Description
These Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies are festive, fun, and perfect for the holiday season. Soft peanut butter cookie dough is shaped into reindeer faces, decorated with pretzel antlers, red M&M noses, and candy eyes for an adorable and delicious treat that kids and adults will love.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 1 cup butter (softened)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
Decorations
- 72 pretzel twists (small)
- 36 red M&Ms
- 72 candy eyes
Instructions
- Preheat Oven: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure it’s hot and ready for baking the cookies.
- Mix Wet Ingredients: In a large bowl, beat the softened butter, sugar, peanut butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and salt together until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
- Add Dry Ingredients: Stir in the flour and baking soda gradually until all ingredients are well combined into a dough.
- Form Dough Balls: Separate the dough into 36 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball shape.
- Shape Cookies: Slightly flatten each ball and shape it into a rounded triangle shape to resemble a reindeer’s face.
- Arrange on Baking Sheet: Place the shaped cookies onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing them evenly to allow for spreading.
- Add Pretzel Antlers: Press two mini pretzels into the two top corners of each triangle to create the reindeer’s antlers.
- Add Red M&M Nose: Press one red M&M onto each cookie for the reindeer’s nose.
- Bake Cookies: Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are golden brown around the edges.
- Cool Cookies: Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them onto cooling racks to cool completely.
- Attach Candy Eyes: Once the cookies are cool, dip the bottom of each candy eye slightly into peanut butter and press them onto the cookies to form the reindeer’s eyes.
- Serve: Serve the festive Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies to enjoy or package them for gift-giving.
Notes
- Ensure the butter is softened to room temperature for easy mixing.
- Use small pretzel twists for antlers to keep proportions cute.
- Allow cookies to cool completely before attaching candy eyes to prevent melting.
- Store cookies in an airtight container for up to a week to maintain freshness.
- For a peanut allergy-safe option, substitute peanut butter with sunflower seed butter.
