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Extra Toasty Bear Cookies

A perfect cute cookie recipe for back to school! Made with nutty brown butter, toasted oats, bittersweet espresso powder, and tangy malted milk these are melt-in-your-mouth good. As the school year approaches, why not whip up some of these one bowl and no mixer required cookies? I promise one of these cute little Teddys will make someones day.
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Chill time 1 hour
Total Time 2 hours
Servings: 30 cookies
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • ¾ cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter cut into Tablespoon size pieces
  • 2 cups old fashioned oats
  • 1 ¼ cups light or dark brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 Tablespoon espresso powder
  • 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • ½ cup malted milk powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 4 ounces semisweet baking chocolate coarsely chopped

Method
 

Brown the butter and toast the oats
  1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, it will begin to bubble, sizzle, and foam. Eventually you will see specks of brown forming. Let those specks get to a nice amber color, but watch out because it can burn quickly! Pour the brown butter into a large mixing bowl and set it in the fridge to cool down while we toast the oats. Leave a little butter in the pan for toasting the oats, about a Tablespoon or so.
  2. To the same skillet, add the oats and toast for 3-5 minutes, carefully tossing frequently to prevent burning. You are looking for a nice light brown on the oats. Once toasted, pour into a bowl and set aside. Make sure both the butter and the oats have cooled down enough so that when you touch it, it shouldn't hurt your hand.
Make the cookie dough
  1. To the slightly cooled down brown butter, add the brown sugar, eggs, espresso powder, and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth. Add the flour, malted milk powder, baking soda, and toasted oats and fold it together using a large spatula. It may take a minute to come together, but it will form a thick and sticky dough. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator for at 1 hour.
Shape the cookies
  1. Line a 2 large baking sheeat with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
  2. Roll roughly one Tablespoon of dough into a ball. Place on the prepared baking sheet and attach two roughly ½ teaspoon sized balls on the sides towards the top of the cookie dough ball for the ears. Repeat with the rest of the dough, placing the bear shaped cookies about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. If you don't want the cookies to be bear shaped then you can just roll them into Tablespoon sized balls.
  3. Freeze the shaped cookies for 10 minutes before baking. While they freeze, preheat the oven to 350℉.
  4. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until golden around the edges, but still a little soft in the middle. Mine usually take about 10 minutes, but oven time can vary. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack for about 10-20 minutes before decorating with chocolate.
Decorate
  1. Place the chopped chocolate in a small microwave safe bowl and melt in the microwave in 30 second increments until smooth and completely melted. Let the chocolate cool down for about 5 minutes.
  2. Pour the slightly cooled melted chocolate into a small piping bag fitted with a very small round tip (I use wilton #4). Pipe 2 arches on the ears, 2 dots for eyes, a dot for a nose, and 2 backwards J's for a muzzle (see pictures for reference).
  3. Enjoy immediately, or let the chocolate harden before storing the cookies in an airtight container for up to a week.

Notes

Bear Shape: Although they are adorable in bear form, you can save some time and make them into regular round cookies if you want. Just roll the dough into Tablespoon sized balls. I recommend eating them warm if you choose not to shape them!