Almond Cuddle Bear Cookies ｜ 抱抱熊果仁曲奇

People who have tried these almond cookies love them, just as they love buttery or chocolate chip cookies.  When I was little, my dad often bought these cookies on his payday.  Whenever I received one, I would nibble it as slowly as I could to enjoy every bit of the sweet and nutty flavour.  These cookies lived through my childhood.

  I made these cookies into some cute bears today for Ethan and his friends.  They each held a piece of cookie, and thought about where they should set their teeth in first before munching the bears from head to toe.  Although they were still too little to tell me how much they enjoyed the cookies, their smiles and the crumbs on their faces already told me.

Almond Cuddle Bear Cookies

抱抱熊果仁曲奇

Ingredients for cookie dough: (make about 32 cookies)

1/2 cup Almond

2.5 cups All Purpose Flour

1 cup Brown Sugar, packed

1/4 cup Soy Oil

2 Eggs

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

 4 tablespoons Disaronno Originale Amaretto

*Disaronno is a sweet liqueur that has intense almond flavour that it can drastically enhance the fragrant in this recipe.  I also tried to bake another batch of cookies that without the liqueur and they also turned out delicious.  So it's totally fine if you choose to give this liqueur a pass.

Ingredients for decoration:

Almond

Mini Pretzels

Chocolate Rocks

Coco Powder

DIRECTION:

1. Finely chop the almond; set it aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the liqueur and soy oil until it's totally corporate.

3. Add rest of the cookie dough ingredients and the chopped almond.  Mix well and form it into a dough.  The dough should not be sticky.  Add more flour if it's needed.

4. Place the dough on a big piece of parchment, and then place another piece of parchment on top.  Roll the dough into a 1/2 cm piece.

5. With a bear shape cookie cutter, carefully cut out the dough.  The dough is very easy to break, so you will need a spatula to help transfer the bears to a baking tray.

6. Make the eyes, noses, and mouths with any utensils or tools available in your kitchen.  I used two different sizes of chopsticks to make the eyes, and a teaspoon to make the mouths.

7. With a finger, dab some coco powder on the bear ears. 

8. Decorate the bears with the pretzels, almonds, or chocolate rocks.  Bake the cookies at 360 degree F for 12 minutes.  Allow the cookies to cool on a rack before bagging them.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy this recipe.

I also upload the video that I made a few years ago when I was baking these cookies.  You may find there are a few ingredients are different than the one above, but the technique is the same.