Chocolate Bear Parade

These chocolate cookies are as much a craft project as they are a recipe. Rich, cocoa-spiked drop cookies studded with chocolate chips get a ring of miniature bear-shaped cookies pressed around their edges before baking, creating a little parade of bears holding hands around each cookie.

The base dough is straightforward. Brown sugar and shortening get creamed together, then eggs, cocoa, flour, and a generous 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips fold in. The dough is soft and forgiving, which makes it easy for small hands to help with the scooping and shaping.

Smooth the top and sides of each dough mound with the back of a teaspoon so the bears have a flat edge to press into. Position the miniature bear cookies around the perimeter with their arms touching. They’ll bond to the chocolate dough during baking and stay attached once cooled.

The key instruction here: DO NOT OVERBAKE. Seven to nine minutes is all these need. The cocoa and brown sugar make it hard to judge doneness by color, so go by touch. They should look set on top but still feel slightly soft. They firm up on the cooling sheet.

Kitchen Tips

• Smooth the dough edges before pressing in the bears. Rough, craggy edges won’t hold the bears securely.
• Press the bears gently but firmly into the dough. Too light and they’ll fall off after baking. Too hard and they’ll crack.
• Bake one sheet at a time for even heat distribution. Two sheets at once can cause uneven browning.
• Cool on the baking sheet for 2 full minutes. Moving them too soon will break the bear connections.

Variations

• Use animal crackers instead of bear cookies for a different look.
• Swap chocolate chips for white chocolate chips or peanut butter chips for contrast.
• Drizzle melted white chocolate over the cooled cookies for extra decoration and sweetness.