As a kid I loved any book that had bears in it including Corduroy, The Berenstain Bears, and of course, Paddington.  It's probably why I still love teddy bears.  I even have a little Paddington Bear collection.  Back in December when Kyle and I were at the movies, I saw the new Paddington Bear trailer.  I haven't seen the movie yet, but hopefully soon.  I celebrate the new Paddington movie by making cookies.

The inspiration for these cookies came from the books.  To start, I knew I needed a bear cookie cutter.  I already have a few different bear cookie cutters but none of them really fit for what I wanted. They were either too big or too small.  I sketched out a drawing of a bear,  (pictured to the right), and was really happy with my drawing.  I contacted Truly Mad Plastics to make my drawing into a cookie cutter.  The process was easy.  I sent them my drawing, they sent back a proof that I approved and had it in my hands within a week.  It was very exciting opening the package up and seeing something I drew turned into a real cookie cutter.   They are selling the cookie cutter here, so you can get your own Paddington.

Paddington is a story set in London, England.  I included the Union Jack Flag, Big Ben and the Underground Paddington station sign.  Paddington was named after the station he was found at. To create the underground sign, I used a circle and small rectangle cookie cutter from this set.  On his voyage from Peru, Paddington ate marmalade.  As Paddington said "Bears like marmalade."  Marmalade has orange rind in it.  To create that look, I painted on the iced cookie.  I used this mason jar cookie cutter.

When Paddington arrives in London, he has a note attached to his coat.  The note says "Please look after this bear, Thank You".  I wanted to recreate that tag as a cookie.  I cut the corners off of a rectangle cookie cutter.  All of the rectangle cookie cutters are from the same set I linked above.  Paddington had an umbrella and suitcase with him, so I made those cookies too. 

Paddington has several hat and coat combinations.  I used the original combination; the red hat and the blue coat.  For decorating Paddington, I knew that I wanted him to look like he had fur.  I used thicker icing and a paint brush to create the look.