Step 1

You are welcome to use a mixer but I don't feel like it's necessary to use one. Make sure the butter is soft. You can easily mash with a spatula. I took the butter out from the fridge and cut it up into smaller pieces and they are soft in about 30 minutes or less. It may not even take that long if it's warm where you are. You don't want the butter to melt, just soft

Step 2

Combine the potato starch, cake flour, milk powder, and salt and set aside. Mash the butter with a spatula. Add icing sugar and mix to combine. Sift in the dry ingredients and mix into a dough ball

Step 3

Pinch off about 40 grams of dough (for the face) and about 20 grams of dough for the nose.

Step 4

Put a few drops of orange food coloring (I use a gel type) on the main large dough. Fold and knead to distribute the color evenly. Leave the dough for the face uncolored. Drop a tiny drop of red color to the smallest dough, this will turn into pink (hopefully, if you don't put too much)

Step 5

Keep each dough covered with cling wrap to prevent them from drying

Step 6

Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the orange dough into a long log and cut into 26 equal pieces. If you want them smaller, you can cut them into about 30 pieces. From this orange dough, pinch a tiny amount to make 2 ears from each orange dough ball. Roll them into round smooth balls. Attach the two ears. Keep them covered with a cling wrap

Step 7

Divide the white dough into 26 equal pieces and the same thing for the pink dough

Step 8

It's easier to shape the white dough for the face by dividing the dough into half and then flattening each one of them, top one a bit wider and the second one not as wide. Press these on the orange dough to form the face. Roll the tiny pink dough round and attach it to the face as a nose

Step 9

You can use black sesame seeds as their eyes. You can also just use a black edible marker to draw the eyes if it makes your life easier. I use an edible marker to draw the eyebrows and the whiskers. I did an experiment on using chocolate sprinkles as whiskers and they work and did not melt in the oven. It is cuter when you add more elements using edible food items instead of drawing them, but it's up to you what you want to do. Whatever is easier for you. We are pretty much done here

Step 10

Put the whole trays in the fridge to let them chill for about 15-20 minutes. While waiting, preheat your oven to 325 F (163 C) for a conventional oven. For a convection oven, please lower the temperature by 20 degrees. Position the racks, third from the top and another one third from the bottom

Step 11

Bake the cookies for 20 minutes. Rotate the baking trays, front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking so they bake evenly

Step 12

The cookies shouldn't brown at all and will only expand a bit

Step 13

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then gently remove to let them cool down on the cooling rack completely

Step 14

Once they cool down completely, you can transfer to an air-tight jar or container. They can be kept for 2-3 weeks or so. The baked cookies can be kept frozen. Place them in a freezer bag, push all the air out. I put them in another freezer bag after that. They can be kept frozen for about 1 month for the best result. Simply thaw at the counter until they are soft