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Writer's pictureTeacher Gems

Bible Teacher Gift - Homemade Bible Cookies with Free Gift Tags!

Updated: Jul 20, 2023

Each year my kids and I attend a Bible study called Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) International. There are adult classes as well as children’s classes. Each of my seven children have two BSF leaders so buying gifts for all of their teachers at the end of the year to show our appreciation can add up fast. As a former children’s leader myself, I know how much time and effort goes into being a leader and therefore want to show my appreciation to the teachers for all they’ve done for my kiddos. I also want to teach my children to show appreciation for other’s sacrifices of time on their behalf.


So, each year I scour Pinterest for fun ideas of homemade gifts to make. This year I decided I wanted something that was a little more meaningful and applicable to what we have studied this year. I started looking up Scripture verses from the books of the Bible we studied this year and came across this verse in Jeremiah that I love, and it just seemed like the perfect verse for a cute delicious Bible-shaped cookie to go along with as a gift.


“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart,” – Jeremiah 15:16a (ESV)



These cookies turned out super cute, but they were a little hard for the kids to help with. If you look close you can tell which ones I made and which ones the kids made. My oldest is pretty artistic so she did a good job but next time around I’d probably just have the younger kids help with making the cookies (cutting out the Bible shapes) and leave the decorating up to older ones and myself.


The icing is by far the hardest part as you need several different consistencies and colors. If this seems too hard you could probably have a local bakery make them for you instead. If you do decide to make them yourself, make sure to plan ahead! Here’s what we did.


Bake cookies two days ahead. Let them cool completely before icing. Do your piping and flooding icing (I’ll explain what those are in a minute) the same day you bake them. Then put them in an airtight container (careful not to let them touch) in fridge overnight to let the icing harden. The next morning take the cookies out and draw the squiggly lines and book pages on them with a black editable marker and add the red line bookmark. Put them back in the fridge to harden and dry. Once they are fully dry and hardened you can put the cookies in bags and attach the gift tag. *See more detailed instructions below.



Materials:

(*Disclaimer: Some of these links are affiliate links so I will receive a small commission if you purchase through them)

Sugar cookie dough – I used this recipe (after clicking the link scroll down on the page to see the recipe)

Icing – I used this recipe

Food coloring gel – blue, red, and (optional: white)

Toothpicks (or cookie scribe)

Cookie bags (or clear plastic wrap)

Twist ties

Gift tags (printed on cardstock and hole punched)


Make sugar cookie dough (see link to recipe above), flatten and chill for 2 hours, then roll it out to ¼” thick and cut into Bible-shapes. Bake your cookies 350 degrees for 11-13 min. on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and let cool completely on a cooling rack. To decorate, start with the blue icing by piping the outline of the cookie. I used a piping bag and a #3 tip for this. The piping icing should be a little thicker than the flooding icing (flooding means to fill in the surface of the cookie after you’ve outlined it with the thicker icing, so it doesn’t spill off the edges). I used the original icing recipe for piping and watered it down some for the flooding. Watch this video for helpful tips!




After you pipe the blue outline, pipe a white line just inside the blue line (this will keep the blue line from bleeding into the white flood icing later). This next part is KEY! Make sure the white line you pipe inside the blue line touches the blue line all the way around. If it doesn’t, use a toothpick (or scribe) to gently push the white line (while it’s still wet!) up against the blue line so there are no holes or gaps between the two lines. This will make your cookies look much more professional when finished.



Helpful Tips for Icing

  • Always sift the powdered sugar first

  • Always keep icing covered with a damp cloth so it doesn’t dry out

  • For piping (outlining cookies) icing should be consistency of toothpaste

  • Cut ½” off the bottom of the icing bag and insert #3 tip

  • To pipe icing, first touch down on the cookie, then lift up and let the icing fall into place as you gently move your hand around the cookie’s edge. Maintain consistent pressure as you pipe for even lines. Always pull, never push the icing (you will have to rotate the cookie as you go). When you get to a turn or the end, touch down on the cookie again to get the icing to stick to that spot.


Lastly, you will flood the cookie by covering the inside surface with icing that you have thinned down. Add a few teaspoons of water to your icing so it is runny like hot chocolate syrup – put in a piping bag with no tip or a #3, 4, or 5 tip and flood the cookie. Use a toothpick or scribe to smooth out any holes or air bubbles and make sure all the edges are filled in. Be careful not to let the icing come out the top of the bag when you squeeze it and drip down all over it like we did, LOL (see pic below)! Then put your cookies in an airtight container, making sure none are touching, for the icing to dry and harden overnight in the fridge.



The following morning, take your cookies out and draw squiggly lines with the black editable markers to represent words on the pages. Unfortunately our black lines bled and looked like furry caterpillars (see far right pic below)....not sure why that happened. Maybe our icing wasn't cold enough or too cold?? Then pipe a red line of icing down the center of your cookies to look like the ribbon bookmark most Bibles have (we tried different tips for this and found that it looked best with just a small #2 tip). Put back in the fridge to dry (6hr or more). Once cookies are completely dry and icing has hardened, you can bag them up and attach your gift tag (just insert the twist tie through the hole you punched in the cards before tying the bag shut). Don’t forget to have your child sign his/her name on the gift tag before giving it to their teacher! I did not put my cookies back in the fridge after they were bagged up. I just left them in a box on the counter so we could quickly grab them and go to our Bible study in the morning. We taste tested them on day 3 (the day we gave them out) and they were delicious! Phew!



This was our first time ever making anything like this so I’m sure with practice we will get better and more consistent. If I were to do it all over, I would have started by practicing these techniques ahead of time on cookies we didn’t care as much about and just let the kids eat them. Then make the ones for the teachers after we’d learned the techniques better. Even so they still turned out decent and it’s the thought that counts anyways, right?!


I hope your Bible teacher(s) will enjoy this sweet treat as they are reminded of your gratefulness to them for helping you delight in God’s Word this year!


Click the button below to grab your free Bible gift tags!


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Thanks for stopping by!

Be blessed,







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