12 Days of Cookies, 2016 - Day 7: Oatmeal Bears

Made by Sue Mosher, Bookmobile, from Almost Too Cute to Eat, one of the great children’s cookbooks in our collection. Come visit the Bookmobile today in Brooklyn and Summerville for a sample.

Ingredients:

½ cup butter, softened

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 egg

½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup flour

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

¾ tsp. ground cinnamon

1 ½ cups quick-cooking rolled oats

mini M&Ms (Sue used mini chocolate chips)

plain M&Ms (Sue used regular chocolate chips)

icing, sprinkles, fruit roll-ups, or liquorice laces, as desired

In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed until well blended. Beat in egg; stir in vanilla. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; add to butter mixture, blending until incorporated. Stir in oats until blended.

Preheat oven to 375° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. For each bear, roll cookie dough into one 1 ¼” ball for head and three ½” balls for ears and snout. Place head on prepared cookie sheet; flatten slightly. Position snout ball on lower half of head. Set ears against top of head. Flatten ears and snout slightly. If using chocolate chips, press mini chocolate chips above snout, for eyes, and larger chocolate chip into snout for nose. Leave about and inch and a half between the cookies as they spread quite a bit when baking. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. If using M&Ms, immediately add mini M&Ms for eyes and plain M&Ms for nose, pressing gently to secure. Cool on cookie sheets. Use icing, sprinkles, fruit roll-ups, or liquorice laces for other decorations, as desired. (Sue cut out bows from fruit roll-ups and pressed them in place while the cookies were still warm.)

Makes approximately 18 cookies.

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