Bear paws are pure nostalgia for me. Even as a child, I stood with wide eyes in front of the display at the bakery and adored the chocolatey shiny sand biscuits.

The Bear's Paws Biscuits are named because their shape is reminiscent of a bear's paw. And yes, actually I should say "bear paw cookies". A reader once kindly pointed out to me that cookies are only what you buy ready-made. So: bear paw cookies!

For me, many childhood memories are attached to these bear paws, which mainly revolve around my grandpa. He often sat in his allotment garden in the forest clearing, smoked his pipe and always had a colorful bag of spritz cookies for us children, which you can buy in the supermarket. From this I fished out the bear paws first before jam cookies and chocolate pretzels. This mixture of buttery sand biscuits and dark chocolate was simply my highlight.

Today, I bake bear paws for myself and my family, and every time I take the tray out of the oven, I think back to that time. Homemade bear paws taste simply unbeatable: tender, aromatic and with that fine melt that makes them so special.

Whether at Christmas or simply in between: bear paws are small moments of happiness made of sand biscuits. In this recipe, I'll show you step by step how you can easily bake the classic bear paws recipe. The nice thing about it: The cookies keep in the cookie jar for a long time.