Brown Butter Espresso Bear Cookies
Easy brown butter espresso bear cookies decorated with melted chocolate! They can be made in one bowl with a hand whisk and rubber spatula, making these bear cookies an easy project for beginner bakers!These cookies are crispy, yet soft, chewy, and are balanced with the perfect amount of salt.
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (150g)
- 1 tsp espresso powder
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick butter/8 tbsp)
- ⅓ cup brown sugar, packed (66g)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Decorations for face:
- 3 tbsp white chocolate, melted
- ½ tbsp milk or dark chocolate, melted
- oil-based pink food coloring, see steps
Instructions
For the cookie dough:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Now, brown the butter.In a saucepan over medium heat, add in all of the unsalted butter. Continuously stir with a whisk or rubber spatula.After the butter melts, it will begin to foam. Then, the foaming will stop and brown specks will start to form at the bottom of the pan. The color change will be fairly quick, so keep an eye on the butter. Remove the pan from heat once you smell a nutty aroma and the butter becomes golden brown. Transfer to a heat-safe bowl and let slightly cool.
- In a large bowl, whisk the cooled, melted brown butter and both sugars until combined.
- Add egg and vanilla extract to the mixture. Whisk until smooth.
- Dump in all of the dry ingredients. Fold together using rubber spatula until no dry spots remains.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let chill in fridge for 30 minutes. This will help the flour hydrate and firm up the butter, yielding chewier cookies. Plus, the dough will be much easier to handle when shaping the teddy bear cookies.
- Place oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325°F/162°C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper/silicone mat.
- Use cookie scoop to gather dough (about 1.5 tablespoons each). Roll into a ball and place on lined baking sheet. This will be the bear's head. Repeat for about 14 more cookies, making sure you have leftover dough for the ears. For the ears, take about 1/2-1 tsp of dough (without any chocolate chips mixed into it), split it in two, and place on top left and right sides of the head. Repeat for other bears, spacing the cookies about 3 inches apart.
- Bake for about 8 minutes. The cookies should have puffed centers.Take the trays out and immediately bang them onto the counter. This will cause the cookies to crack and deflate. Return to the oven and bake for another 2-3 minutes, then bang the tray on the counter one more time.Return the cookies back to the oven and bake for 2-4 more minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Remove from oven, giving them one last final bang.Allow to cool on sheet for at least 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.
For the faces:
- You can a piping bag, toothpick, or cookie scribe to add on the details. I used a piping bag for the and ears, eyes, and snout, then a scribe for the blush.
- Use melted white chocolate to add the snouts and ears.
- Use melted dark or milk chocolate to draw on the eyes and nose.
- To the remaining white chocolate, add a drop of oil-based pink food coloring. Use this for the blush.If you don't have oil-based food coloring, then the chocolate will seize/become lumpy. To counter this, stir in a tsp of neutral oil (canola, vegetable) at a time, until it becomes smooth again.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
- To make it gluten-free, sub in 1:1 gluten-free flour!
Did you try this recipe?Let us know how it was!