How to Make Fox Heart Cookies

Every time I finish a set of cookies, my brain seems to always have a hard time relaxing or chilling out. Looking at a finished cookie, I tend to think, "Could this have been made easier?" Or, "Could I use this idea in another way?" Well I got to answer the latter question after finishing these bushy-tailed animal cookies.

When I made those animal cookies a couple autumn seasons ago, I thought I could possibly reuse that same idea for Valentine's Day. I wasn't sure how at the time, but now that I can make my own cookie cutters, the opportunity presented itself. That's how these fox heart cookies were born.

They use the same concept as the bushy-tailed animal cookies, just altered for Valentine's Days: same cookie cutter for different animal designs while hiding most of the body details behind a simple object, like a heart.

Animal Heart Cookie Cutter

Added to the shop is this new Animal Heart cookie cutter.

The cookie cutter shape allows for the "animal" to be customized to your liking. For example, in this tutorial I show how to use the cutter for a fox, a raccoon, and a cat design. However, looking at the shape again, I think a skunk design would work perfectly as well! (See what I mean with my brain not chilling out? ;) )

Template for the Fox Heart Cookies

For these fox heart cookies, the idea was to keep the design as simple as possible. I drew up some design options that would only involve decorating a simplified tail, a semi-detailed head, and a set of super easy fingers.

I provided these sketches as templates to help guide you during the decorating process. The template file includes the fox (which you will see below), as well as the raccoon and the cat designs.

You can download the animal heart cookie templates HERE.

If you have a Kopykake or Pico projector, just print it out (or pull it up on your mobile device) and you are good to go. For those without a projector, follow the suggested steps below by tracing the design onto the cookie with an edible food marker.

The Decorating Process

To make these fox heart cookies, you will need the following suggested colors:

• Dark Pink medium consistency royal icing. (I used Rainbow Dust Progel Strawberry.)
• Orange medium consistency icing. (I mixed Americolor Super Red with Lemon Yellow.)
• White medium consistency icing. (I used Americolor Bright White.)
• Black piping icing. (I used Americolor Super Black.)

Step 1

Begin by outlining a heart shape in the middle of the cookie, then flood the area with the dark pink icing. Let this dry completely (about 2 to 4 hours).

Step 2

After the heart icing is completely dry, it's time to add the tail detail. To help guide me, I etched the tail outline with a scribe tool.

Then fill in the tail with white icing at the tip and orange icing at the other end. Use the scribe tool again to create a scalloped edge with the orange icing. (Check out the video below to see what I mean.)

Step 3

Next, add the upper head section and the neck detail with orange icing. Let that set (about 20 minutes), then add the lower head section and ears with white icing.

Step 4

Lastly, add the remaining small details, as shown below. One important thing to remember is to add the finger details in steps. That way the "hands" will have more dimension as the icing sets up and dries.

Step 5

To finish off the fox heart cookie, add a simple message on the heart. For demo purposes, I went with "You & Me". However, these could be easily personalized with someone's name, as well.

Video Tutorial

The steps above are summarized in the time-lapsed video below.

For a special and funny gift for Valentine's Day, I paired the animal heart cookie cutter with the speech bubble cookie cutter. This duo fits perfectly in these 7″x4.5″ gift boxes by BRP Boxshop, shown in the pictures below.

I had a lot of fun coming up with pun notes for the raccoon and kitty cat, too!

Are there any other animals you think would work with this cookie cutter? Let me know, I would love to hear your suggestions!