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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Day 12, 2015: OATMEAL, MAPLE, AND RAISIN COOKIES

Today’s cookies are thanks to Bernadette Burns, a patron of the Kingston Branch.  “An old fashion crispy, chewy treat.  My man Jerry Seinfeld is all over these.”  This recipe can be found in The Can’t Cook Book: 100 + Recipes for the Absolutely Terrified! by Jessica Seinfeld.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ baking soda
¼ tsp. kosher salt
¾ cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tbs. Maple syrup
1 ¼ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup golden raisins

    At least one hour beforehand, take the butter out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature.
    Heat the oven (with two oven racks toward the middle) to 350 degrees F.  Line 2 rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper.
    In a medium bowl, measure and whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

          In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed (or by hand with a wooden spoon) until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides with a silicone spatula as necessary. Stop the mixer; add the egg and the maple syrup then beat in.  Scrape down the sides.  With the mixer on low speed, use a large spoon to gradually add the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated.  Stir in the oats and raisins.

         Drop the dough in 1 tablespoon-size mounds 2 inches apart onto the prepared pans.  Bake, rotating the pans 180 degrees halfway through, until light golden brown, 12-15 minutes.  Let cool on the pan 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack

   Once cool, store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.