These Love Bug Sandwich Cookies are here for every Valentine’s baking mood. You can get cute Valentine’s desserts without actually having to use an oven; just dress up some store‑bought Chips Ahoy with a red buttercream, candy eyes, and crunchy pretzel legs. They are funny, adorable, and perfect for kids, parties, or a low-key movie night at home.
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Ingredients for Love Bug Sandwich Cookies
These adorable Valentines treats come together with just a few simple ingredients. Here’s what you need:
- 48 Chips Ahoy cookies
- 48 candy eyes
- 72 mini pretzel sticks (break in half for smaller legs if desired)
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3–4 cups powdered sugar
- 2–3 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Red gel food coloring (to desired shade)
How to Make Love Bug Sandwich Cookies
1. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, about 1 cup at a time, mixing on low at first so it does not puff everywhere.
Add the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of milk or cream. Beat until smooth and spreadable, adding up to 1 extra tablespoon of milk if the frosting feels too thick.
2. Tint the frosting red with gel food coloring until you reach your ideal Valentine’s red.
3. Put the frosting in a piping bag with no tip or with a plain, round tip
4. Lay out 24 Chips Ahoy cookies flat side up on a tray or baking sheet. Pipe (or spread) a generous layer of red buttercream onto each cookie, going almost to the edges.
5. Top with the remaining 24 cookies, flat side down, to create sandwich cookies. Press very gently so the filling stays inside but reaches the edges.
6. Break your pretzel sticks in half for the legs. Also, match up your eyes. Most of the time, all of the eyes come in slightly different sizes with slightly different pupils. For maximum cuteness, I recommend finding two similar eyes per bug.
7. For each sandwich cookie, gently press 3 pretzel sticks into the buttercream on one side and 3 on the other side, for a total of 6 legs per cookie. Adjust them so they look like cute little bug legs peeking out.
8. Then, gently press 2 eyes into the sides of the frosting.
9. Chill the finished cookies in the refrigerator for 10–15 minutes so the frosting can firm up and hold the legs and eyes in place. Serve right away, or store the love bug cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3–4 days. Let them sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving for the best texture.
Pro Tips
- For travel or bake sales, chill these valentines treats well first so the legs and eyes stay secure in the container. Also, be wary of humidity where you live (but hopefully at Valentine’s day, at least in the US, you won’t have a lot). If you chill your love bugs in the fridge and then take them out where it’s humid, some of the dye from the candy eyes can run.
- Use gel food coloring so the red stays vibrant without watering down the frosting. I like to use the “deep red” color from Michael’s because you truly only need a couple drops and you get a rich color. With regular food coloring I always feel like I need to use half a bottle to get the color I want.
- Pipe the buttercream starting from the inside of the cookie and working your way out towards the edges for ease.
- For maximum cuteness make sure you match up two similar-looking candy eyes per sandwich cookie. Sometimes, the pupils are going every which way and your bugs might look a bit cross eyed if you don’t match them up first.
FAQs
How should I store these?
I stored mine in an airtight container in the fridge and then pulled them out right before serving. If you use soft Chips Ahoy cookies, they won’t be too hard to bite into fresh out of the fridge. Do be careful, if you pull them out and let them sit in a warm or humid environment. Depending on the kind of candy eyes you use, the black dye from the pupils tends to run in the humidity.
Can I use a different cookie instead of Chips Ahoy?
Yes; any small, sturdy, store‑bought cookie cookie will work. I prefer the soft ones, though. Crunchy cookies, when you bite into them, don’t give a “clean” bite and the frosting tends to kind of push out the sides and make a mess. With softer cookies, you can bite right in and it stays relatively clean (unless you have kids, obviously!).
Can I make these Love Bug Sandwich Cookies ahead of time?
Yes! You can assemble them up to 1 day in advance and keep them in an airtight container. You can store them in the fridge, but be careful if you pull them out long before serving in a humid environment, because the dye from the candy eyes could run a bit.
Do I have to use homemade buttercream?
You definitely could use store-bought frosting in a pinch, but I would be careful! On top of the dye from the pupils running in the humidity, canned frosting tends to be thinner than homemade buttercream. So, if you don’t store your love bug cookie sandwiches in the fridge, they could end up being a bit goopy.
These Love Bug Sandwich Cookies are the kind of cute Valentine’s desserts that come together in minutes with simple pantry ingredients. They’re the perfect Valentines baked goods to let kids help decorate and they look absolutely adorable on a dessert table. Save these cute Valentine’s treats for later and let me know how it went!
Love Bug Sandwich Cookies
Ingredients
- 48 Chips Ahoy cookies the soft ones work best
- 48 candy eyes
- 72 pretzel sticks
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 Tbsp milk or heavy cream
- 2 tsp vanilla
- red gel food coloring
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat the softened butter until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, about 1 cup at a time, mixing on low at first so it does not puff everywhere.
- Add the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of milk or cream. Beat until smooth and spreadable, adding up to 1 extra tablespoon of milk if the frosting feels too thick.
- Tint the frosting red with gel food coloring until you reach your ideal Valentine’s red.
- Put the frosting in a piping bag with no tip or with a plain, round tip
- Lay out 24 Chips Ahoy cookies flat side up on a tray or baking sheet. Pipe (or spread) a generous layer of red buttercream onto each cookie, going almost to the edges.
- Top with the remaining 24 cookies, flat side down, to create sandwich cookies. Press very gently so the filling stays inside but reaches the edges.
- Break your pretzel sticks in half for the legs. Also, match up your eyes. Most of the time, all of the eyes come in slightly different sizes with slightly different pupils. For maximum cuteness, I recommend finding two similar eyes per bug.t
- For each sandwich cookie, gently press 3 pretzel stick halves into the buttercream on one side and 3 on the other side, for a total of 6 legs per cookie.
- Then, gently press 2 eyes into the sides of the frosting.
- For best results, store in an airtight container in the fridge for at least 10-20 minutes before serving. Also, be careful of humidity where you live. If you chill your love bugs in the fridge and then take them out where it’s humid, some of the dye from the candy eyes can run.
