Adorable Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies usher in the holiday cheer. Slightly crunchy on the outside with a soft and nutty interior. Leave these out for Santa, and you’ll have a permanent spot on the nice list.
These Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies aren’t just tasty, they’re a blast to make. The peanut butter cookie base gets an extra crunch from pretzel antlers and candy faces.
I’ve always enjoyed decorating Christmas cookies, and these are no exception. They’re cute, charming, and appropriate for holiday gatherings and winter potlucks. Best of all, they’re super easy to put together. You can have a lot of fun getting creative and decorating them with your kids.
If you’re looking to make an assorted holiday cookie spread, I’ve got you covered. Christmas Sugar Cookies leave a lot of room for creative decorations.
Don’t feel like turning on the oven? No problem! My no-bake Christmas Wreath Cookies are pretty enough to make guests think you spent hours in the kitchen.
For New Year’s Eve, consider trying out my New Year’s Cookies recipe. They’re crispy on the outside, soft in the middle, and reminiscent of a donut. Not bad for a last-day-of-the-year treat.
Why You’ll Love these Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies
- These cookies taste just as good as they look with a peanut butter cookie base.
- It’s a perfect recipe to make and decorate with children.
- Great for holiday parties, bake sales, and sharing with friends and family.
- Freezer-friendly before decorating!
Helpful Tools
- Electric beater or stand mixer – For mixing the dough.
- Mixing bowls – You’ll need two for this recipe.
- Cookie sheets – For baking the cookies.
- Parchment paper or Silpat – To line the cookie sheet and prevent sticking.
- Cookie scoop – This will help make evenly-sized cookies.
- Piping bag w/ small tip – Optional for putting icing on the pretzels and candy decorations.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Peanut Butter – Sweet, rich peanut butter makes these cookies a peanutty delight.
- M&Ms – These form the reindeer noses, so choose red or brown ones.
- Mini Pretzels – Mini twist pretzels create cute reindeer antlers.
- Candy Eyeballs – These bring the reindeer faces to life!
- Icing – For “gluing” the pretzels and candies to the cookies. Feel free to use pre-packaged icing.
- Vanilla Extract – Adds a delicious aroma and taste that melds perfectly with peanut butter.
- Flour – All-purpose flour forms the base of the cookie’s structure.
- Butter – Real butter lends richness and a bit of lightness once it’s creamed with sugar.
- Granulated Sugar – Provides sweetness and helps the cookies stay moist.
- Egg – Adds hydration, richness, and helps bind the ingredients together.
- Baking Soda – Baking soda helps these rich cookies to spread and rise during baking.
- Salt – Salt helps to balance out the sweetness.
Variations
- Use Garlic Confit instead of fresh garlic.
- Or add Roasted Garlic.
- Sub lime juice for your lemon juice for a different taste!
- Try a lower fat mayonnaise for a healthier option.
Easy Instructions
- Mix dry ingredients – In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream the fats and sugars – In a larger bowl, cream the peanut butter, butter, and sugar together until smooth.
- Add egg and vanilla – Beat in the egg and vanilla until smooth.
- Combine wet and dry – Stir in the flour mixture until combined.
- Scoop and roll – Scoop into 1½ tablespoon-sized balls. Roll each in granulated sugar.
- Shape – Flatten the cookies and roll them into oblong shapes. Pinch each one in the middle, so it’s shaped like a Nutter Butter cookie.
- Bake – Place the cookies about 2 inches apart on a lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes or until the edges are just golden. Then remove and cool on the pan for 5 minutes.
- Add the antlers – Once the cookies have cooled, pipe or spread a little icing onto a pretzel. Then, stick them onto the end of each cookie as antlers.
PRO TIP: If your icing is thin, the antlers may want to fall off until the icing starts to dry.
- Attach the eyes and nose – Apply a bit of icing to the back of the candy eyeballs. Stick onto the cookies about halfway down. Then repeat with the M&Ms, placing them further down to look like noses.
Tips
- Melted chocolate or white chocolate is a great replacement if you don’t have icing! They help to firmly stick the candy and pretzels to the cookie.
- Use creamy, no-stir peanut butter for the best results.
- If using natural peanut butter, be sure to stir it thoroughly before using it. Your cookies might be oilier if using natural peanut butter.
- If you want the cookies to look neater, spread your icing directly on the pretzel instead of the cookie. Adhering it this way means you won’t see as much icing through the pretzel twists.
- Don’t skip rolling the cookie dough in sugar before shaping. This makes them less sticky, so they’re easy to shape. It also gives a light crunch to the outer layer of the cookie.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you can’t have peanut butter, try using my soft sugar cookie dough instead. Make the sugar cookie dough first. Then follow the instructions in this recipe, starting with the scooping. Be sure to use the baking time from the sugar cookie recipe.
Feel free to use whatever candies you like. For example, use Red Hots or red Skittles for the noses, white frosting with black dots, or chocolate chips for the eyes.
Sunflower butter is an allergy-friendly option if you want that nutty, creamy flavor. Yet, due to its natural chlorophyll content, it can turn your cookies green inside! To mitigate this issue, reduce the amount of baking soda in the recipe by half.
How to Store
- Room Temperature – Store these cookies at room temperature in an airtight container. To stack them, place pieces of wax paper between the layers. They’ll keep for 5-7 days.
- Freezer – It’s best to freeze raw dough balls or baked cookies that haven’t been decorated. First, freeze the dough or cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet until solid, about 2 hours. Then, transfer to an airtight freezer container with wax paper between layers. They’ll last up to 3 months.
Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup peanut butter
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar + more for rolling
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 15 red and/or brown M&Ms
- 30 mini pretzels
- 30 candy eyeballs, (Made by Wilton)
- A small amount of icing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Combine flour, soda, and slat in a small mixing bowl and set aside.
- In a larger bowl, cream peanut butter, butter, and sugar together until smooth.
- Beat in egg and vanilla, until smooth.
- Stir in flour mixture until combined.
- Scoop 1 ½ Tablespoonsized balls and roll into granulated sugar
- Flatten, and roll into oblong shapes, pinching a bit in the middle. It should be shaped a
- little like a nutter butter cookie.
- Place on a cookie sheet with about 2 inches between each.
- Bake for 10 minutes and remove from oven to cool completely.
- When cool, pipe or spread a bit of icing onto a pretzel and stick onto on end of a cookie.
- Repeat with another pretzel, attaching each to emulate deer antlers.
- Add a bit of icing to the backs of candy eyeballs and stick onto cookies about halfway
- down cookies.
- Repeat with M&Ms, placing them down further for the nose
Video
Notes
- The candy eyes are usually found in the baking or party aisle at Walmart, or at craft stores like Michael’s.
- Melted chocolate or white chips are a great replacement if you don’t have icing! They stick to the candy and pretzels to the cookie really firmly.
- If you have a thinner icing like cookie icing, your antlers may want to fall off until it dries a bit, but just be patient and let them set up.
- Use creamy, no-stir peanut butter for the best results.
- If using natural peanut butter, be sure to stir it thoroughly before using it. Your cookies might be oilier if using natural peanut butter.
- If you want the cookies to look neater, spread your icing directly on the pretzel instead of the cookie. Adhering it this way means you won’t see as much icing through the pretzel twists.
- Don’t skip rolling the cookie dough in sugar before shaping. This makes them less sticky, so they’re easy to shape. It also gives a light crunch to the outer layer of the cookie.
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