Christmas Cinnamon Honey Bears (My Favorite Childhood Cookies)
These Christmas cinnamon honey bears are my favorite childhood cookies. They are very sentimental to me. I still remember how I helped my mom to cut out the shapes for the bears and then stick them together with homemade jam. She always baked these honey sandwich cookies before the winter holidays. The smell that was coming out of the kitchen was so satisfying.
The cinnamon and honey aromas always put me in a Christmas mood. As a child I was so impatient to eat those cookies. I had to have one right out of the oven. I didn’t care that I’m going to burn my little fingers and my mouth. My mom always reminded me to wait because they are so much better on the next day when they soften. She was right but I never had the patience to wait.
My mom wasn’t a very experienced cook when she married my dad, but she was happy to learn. She had this old brown journal where she collected recipes from friends and colleagues. She also wrote down her plans for the week, to do and shopping lists. Every time I saw the brown journal at the table, I knew she is going to make something delicious. The recipe for the Christmas cinnamon honey bears came from the journal. When my mom passed away, I was fortunate to find and save it. It is one of the few material things I have left from her. Every time I open it I see the yellow pages and the stains from spilled ingredients, and I remember how much fun we had in the kitchen together.
Helpful Tips
These sandwich cookies are so fun to make and the whole family can participate. If you prefer you can make different shapes. You can use some chocolate spread or buttercream as a filling.
I usually use a wine glass to cut out the cookies. The dough is sticky, so I dip my wine glass in some flour to help cut out the circle.
Do not over-mix your dough! If you start kneading for too long you going to get a bread-like consistency.
Do not bake for longer than 10-12 minutes. The cookies might not look like they are baked, but they are. If you bake for longer than recommended cooking time, they might get too hard.
At first the cookies are hard, but once you store them for a few hours in a food container with a lid they will soften.
Christmas Cinnamon Honey Bears (My Favorite Childhood Cookies)
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar I used ½ cup white and ½ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup oil I used sunflower oil
- ½ cup honey
- 2 Tbsp yogurt whole, plain
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 4 ½ cups all purpose flour about 500g
- 1 jar favorite jam or jelly I use strawberry and blueberry jam
Instructions
- Crack two eggs and add a cup of sugar in a bowl.Start mixing them with a hand or stand mixer until the sugar is dissolved.
- Then add the oil and the honey to the same bowl. In another small bowl add two tablespoons of plain yogurt and a teaspoon of baking soda. Stir them well and add the mixture to the big bowl with the other ingredients. Start mixing again until all the ingredients are incorporated.
- Lastly add the cinnamon and the flour. At the flour one cup at the time. Do not mix for too long, because you will make a bread rather than a cookie. You can use a wooden spoon to stir in all the flour in.
- As soon as the dough comes together transfer it to a floured surface shape it into a log and cut it in two.
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Roll half of the dough directly on the parchment paper. Since the dough is hard to transfer I prefer roll and cut it directly on the parchment paper. Use a glass or a round cookie cutter to cut out circles.
- To make the bear faces cut two holes for the eyes, using some dough you cut out make a nose and ears. I use a pen's cap to cut out the eyes.
- Move the parchment paper with the shapes you cut out to a baking sheet pan and bake for 10 minutes.
- While the first batch of cookies bakes roll out the rest of the dough and cut out the bear heads. Make sure you have the same number of bear faces and circles.
- Once the first batch of cookies are baked transfer them on cooling rack. And bake the second batch for 10 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool off on a cooling rack. Then spread about a two teaspoons of jam on the circle cookie and stick the bear face cookie to it. Repeat with the rest of the cookies.
- Store the cookies in a cookie jar or food storage container with a lid. When the cookies are freshly baked they are crunchy but they get softer over time.
