holidays

Yesterday I found myself in the mood for some festive baking.

Wanting to do so, I remembered a picture that I accidentally found in the deep deep waters of the internet a couple of weeks ago. It was a picture of cute bear cookies with each little bear holding a treat in its arms. How adorable!

To replicate the cookies I used a very simple sugar cookie dough that does not change the shape that much while baking. As an item for the bears to hug 🙂 I chose almonds and golden jumbo raisins (I have to admit that I liked the latter a little better).

Here’s all that followed…

 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C).

2. In the bowl of your mixer cream butter and sugar until smooth.

3. Beat in vanilla extract and egg.

4. In a separate bowl combine baking powder with flour and add a little at a time to the wet ingredients. The dough will be rather stiff. If it becomes too stiff for your mixer, turn out the dough onto a countertop surface. Wet your hands and finish off kneading the dough by hand.

 

5. Divide into workable batches, roll out onto a floured surface into about 1/8 inch
(0.3 cm) thickness.

 

6. Cut out bear cookie shapes and place them on a cookie sheet that you’ve lined with parchment paper. Insert an almond or a raisin on top of each cookie.
 

Here’s a selection of the treats I’ve chosen – almonds and golden jumbo raisins.

 

7. Finally fold the arms into a hugging position (press the arms firmer so they don’t open while baking). You can use a wooden skewer to indent eyes and nose for each bear.

 

8. Bake at 350 °F (175 °C) for 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

And cheers to Holiday baking!

With love,
Petra

(This amazing recipe was inspired by www.neol.jp and www.inkatrinaskitchen.com.)