Wednesday Baking-Chocolate Cookie Bears(or bunnies or pretzels or anything else!)

My mom used to make these with my siblings and me when we were kids, and I’ve done the same with mine. The recipe is for a fairly basic chocolate cookie, but the dough is firm enough to roll into all sorts of different shapes.

Since this is fun for kids to do, we’ve made these several times when my children have had friends over(usually for their birthdays)….it makes for very cheap birthday entertainment!

The dough is very easy to make. You cream the butter and sugar,

and beat in the eggs.

Then you mix the dry ingredients together,

and add them to the butter/egg/sugar mixture.

After the dough hangs out in the fridge for a couple of hours, it will be firm enough to shape.

You can make whatever shapes you want,

and it’s helpful to use a toothpick to make noses and eyes and the like.

The cookies take about 6-8 minutes to bake(less if you’ve done some skinny shapes). Things like letters or numbers tend to dry out quickly, so if you want them to be moist, either remove them early on in the baking, or put all the skinny shapes on a separate cookie sheet.

Chocolate Cookie Bears

2/3 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar; beat in vanilla and eggs. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl, and gradually add to creamed mixture. Cover and chill dough for 1-2 hours or until firm enough to handle.

Shape cookies as desired and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 6-8 minutes or until set.