

Food writers don’t always work well on candy melts, but because you’re only making dots, they should work just fine. For tips on finding cookie decorating supplies, click HERE. For basic cookie decorating how-tos, click HERE.

For more cookie decorating recipes. (By the way, if you need vegan cookies and icing recipes.)

step one: make your love bugs.

Use the black food writer to draw dots on the candy melts. Add dabs of light corn syrup with a toothpick to attach the candy eyes. Let set.

step two: bake your cookies and prepare your icing.

Prepare your cookie dough according to the recipe, chill, roll out, cut out and bake the cookies.

Let cool completely. Prepare royal icing, tint with a couple drops of pink food coloring, and fill a decorating bag. Close tightly with a rubber band.

(Here, I’m using one consistency of icing, just thick enough to be able to pipe the outline, but thin enough to fill without leaving piping lines.)

step three: assemble your cookies.

Snip the tip of the icing and outline your circles. Pipe to fill in the cookies. Set a love big on top. Let the cookies dry overnight before handling.