How to Decorate BB8 Cookies With Buttercream
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My first baby has just turned four years old and he requested BB8 cookies for his “Baby Yoda and BB8 birthday party” as he called it.
While there are a lot of tutorials on social media for how to decorate BB8 cookies with royal icing, I haven’t found one for buttercream yet.
As some parents may have found out, many cookie decorators will not do character sugar cookies due to copyright infringement. I don’t blame them, as I wouldn’t sell copyright items either.
That being said, making BB8 cookies for your own child is the way to go. If you are completely new to buttercream sugar cookie decorating, please check out my online beginner cookie decorating class which goes over all the basics and tips for success.
With the popularity of the Star Wars storyline among children, it seems appropriate to make these Star Wars cookies.
Learn how to decorate BB8 cookies following the tutorial below.
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I found the cutest Star Wars party decorations on Amazon! This made the party set up ridiculously easy.
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Part 1: Gathering the Supplies for the BB8 Cookies
To decorate these Star Wars cookies, you will want to gather:
- 4 Icing bags
- 4 Couplers
- One Wilton #1 tip, one #2 tip, and one Wilton #5 tip
- BB8 cookie cutter – I got mine here
- Black and orange gel food dye
- Palette knife
- Ingredients for a crusting buttercream & sugar cookie dough – found below in recipe card
Part 2: Baking the Cookies and Setting up the Icing Bags
- Roll, cut out, and bake your BB8 cookies according to the recipe.
- Make your buttercream icing and separate it into four bowls:
- One bowl will contain about half of the frosting; keep this bowl undyed/white
- Separate the rest of the buttercream into three bowls; one will be dyed black, one gray, and one orange.
- Set up your icing bags as follows:
- Place a coupler into each of the icing bags (4) and fill with the buttercream. You do not need to attach any tips yet.
Part 3: Decorating the BB8 Cookies
- Use the white buttercream with Wilton tip #5 attached to outline and fill in the BB8 cookies.
- Use your palette knife to smooth the cookies.
- Attach the Wilton tip #2 to the black frosting to pipe out what I believe are BB8’s eyes. Complete this step on all of the cookies before moving to step four.
- Remove/rinse/dry the tip #2 from the black frosting and attach it to the orange icing bag. Draw some of BB8’s orange details onto the cookie. You can go super realistic or just draw some of the lines/circles to get the main idea, which is what I did.
- Once you complete step four on all of the BB8 cookies, remove/rinse/dry the tip #2 and attach it to the gray frosting. Pipe in the small gray details.
- Remove the tip #5 from the white frosting and replace it with the tip #1 to pipe in the small details on BB8.
BB8 Cookies with Buttercream Frosting
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
- Rubber Spatula
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Medium Sized Mixing Bowl
- Lined aluminum cookie sheet parchment paper or silicone baking sheet
- Rolling Pin
- BB8 cookie cutter
- 4 Icing bags with couplers in them
- Wilton tips #1, #2, and #5
- Palette Knife
Ingredients
Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup room temperature unsalted butter 4 ounces
- ½ cup room temperature salted butter 4 ounces
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1-3 tbsp. whole milk
- black and orange gel food dye
Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup cold salted butter cubed
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 cups all purpose flour use the spoon & level method
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- Remove all of the butter from the refrigerator. You will make the sugar cookies first but the butter for the frosting needs to come to room temperature before mixing.
BB8 Sugar Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350℉ and prepare an aluminum cookie sheet by placing either parchment paper or a silicone baking mat on it.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the flour and baking powder and mix together. Set this aside.
- Cube a cup of salted butter and then, in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the cubed butter with the granulated sugar. Mix until creamed together well.
- To the stand mixer, add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
- Slowly add in the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl to the stand mixer.
- Roll the dough out to 3/8" thick and use the cookie cutters to cut out the cookies. Place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes or until the tops of the cookies no longer look wet. When baking the cookies, only bake 6-8 cookies at a time to leave proper space between each cookie to cook without spreading. Overcrowding the cookie sheet will cause spread.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the room temperature salted and unsalted butter and mix on high until light and fluffy.
- Mix in the powdered sugar little by little. Add in the vanilla extract and milk about halfway through adding the sugar to help the frosting come together. Start with one tablespoon of milk and work up to three if needed, depending on the consistency you want. I like to aim for a peanut butter consistency or thinner.
- Separate the frosting into four bowls. One bowl will contain about half of the frosting, keep this bowl undyed/white. Divide the remaining half into the three remaining bowls and dye them black, orange, and gray. Place each color into an icing bag with a coupler.
How to Decorate BB8 Sugar Cookies
- Use the white buttercream with Wilton tip #5 attached to outline and fill in the BB8 cookies.
- Use your palette knife to smooth the cookies.
- Attach the Wilton tip #2 to the black frosting to pipe out what I believe are BB8's eyes. Complete this step on all of the cookies before moving to step four.
- Remove/rinse/dry the tip #2 from the black frosting and attach it to the orange icing bag. Draw some of BB8's orange details onto the cookie. You can go super realistic or just draw some of the lines/circles to get the main idea, which is what I did.
- Once you complete step four on all of the BB8 cookies, remove/rinse/dry the tip #2 and attach it to the gray frosting. Pipe in the small gray details.
- Remove the tip #5 from the white frosting and replace it with the tip #1 to pipe in the small details on BB8.
These Star Wars cookies are so cute and perfect for a Star Wars birthday party theme. I’d love to know in the comments below, what birthday themes have your kids asked for recently?
Make sure to follow me on YouTube for more cookie tutorials as well! Happy decorating!
Save the Tutorial for These BB8 Cookies
Use the image below to pin this tutorial for BB8 sugar cookies to your birthday party board on Pinterest. Alternatively, use any of the social share icons on the top of the page to share it to your favorite social media site.
