Mrs. Beier discovered a recipe for oatmeal cookies with Skor toffee bits in the 1990’s and began tinkering with it until she built what would become her own signature cookie enjoyed by thousands of children.
Wendy Beier-Berar was a career school teacher who enjoyed baking cookies to decompress after a hard day spent in the classroom. This legendary chewy cookie recipe was highly sought-after for school bake sales as well as for rewarding class performance! These cookies became casually named ‘Beier Cookies’ by staff and kids through the years with everyone knowing exactly which cookie was referenced.
One year when individual classes were asked to think of a team name to be used by them for intra-classroom competitions Wendy was tickled when they voted to be known as “Mrs. Beier’s Smart Cookies”.
Upon her passing in 2019, Wendy’s funeral featured a copy of her cookie recipe for all attendees to remember her by. Guests were asked to bake cookies in her memory.
Ingredients
This recipe is scaled for baking for classrooms or bake sales. Expect producing between 40 and 72 cookies (4-6 cookie sheets each with 10-12 cookies each).
- 1 lb of butter (one brick)
- 3 cups of packed brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbsp of vanilla extract
- 6 cups rolled oats
- 3 cups of flour
- 3 tbsp of baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 bag Skor Toffee Bits
Preparation
- Cream together:
- butter
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- mix in:
- backing soda
- salt
- gradually incorporate:
- brown sugar
- flour
- rolled oats
- Skor Toffee Bits
The mixing of these ingredients are VERY challenging due to the very stiff and sticky consistency. It is unlikely that an electric mixer will be up to the task. To ensure that all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated a very large and sturdy bowl is recommended and that mixing is performed manually with a strong wooden spoon. You will break a sweat!
The brown sugar and Skor Toffee Bits combined with the baking soda will become bubbly when baked. The butter and sugars will try to make the cookies spread in the pan. It is the job of the rolled oats and flour to prevent the cookies from spreading too much. It is very important to maintaining this balance that the ingredients are very evenly incorporated.
Preheat the over to 400 F (200 C) degrees
Mrs. Berar used a round scoop with a 2 inch (5 cm) diameter to put the cookies on an insulated cookie sheet covered with a Silpat brand Non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat. Do not flatten the cookies after scooping them on to the cookie sheet.
Bake at 400 F (200 C) degrees for 8 minutes
The cookies are done when the sugar and Skor Toffee Bits have melted. If the cookies are scorching without being done you might be making them too thick (also see above how Wendy used insulated cookie sheets and silicone baking mat).
When the cookies come out of the oven they will be molten and very fragile. Let them cool for a short time on the cookie sheet until they can be gently lifted from the cookie sheet and placed on a wire cooling rack to finish hardening. Because of high sugar content the cookies will heavily bond to surfaces as they cool so a wire or corrugated rack is best.
