How to Make Valentine Elephant Cookies

I saved the biggest... I mean heaviest, Valentine's Day cookie tutorial for last.

Like the flying pig cookies in my last post, these Valentine elephant cookies are pretty simple to decorate, requiring just a few steps and only a few colors to complete. These elephants are larger than life and pack a "ton" of personality. They are sure to lighten up any Valentine's day if they were to receive these as a gift.

Here's how you can make these Valentine elephant cookies for yourself.

Valentine Rose Elephant Cookie Cutter

Just added to the shop is this new Valentine rose elephant cookie cutter.

This cookie cutter comes in two different sizes. However, for this tutorial, I’ll be decorating the LARGE-sized elephant cookie.

Template for the Valentine Elephant Cookies

To help with the decorating process, I made a PDF template of all the new Valentine's Day cookie cutter designs, including this elephant cookie.

Click the link below for the downloadable template PDF file.

• 2020 Valentine's Cookie Templates

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 cutting out the template and tracing the design onto the cookie with an edible food marker.

The Decorating Process

For the colors used for these Valentine Elephant cookies, you will need the following suggested colors:

• Gray royal icing (I used Americolor Taupe with a touch of Americolor Super Black.)
• Black piping icing (I used Americolor Super Black.)
• Red icing (I used Americolor Tulip Red.)
• Green icing (I used Americolor Mint.)

Step 1

For those without a projector, mark the guideline where the rose area should be, as shown. I made a template with template plastic from the PDF file above and used a food marker to draw the guidelines on the cookie.

Step 2

Begin by outlining and filling the elephant body area with gray icing. Let that icing set for about 15 minutes, then fill the remaining rose area with red icing.

Let this base layer of icing dry for about 1 hour.

Step 3

Once the base layer of icing is dry enough, add the elephant line detail. Then add the rose line detail, as shown.

Add the eyes with black icing and the stem with green icing.

For the trunk lines, draw the gray lines on the trunk with a gray food marker.

Valentine Elephant Cookie Video Tutorial

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

These Valentine elephant cookies are great as a single favor cookie, but I also paired them with this chunky heart cookie cutter with a punny message.

For packaging ideas, here's what I used for the picture above:

2-Piece Set:

LARGE chunky heart with a LARGE elephant in this classic BRP cookie box (7" x 4 3/8" x 1.25").

Single Favor:

LARGE elephant in these rectangular 3 3/4″ x 5 3/8″ boxes from Clearbags.com.